Fri, 02/25/2005 - 18:58 — jpark (not verified)
You always have competition. Even if you admit it or not, your company has competition. Saying you have no competitors shows how little you understand the industry, market and customer.
Do nothing
This is always a competitor. The customer can always choose to keep doing things they way that they have. It's familiar, no switching costs, no educational costs, nothing has to change for them, internally or externally.
Real competition: Anything/everything that goes after the same money used to pay you. There are some dollars you'll never be able to compete for, unless you're in that business specifically: rent, utilities, raw materials, etc. You're not going to get the money spent on these resources, no matter how hard you try. But take a look at the customer's budget, which money can be transferred to your pockets? What else are they purchasing? Where are they spending their resources?
I had an entertainment company during school. It was eye opening when I realized was I wasn't just competing against other events. My competition was movies, homework, family picnics, vacation trips, holiday season, video games, etc. Anything that would take my customers away, anything they would want to do other than use the services I provided. After a while, I realized it wasn't a huge money maker, but it did teach me a valuable lesson.
If you can't figure out what your customer is doing instead of buying from you, ask. If the customer isn't buying from you, there's probably a good reason.
That's your competition.