What advice do you have for tackling new competitors in your industry?

I have a business which is about two-years-old. We are finding that almost once a month a new competitor comes into the market place.

What advice do you have for tackling new competitors in your industry?

I absolutely thrive on competition! It’s what gets me jumping out of bed every morning and pumped up right throughout the day.

Personally I view business as a game, of who can provide the best value to customers. Those that do, win. So competition is a great thing.

Competition is great because it:

• Shows that there is demand and a market for your products.
• Indicates that you are doing something right.
• Keeps you on your toes.
• Lowers industry pricing which benefits all customers.

Generally, there are two types of competitors – serious competitors and pretenders.

At Milandirect.com, our serious competitors include the likes of IKEA, Freedom and Harvey Norman.

These are all great companies that we compete with daily and constantly challenge to provide Australians with the best value furniture in the country.

Another type of competitor are the pretenders, or as I like to refer to them as the “jealous school syndrome” type.

Often people you went to school with or from the same community see your success and want to copy it.

Generally armed just with daddy’s credit card, this competitor is doomed to fail, because if one does not possess the knowledge, skills or passion that you have for your business, simply copying a part of it is not a recipe for success.

But take this as a compliment, and understand that these are the weakest type of competitor, and ones most easily destroyed. No different to swatting a fly away on a hot summers day.

So what’s the best advice for handling competition?

As the great Tony Robbins always promotes, one needs to practice CANI – Constant and Never Ending Improvement.

Do not rest on your laurels or past successes. You need to constantly innovate and improve every aspect of your business.

Just because you had a good year last year doesn’t mean you will next. You can always improve and if you aren’t constantly moving forwards, you are going backwards and you will get run over.