| Today a big problem that most land mobile dealerships make is defining their competitive frame.
They fall into a trap into the trap about thinking about themselves instead of about their customers. If you are business-focused you look at it from the view of: “What other businesses are like mine?” If you are customer-focused you look at it from the view of: “What other choices do my customers have?’
How you define your dealership’s competitive frame will have a direct impact on the size of the opportunity, the diversity of the customers and competition, and the benefits you’ll need to offer to compete effectively. Defining your competitive frame very narrowly may seem like a safe thing to do, but it’s usually a big mistake. A case in point is railroads. The railroads thought they were competing with other railroads and got completely obsoleted by trucks and airlines.
When most dealers think about their competition, they only think about their industry rivals on both a local and national level that offer similar products and services. But that’s only a small part of your real competition.
Actually, your competition is the entire set of viable alternatives that compete for your customer’s money and time. Today, more than ever a dealer’s competitive frame is far from just two-way radios and wireless communications. If you think that is really is your competitive frame then your customers most likely do as well which puts you in a very small frame -one you better get out of fast!
The bottom line is that the broader your definition of your competitive frame, the more purchase occasions and the greater the market share you’ll capture. This is predicated on the premise that your broader definition is consistent with your dealership’s core essence.
Your core essence is the most powerful compelling attributes of your dealership as perceived by your customers and prospects. What you may think your core essence is does not matter what so ever. Often there is a big disconnect between what you think and what they think
Ordinarily, it’s very hard to change your core essence and generally you wouldn’t want to even if you could. But there are times when you may have to tweak or expand your core essence in response to the market’s changing priorities.
If you have presented yourself to the market as simply a ”two-way radio dealer” then you will be able to make small adjustments to how you are perceived to keep your offerings relevant to customers.
Is a prospect looking for a broadband wireless solution going to consider a “two-way radio dealer” their first choice for where they would go to purchase it? In most cases no. Go to Google and type in “broadband wireless” and see what the top returns are. Now you can see more clearly who some of your competitors are - even in your local market.
Land Mobile Dealers have an excellent opportunity to position other wireless broadband providers as impersonal or as purely offering only functional benefits. In doing so they will be able to own the more compelling emotional and experimental dimensions of the broadband buying experience.
To accomplish this, Land Mobile Dealers will need to very clearly define their: Technical Expertise, Knowledge Expertise, Experience Expertise, and Status Expertise and leverage that against the completive alternatives. In doing so, you should be able to redefine your competitive frame and reap the long-term benefits of a larger market to compete in.
Think Renovation first not Innovation! You will stay true to your core essence and have the best chance of growing your dealership’s business successfully.
To your success.
The Opt-In Wireless Team
To learn more about how Opt-In Wireless can use science, data and facts to develop an actionable marketing strategy and increase sales for your dealership, contact us today:
sales@optinwireless.com
Midwest Office 219.756.6227
West Coast Office 503.372.9029
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