Although doctors don’t see themselves as sales people, they sell health services. The most successful doctors sell more health services than less successful doctors.
Car mechanics sell car repair. The most successful car mechanics sell more car repairs than less successful car mechanics.
Employees sell job performance. The most successful employees sell more performance than less successful employees.
The people who are more successful at doing what you are doing are your competitors.
When someone has a business that is more successful than your business and you want a business that is more successful than that business, you develop or revise your business plan.
When someone has a more successful career than you and you want to have a career that is more successful than the career of the person, you develop or revise your career plan.
There are two approaches to creating a plan for success.
The first approach is to look at your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis). SWOT analysis is especially useful when you are selling a unique product or service that competes for budgets dollars in a similar category. For example, you are selling print advertising and your competitor is selling billboard advertising. Duplicating what a competitor is doing is helpful for some aspects of competition and not useful for other aspects.
The second approach is to look at what your competitor is doing (competitive analysis) and do exactly what your competitor is doing only better. Competitive analysis is straightforward and easy to use in heads up competition.
A solid SWOT analysis includes a competitive analysis. A simple analysis is better than a complex analysis. First, you are more likely to complete the analysis. Second, you want to get into action. Third, you should have a flexible, responsive approach to competing and creating success. If you create a massive, rigid plan for a constantly changing business world, the plan may sink your business or career.
Therefore, list the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that your competition faces.
List your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
In your analysis you may find that becoming more competitive only requires a simple adjustment. Perhaps your competitor is more successful in delivering quickly. You increase your delivery time. Perhaps your competition has a better site for customer awareness. You create an awareness campaign. Perhaps a threat to your business is that your competitor has better equipment, which enables the competitor to deliver a better product. You upgrade your equipment.
Create job security through understanding your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and understanding the same circumstances for your competitor. Create job security by selling and delivering what people want more than they want what your competitor is selling.
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