Creating a competitive Edge 

Give customers a compelling reason to choose you over your competitors! What makes your company GREAT.

Describe who you are, define yourself and your mission!

• Which market segment are you serving?
• Which geographic area are you serving?
• What industry are you in?
• What is your position in your industry?
• What segment of the industry are you competing against?
• Do you define your segment by a) Product; b) geographical or:  c) Need or d) Client?
• Segment matrix of the industry must show:
• All the segments of the industry;
• All the segments in which the company participates;
• All the segments in which the company is not competing.
• Why is the segment ATTRACTIVE? -  sales demand; Margin per unit sold; Growth rate; Investment profitability, availability?
• What is the objective that underlines your strategy? - Profit, market share, volume, prestige.
• Did you choose your market segment because of attractiveness (high margin of profit, size or foreseeable growth rate, popularity your acknowledged  Competitive Advantage? Concentration? Maintenance? Monopoly?
• Identify your competitive position in the segment. You can do anything but you cannot do everything! Give them what they want and are willing to pay for.

Positioning begins with actually differentiating the company's market offering so that it will give customers more value than the competitors' offers do. The worst strategic error is to be stuck in the middle. To not be willing to choose which of these routes to competitive advantage the company is going to follow: to worry about quality and differentiation but not achieve uniqueness in anything; and to think about segmentation of the market, but to not dedicate themselves to a particular narrow segment!

Strategy is to decide where to be and with what strength. The MISSION STATEMENT is a synthesis of strategy. Mission relates to PRODUCT, NICHE, NEED, CLIENT, and sometimes to GEOGRAPHIC AREA.

• Define your competitors: strengths; weaknesses; capabilities; margins; customer base.
• Identify your customers, i.e. your target market. Where do they live; income, education, needs, tastes and preferences; family size, ethnicity.

Describe the Product/Service you are offering- be detailed because this is everything, without it your business is nothing. 

• What is your reputation in the industry?
• What reputation do you want to attain?
• What are your revenue targets?
• What are your unique strengths/advantages?
• Review your core strengths.
• Reduce Costs.
• Focus on services.
• Differentiate your products and services to align them with customer wants, needs, desires and values.
• Stay on the "cutting edge" - continuously maintain your advantage.
• Be ahead of future trends in your industry.
• Always adapt to your customers' wants and needs.