competitive industry

Working in a Competitive Industry? Try These 5 Business Strategies

Kamran Mirshahi is the founder and director of claims management company Canary Claims, which specializes in PPI claims. PPI stands for payment protection insurance, a highly competitive industry.

Basically, claims management companies help customers make claims for mis-sold PPI and mortgages. Additionally, they gain compensation for accidents, flight delays, and more.

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The UK has seen a lot of claims management companies emerge in recent years after the PPI scandal. However, when Kamran founded Canary Claims in 2005, he set out to create a different kind of claims company. Accordingly, Canary Claims succeeds in a competitive industry by offering a great price to customers along with the knowledge and expertise of an experienced team.

Here, Kamran shares his advice on how to stand out from the competition when you work in a competitive industry. One or more of these strategies and business traits could be exactly what your business needs to thrive.

1. Create the Best Website

In 2018, there were 3.9 billion Internet users. That’s a huge potential audience for your business to reach online. But it also means there is a lot of content out there to compete with. There are many features of an excellent website. What’s more, it’s crucial to assess these to ensure your website is reaching the right audience, especially if you work in a competitive industry.

The first step is to look at your competitor’s website. What is it doing right and wrong? You need to find in the gaps and make sure that your website addresses all of the things the competition is missing. For example, are its menus cluttered and hard to navigate, making it difficult to find the information potential customers need? Does it lack trust signals, like testimonials and social proof? If so, look at how you can tweak your website to provide a user experience that searchers will enjoy and find valuable.

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Moreover, one of the most important components of an effective and successful website is a bold and clear call to action. This shows a consumer exactly what action you want them to take after they land on your website. For example, do you want them to get in touch, sign up to your mailing list, or book a free consultation? Your visitors aren’t mind readers, so make sure you clearly signpost what you want them to do.

Especially in a competitive industry, you shouldn’t neglect your keywords. Using keywords effectively directly influences your ability to rank on Google, which means this is critical to being found by users.

Therefore, consider creating a blog. This will allow you to target specific keywords. Such a strategy will improve your visibility. What’s more, it will build trust with users by giving them the answers they’re looking for.

Your Website Needs to Be Engaging and Appealing

Having a stand-out website is critical when you’re in a competitive industry. Moreover, if it’s done properly, it can be the largest source of revenue for your business. Additionally, it’s worth considering using a third party to make sure your site is performing to its full potential.

2. Be Transparent with Customers

Transparency is essential for every business. What’s more, it’s especially critical when you’re in a competitive industry.

Being 100% honest with customers or clients can help to establish trust. This trust is important for any business and consumer relationship. It means customers are likely to use your services again or recommend you.

However, even when there are problems or something goes wrong, you should tell the customer. It’s during these times when it becomes clear to your customers how transparent you are as a business.

Being honest demonstrates your diligence and earns respect from customers. Small lies can build up a bad reputation. On the other hand, being transparent means you have nothing to hide. 

Transparency Will Make You Stand Out from the Crowd

Transparency is important in pricing, too, including making sure customers aren’t hit with hidden costs. Also, it’s important in customer service, especially in a competitive industry. Operating a transparent business can make you stand out from the crowd, especially if you work in an industry with a negative public perception.

3. Specialize in One Area

Offering every type of product and service can be bad for a few reasons. Firstly, it indicates that you don’t specialize, which can demonstrate that you’re a “jack of all trades and master of none.” For example, Canary Claims focuses on PPI claims as opposed to other types of claims.

Niche Down for More Effective SEO

Secondly, niching down is valuable for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes. This lets you dial down on the specific keywords that your customers are searching for.

In short, if you tailor your business to focus on one particular service or product type, you’ll be able to focus your efforts. Users will also feel more comfortable going to your business over a competitor that offers multiple services but lacks the expertise to deliver the best experience.

4. Offer Exceptional Customer Service

Every business should care about its customer service. Your interaction with customers can have a significant effect on how they view your company. If a customer or client has an issue, your customer service pages or team should be able to help them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

How you deal with customers says a lot about your business and can demonstrate your level of customer care. Other competitors, perhaps those that are bigger businesses, may not be able to offer customer care and personalization in the same way. Therefore, make this a reason you stand out.

5. Address Barriers to Entry

What are the reasons preventing people from using your business? Does another company offer a lower fee? Have customers had bad experiences with a similar company in the past?

If you can address these issues and tell customers your unique selling points, it makes you stand out in a crowd of similar providers. For example, many consumers have negative views of PPI claims companies due to excessive cold calls and high fees.

This is why, at Canary Claims, we tell customers on our site that we don’t cold call. We’re also UK-based. Additionally, we don’t give personal details to third parties, and we offer a low fee on successful claims. This is how we stand out in our competitive industry.

Win in a Competitive Industry by Delighting Your Customers

There are plenty of opportunities for you to show customers how great your business is. One or more of these strategies could work for you. Moreover, always take the time to look at what your competitors are doing and make sure you’re doing some different—or that you’re doing the same thing better.

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