What is Your Competition?

Waste Incorporated is your principal competitor.  Every day it robs you of profits.  Waste can impact any type of business, no matter if it is small or large. Whatever waste you have is costing you money. These dollars would be additional profit for you and your people, and could be used to improve your business.  Think about it:

•  What is Waste costing you?
• How could you use increased profits?
• What opportunities are being lost?
• What is your business lacking because there isn’t money?
• What are you missing out on because you don’t have the income?

 Waste is difficult to find because it hides so easily.  It hides in people’s attitudes, in comfortable, accepted ways of working, and in unfocused activities.  Any unproductive, unfocused activity is a waste.  However, finding waste is critical because waste robs your business of profits.

 If this is so detrimental to businesses, why not just fix it?  Typically, most business owners are experts in their craft.  Business operation is not necessarily a strong suit.  Every day demands push aside long-range planning, so it is not uncommon to run a business as a series of daily events.  In addition, core problems are seldom obvious, and the business owner is so accustomed to living with the problems, they overlook symptoms.  As problems take root, distortion, bias and inhibition start to manifest and block change from the inside.  All of this makes it difficult for a business to improve by themself.  Waste costs you money.  Change, on the other hand, can make you money.

 So what is the solution? How do you rid your company of its most devastating competition? Try a full scale business analysis.  This will identify problems and roadblocks in your business, and help you prioritize a solution. Why is a business analysis important to you? Ask yourself these questions:

•  Why did you lose your last 10 sales to the competition?
• Why did your last 5 employees quit?
• What’s the best thing about doing business with you?
• Is that what your customers think?
• If your business closed, would it matter? To whom?
• What do people think when they see your literature?
• What do people think when they see your ads?
• What do you want them to think and do? Are they doing it?

 You owe it to yourself and your future to eliminate your competition once and for all!