I've been in the cleaning business for the past two years, but recently felt a lot more pressure and competition from other businesses in my city.
How do you build value and grow as a smaller company when you have larger companies in your area?
Do a SWOT Analysis to better understand your unique market position.
Internal - Strengths / Weaknesses
External - Opportunities / Strengths
There is a great story about the employees of a Michelin star restaurant that went to the number one rated Michelin star restaurant in the area to see what they did best. And of course the restaurant was top of the line in all aspects except for two. They had subpar coffee and treated beer drinkers like second class citizens while they treated the wine drinkers with the utmost regard.
The manager of the employees then challenged the employees, "how do we deliver better where our competition falls short?". So they focused on their coffee and their beer service. They were going to serve the best coffee that filled the air with the aroma of fresh roasted beans. Whenever someone asked for beer they would come by with a beer list and a beer Sommelier (beer expert) to discuss beer pairings with meals. In this regard they started with what are the opportunities and where can we win against their competition. This all starts with the SWOT analysis. Make data driven decisions, market accordingly.
A great book to better understand your unique ability is from Gair Maxwell, Big Little Legends, his tagline is without magic, it's only marketing. Also, he's Canadian ;)
