As a business owner, you must be aware of your competition. But there’s a fine line between being aware of your competition and fixating on them. Focusing too much on your competitors can lead to these five mistakes:
1. Copying your competition
When you spend too much time and energy focusing on your competitors, you can lose sight of your unique selling proposition and customers.
Your competition is probably doing many things right, but they also have weaknesses. So you can miss opportunities to set yourself apart from the competition.
Don’t allow your focus to move into being better than your competition. Every business needs leads and sales, but in trying to beat your competition, you can forget the importance of caring for your current customers.
So while it’s essential to monitor your competitors’ actions, it’s usually better to honor what makes you unique and focus on that.
2. Spending less time connecting with your current customers
If you start trying to implement more of what your competitors are doing, it leaves less time to do what you’re good at.
Learning the marketing strategies of competitors may benefit you. But in today’s world, it’s your uniqueness and connection to potential and current customers that will spark your business’ growth.
Don’t lose sight of who you serve and what got you to where you are today.
3. Missing opportunities to improve your business
When your attention shifts to evaluating your competitors’ actions, you miss being able to constructively evaluate important aspects of your business.
Small improvements can build a stronger business. Focus on where you can improve current processes, products or services.
Tennis champion Venus Williams said, “I don’t focus on what I’m up against. I focus on my goals and try to ignore the rest.” Great advice.
4. Losing sight of your own goals and objectives
Every business has unique goals and objectives. While your competitors may have similar goals, there are always differences.
When you lose sight of your goals, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the day-to-day tasks of running your business. This can lead to burnout and a loss of motivation.
Losing sight of your goals makes measuring your success against your objectives difficult. Evaluating whether or not you’re making progress becomes fuzzy.
5. Wasting a lot of time and energy
You can spend too much time worrying about what your competitors are doing instead of taking productive action that will make a difference in your bottom line.
Being a successful business owner requires tremendous time and energy. Every decision can have far-reaching consequences, and there is always the potential for failure. Use your time and energy wisely.
Guard your time. Learn from your competition, but don’t waste time trying to one-up them. Showcase your unique skills. Show your customers you appreciate them. Choose to spend time improving what’s good about your business.
Author James Clear said, “Focus is the art of knowing what to ignore.” If you are tempted to shift your focus to your competition, remember the benefits of prioritizing your business and goals.
Tony Robbins shared this wisdom, “The more focused you are, the more successful you will be.”
Remember these five reasons to maximize your time, energy, and resources to grow and thrive.