4 Strategies To Stop Your Competition Cold!
As someone who travels for a living, I admit, I am an Uber fan. Since Uber came on the market my life has gotten so much easier. No more calling cabs or taking shuttles. No more putting up with bad service or hauling my own luggage to the shuttle stop. Uber has made getting a ride from the airport and finding my way around a new city so much easier.
So I don’t get it, why are so many people picking on Uber, Airbnb and the other innovative companies that have entered the market? The government is talking about regulating them. Competitors are whining they are “stealing” business. And, cities like Austin and states like Alaska have banned them.
Why? Again, I do not get it. Isn’t this the way business is supposed to work? If you do a good job, offer a great product, treat your employees well, and provide exceptional customer service then you make it nearly impossible for new competition to enter the marketplace. At least enter the marketplace and succeed. If you don’t, well then trust me your Uber will be just around the corner – thank god!
If the taxi cab industry had been known for their over the top attention to customers, their clean and beautiful smelling cars and their unwavering attention to staying calm and polite, then I doubt any of us would have ever heard of Uber. But Uber exists because the demand was there and nobody was offering what the market was asking for. That is my politically correct way of saying that taxis were not doing their job.
So how do you keep your Uber from entering the marketplace? How do you stop your competition before they even get started?
4 Strategies To Keep Your Uber At Bay!
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Prioritize Service
Make this a top goal. Make it part of your strategic plan. Make it something that your CEO sees as their job. If you want to stop your competition cold then start by focusing on your customers. Happy customers don’t go looking for new places to do business. And happy customers refer more happy customers. In today’s economy, the path to profitability is through the customer experience. If you want to keep your Uber out of the market then start by making customer service job one!
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Kill Stagnation
Live by the rule that good is never good enough. You want to make sure that you own your market place. So you need to create opportunity and find ways to reward and recognize consistent improvement. Stagnation and complacency are an invitation for your competitors to enter the marketplace and take your customers. So commit now to kill stagnation. Work with your leaders and your team to create and discover ways to make your products better. Make the sales process easier. Make the entire experience more fun and enjoyable for your customers. It doesn’t matter how good your customer satisfaction ratings are. It doesn’t matter if you exceeded your goal. Push the envelope and go for better.
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Value Employees
The path to profitability in this economy may be through the customer’s experience, but the customer’s experience begins with your employees. In today’s highly competitive marketplace, your employees are your greatest competitive advantage. The more engaged they are, the more they understand the direction and focus of your company, the more they will care about your customers. The more they care about your customers the more they put into improving the customer experience. The better your customer’s experience, the better chance you have of stopping your competition cold!
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Listen & Learn
Last but not least, listen and learn (to your customers that is). No one can tell you better how to ensure their every need is taken care of then your customers. So pay attention, ask for their feedback and then listen to it. Believe me, people have been telling taxi cab owners for years their cars smell, their drivers are rude and the overall experience is not pleasant. Uber should not have come as a surprise. The taxi industry asked for the competition when they quit prioritizing service. So if you want to stop your competition cold, listen to your customers, learn from your customers and take action.
So still I am clueless, I do not understand, why pick on Uber? What is all the whining, fussing and complaining about? This is the way the marketplace works. No one can take away or “steal” your customers unless you fall down on the job. Plus, competition is a great thing. The more you have, the more you have to up your game. The result? Everyone wins. You build a better company, your customers get a better experience, and more people have opportunities to get jobs and run businesses.
Remember, if you do not pay attention then your Uber will be just around the corner. But, if you practice these four steps, if you put these strategies into action, you will keep your Uber at bay and stop your competition cold!
