Over the years you have invested money into your business. You have a strong sales team on the ground. You purchased the best CRM system. So, why is your competitor gaining your market share?
In today’s marketplace, marketing and business is changing at the speed of light. “Set it and forget it” is the pre-emptive action for purchasing a “going out of business” sign. Seasoned business owners often get accustomed to marketing the old fashioned way because it has worked for years: print ads, paper newsletters and commercials. Sadly, not only is old school marketing solutions no longer getting the job done, but it is costing businesses their market share. Let’s look at a few reasons you might be losing market share:
- Customers no longer understand what your corporate brand: It is not uncommon for companies to re-invent their core competences. Service offerings change, environmental impacts might require businesses to re-adjust their course or competitor press releases might provide an opportunity for market share growth. Consequently, corporate branding must change in order to deliver a new message. Often times, when a well-seasoned company changes its course, they fail to effectively change their branding strategy that is being delivered to current and future customers. Adjusting the course of business often requires a re-assessment of what message you are delivering to prospects. There is no use offering a new service if your client’s are unaware of it.
- Like Elvis, your customers have left the building. If you haven’t changed your service offering then you might be saying to yourself, “Amy, we have been doing the same thing for 30 years and we are losing 10% of our customer base every 3 months. I don’t understand?”. Here is the hard, cold truth: CUSTOMERS LEAVE! Customers abandon old email addresses, they cancel their newspaper subscription and customers leave Facebook for Instagram. Your customers are constantly leaving the medium you are using to communicate with them; that leaves the door open for competitors. Want to stay engaged? Beat your customers to the punch on where they might be headed to. If you have been investing money in radio commercials then it might be time to re-direct those dollars to youtube advertisings. Customers are on the move and they are not waiting on you to catch up. Wonder where customers are finding out about new products? Ask them. Just remember, don’t waste your time and theirs if you are not willing and open to spending money on the platforms they are spending time on. Just because you aren’t spending your personal time there doesn’t mean it is not a wise place to be marketing your business.
- Your offering is no longer what your customers are looking for. Yes, customers still want catering services, tennis shoes, and designer dresses and they aren’t lacking the money to spend on them. Customers decision are about WHO is behind the brand. What inspires them and what really gets their blood boiling? They want to understand the heart of the business and believe in the team behind it. Customers are looking to purchase from an authority figure they connect with a higher purpose of some sort, a sense of humor (maybe not as dark as mine, though) and business looking out for their customer’s best interest. If you are failing at meeting them on these points then you might as well just fax your customer database to your competition because they are sure to steal them very soon.
Companies lose their customer base for various reasons that we don’t have time to discuss here today. If your service is excellent and prices are fair, then maybe you are no longer meeting your customer where they are? Give us a call so that we can help you pinpoint the reason you are losing market share and sales.
