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Understanding your competition can give you a distinct competitive advantage. It may allow you to generate additional revenue, reduce expenses and improve your profitability.

It is imperative to have an open mind. Be receptive to learning from your competition. There is no room for ego in this exercise.

Start with a few of your biggest competitors and examine everything you can. What products and services do they provide? Which target markets do they serve, and what marketing channels are they using? Are they doing anything differently because of COVID?

Can you identify good niche markets they may have overlooked? How does your pricing compare to theirs? Is there a difference in the quality of their staff? Which online review sites are they using, and how are they getting those online reviews? How does your website compare to theirs? What can you learn from your competitors’ systems and processes? Are they using new technologies to increase productivity? The list of comparisons goes on and on.

Ultimately, you want to identify a few things they are doing really well and incorporate them into your business. Pay close attention to their weaknesses. This may give you insight on a competitive advantage.

Staying in touch with your competition can create great opportunities as well. Imagine you found out one of your competitors is going out of business. Would they sell you their business assets and inventory for a good deal? Maybe you could buy their customer list, phone number and website domain for a big discount, too? If you are looking to hire more people, this could be a great opportunity to hire their best talent. Get creative and think outside the box.

What can you learn from your competition, and how can you benefit from that?