Compete Against Yourself
You spend a lot of time strategizing ways to beat your competition, but have you thought about how they view your dealership?
Staying ahead of the competition also means making your tire business harder to compete against.
Here are some tips for analyzing your tire business in the same way you should look at your competition:
1. Define Weaknesses: You focus a lot on what they're doing wrong, but may not be able to see weaknesses in your own business. Get together with your staff and pinpoint your business' top three to five weaknesses. Allowing them to anonymously share their views will get you more candid answers. Think of this careful self-scrutiny as a chance to make a pre-emptive strike.
2. Improve Strengths: When you check out competitors, you look at their weaknesses and strengths, hoping to avoid their mistakes and matching or exceeding what they are doing right. Take the same steps with your own business. Seeing your strengths as you would a competitor's is simply one way to stay ahead of the game.
3. Don't Fix What Isn't Broken: You don’t need a complete overhaul, but fine-tuning. At the same time, if you add new services or products, make sure they are something customers really want. Introduce new items on a trial basis and keep your most popular products consistent.
4. Be Open to Criticism: If you're truly going to compete against yourself, start viewing criticism as an opportunity. When an employee or customer airs a complaint, react analytically, not defensively. Ask yourself if the complaint pertains to a one-time situation or points to a larger, ongoing problem. Don't be afraid to seek it out criticism; ask customers to fill out questionnaires or bring in a management expert to observe your company and give you improvement tips.