Let’s Learn From Your Competitor’s Websites

Yes, your competitors can teach you more about your business than you ever thought!  In fact, your best competitors are spending money to build an advertising platform that will help you to be better. It is really this simple.  Read on.

Most glass shops have a web site today.  If you don’t have one yet, start to plan one.  You can have a simple one or two page site, designed by a student at your local high school computer class, for really small dollars.  Your name, address, phone, and a couple of pictures of what you specialize in are a good starting point.  Customers Google your name to find your phone number as often as they may look in the Yellow Pages.  But I digress…let’s talk about what you can learn from your competitors.

Make a list of your top ten competitors.  Look at their web site and their Yellow Pages ad.  See what they emphasize for their products and services.  Compare this to your products and services on your web page or Yellow Pages.  The differences are what you should be considering adding to your product mix.  Quantity counts here.  Let’s say you have six competitors, and four of them list a product you don’t emphasize.  Here’s a hint…start pushing this product.  Check their hours, check their cost for a service call and check the areas they service.  Even if you cover the same areas, but they list the towns and you don’t, they will draw more from those areas.

Do they have twenty-four answering availability?  Do they list an overnight board-up number?  To me, it is worth getting woken up at 3:00 am if it means business coming in.  In today’s business environment, service is the most important aspect of business, even if it is 3:00 in the morning.

Do many of your competitors offer a shop at home service?  Do you?  Maybe it is the opposite…none offer shop at home…then this could be an opportunity for you to start this new service and be the leader of the pack.

Business information is right at your finger tips.  Ask a friend of yours, a good friend, to compare your web/Yellow Pages presence with six others.  Get an honest answer.  This will tell you tons more than if you look at it yourself.  So, pretend you are a teenager, cruise the web, and improve your business.