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During the busy start-up phase, it can be easy to forget to set aside enough time to monitor the competition. However, you should be ready to respond to competitors in your marketplace and to new developments.

What is a competitor?

A competitor is more than just another business that might take money away from you. It can be another product or service that's being developed that you should be selling or looking to license before somebody else does.

You can get clues to the existence of competitors from:

• advertising
• press reports
• exhibitions and trade fairs
• questionnaires
• searching on the web for similar products or services
• approaches reported by your customers
• flyers and marketing literature that have been sent to you - this is quite common if you're on a bought-in marketing list
• planning applications and building work in progress

For more information, see understand your competitors.

The risks of ignoring the competition

If you ignore your competitors, you risk losing customers to them. Alert and adaptable competitors can quickly seize opportunities and attract your customers.

Without knowing what your competitors are doing, your business can slow down and become less appealing to customers who want the latest products.

Not keeping track of competitors can create gaps in your business strategy. Decisions made without considering competitors' actions can lead to mistakes and poor planning.

Failing to act on competitors' information

Failing to use information gathered about your competitors will weaken your position in the market.

Feed any useful information into your marketing plan. Your marketing plan and research will help you set realistic targets and deadlines and allocate appropriate resources.

You can then choose to focus on building relationships with your current clients or you can try to attract new customers.

Your marketing can then be turned into sales by selecting your sales methods - see write a marketing plan.