By Evan Vitale
Competition, someone said, is good for business.
However, we all want to do better than our competition. We strive to create better products and offer top-notch customer support.
We want to increase our sales; cut our expenses and, if possible, steal a few customers away from the competition.
But what does it mean for your company if your top competitor goes out of business? Is that good news? Or bad news?
First, face the facts: businesses can go under for a variety of reasons. Poor management, family matters, health problems, financial issues, legal troubles. Perhaps, it was time for your competitor to renew the lease or upgrade expensive equipment and didn’t feel it would be worth the expense in the long run.
Sometimes, business owners will retire and close their doors if they don’t feel value in putting the business for sale on the market.
Either way, a closed competitor will impact your company – primarily to recognize it as a potential opportunity for you to capitalize on your competitor’s misfortunes; inherit new customers and generate additional revenue for your firm.
Investigate the following:
- Is there a way in which you can find out your competitor’s customer/client list? If so (even if only a few), contact them and let them know you’re still in business and that you can help.
- Contact the telephone company to see if your competitor’s telephone number is available for purchase. Why this might seem a little uncomfortable to some, a disconnected telephone number to a closed business is going to eventually end up as a new telephone number for another business. Why not your business?
- Eventually, the website domain of the closed business will soon be available as it will most likely not be renewed by your competitor. This is an opportunity to purchase your competitor’s domain and have all traffic re-directed from your closed competitor’s website to your website.
Don’t dwell on reasons why your competition closed its doors. Instead, view it as an opportunity to gain a new customer base and increase your bottom line.