![]() ![]() But don’t you want to know what it will take to beat the competition sooner rather than later? If you don’t know what you don’t know, you are at risk of learning the hard way. In 1976, at the age of 38, he got up the courage to quit his full-time job as the area management supervisor for a popular California restaurant chain. He’d been working for others since he graduated from UCLA with an accounting degree and was eager to be an entrepreneur. ![]() His good friend did well for himself by opening several hot dog stands in the Los Angeles area. So, my father was confident that his own management experience would bring him success. He soon found a hot dog stand for sale next to a carwash in North Hollywood. He watched the operation briefly and saw how very few customers came to the stand even while their cars were being washed. My father saw an opportunity for turning the stand into a profitable business and bought it immediately.įigure 4-2 shows how he gave everything a fresh coat of paint, updated the menu, and put up a big sign that said the stand was under “new management.”įigure 4-2. Polaroid of Alan Levy in front of his hot dog stand in 1978 The place was run down, and the owner appeared indifferent to his customers. On opening day, though, he sold fewer than 10 hot dogs. Worse, cockroaches crept across the serving counter, and my dad kept trying to squash them before customers walked up. At the time, my brother and I (then 10 and 12) would hang out at the stand on the weekends, and we could see that my dad didn’t know what to make of his new business. Eventually, he realized that in spite of all his efforts, he couldn’t turn it around. His management expertise did not translate into the emotional stamina and physical strength required to perform the daily operations of the business. One morning someone responded to his “Hot Dog Stand For Sale” ad. The man showed up to the stand at noon and introduced himself. He bought a hot dog and then sat down at a table to observe the entire lunch shift. In the first hour, an elderly woman who lived at the nearby senior-citizen home walked up and bought a hot dog. After one bite, she asked for her money back. The man came back the next day and watched another lunch shift. “To be honest, Alan,” the man replied with a heavy Armenian accent, “You are married to a corpse.” Before he left, my father asked him what he thought of the business. That comment depressed my father for days. He decided to accept his fate and sold the stand at a significant loss, which was truly tough for my family. Using the Competitive Analysis Matrix Tool But the whole experience taught my father (and us kids) lessons that were huge. You and your team might think you are creating a new marketplace with your product, but how can you be sure? Chances are you actually are entering an existing market. Therefore, you want to study how all the current digital solutions address the needs of your target customers. To be competitive, you need to know what’s out there, what has worked, and what has not worked. That’s why conducting market research on the competition is a crucial component of business strategy. You want firsthand knowledge of the good and bad user experiences provided by your competitors. If done thoroughly, the research can provide a treasure trove of insight into current trends and outdated manifestations of mental models. It will also help your team learn about the competitors, their best practices for design, and what types of customer segments use their products. To connect the dots, though, you first need to collect them. I have found the most efficient way to do a comprehensive competitive analysis is to collect all of the data in a matrix. It’s the most obvious way to do a cross-comparison, and by using a spreadsheet, I can methodically collect data and not miss anything while I’m surfing around to research. ![]() The matrix helps keep track of everything that needs to be compared. When it’s complete, I can rationalize my position with a cogent understanding of numerous qualitative and quantitative data points. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |