The Business Plan Workshop

The Competitive Analysis Points Out How You Can Win Customers
By Myron Gould - 6/16/2010

Barbara C. wrote:

In writing my Competitive Analysis for my tea business do I also include soda, juice, water and coffee providers, or do I just focus on tea companies?  Also, do I have to include foreign tea companies?

Think of it this way. What can the consumer purchase when they want to buy a beverage? This would include every product they are aware of that they perceive of as having the same benefits as your tea.

The companies providing these products are your competitors. Clearly, this includes tea providers as well as providers of substitute beverages. It includes domestic products as well as foreign products that are sold where your products will be sold. The customers of each of these beverage providers are people you may wish to market to in order to win their business away from the provider they now patronize. Each provider’s customers represent a potential customer acquisition source for you.

When preparing the Competitor Analysis section of your business plan you want to identify everything each beverage provider does to win and keep the customers they have. This includes everything from the product they offer, to the price they charge, how and where they make their product available, and how they position it and communicate their message to their prospects and customers.

 If you were to use each of the elements of the Marketing Mix (the 4 P’s of Marketing) as a guide to what you need to know about each competitor, you will develop the understanding you need to be able to compete effectively against them.

You want to evaluate where you have advantages you can exploit against a specific beverage provider to win customers from them. Do you remember the old adage that says something about picking the battles you can win? As a new business you need to acquire customers. To do this effectively you must focus on marketing to customers of competitors where you have a relevant and actionable advantage. You want to compete against the specific competitors where you can win.

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Mission Statement - the basis for all of the organization's activities
By Myron Gould - 6/10/2010

Does your business or organization have a written Mission Statement? If not, perhaps it is a good idea to create one now.

The Mission Statement explains the organization's purpose - why it exists and what it does/will do. Ideally, the Mission Statement should be written by the founders, reflecting their vision when they established the organization.

A Mission Statement is best written in one simple sentence. It should be concise, to-the-point, and should be sufficiently broad to provide those working at the organization with sufficient latitude to do what they need to do to help the organization move forward in achieving its mission as circumstances change.

If you cannot write your Mission Statement in one simple sentence, you do not understand it well enough to be able to achieve it.

Even many of the largest organizations have well-thought-out, simple, yet broad Mission Statements. For example, Google's Mission Statement is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

An organization's Mission Statement is important to the business owners, executives, employees and investors - even suppliers. A lot of time is spent to "get it right."

Boeing's Mission Statement is "People Working Together as One Global Company for Aerospace Leadership." To stress the importance of their Mission Statement, in a letter to their shareholders dated February 23, 1998, Boeing Chairman, Philip M. Condit and President, Harry C. Stonecipher discussed the meaning of each key word.

While you will share your Mission Statement with people outside of your company, your Mission Statement should not include “hype.” It is not a tagline or a slogan. It should be a statement of fact, delivered in a neutral tone that speaks for itself.

For example, my company’s Mission Statement is “to provide marketing communications services and tools, business and strategic marketing planning, consulting, training and education.”

This Blog is about helping readers improve their Marketing and business success. I hope you will return often, participate by asking questions, get answers, and comment on what you read. Thank you for visiting!

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