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59Chapter 4: Sizing Up Competitors and Staking Out Market Share

Increasing Your Market Share

As you work to increase market share, don’t get intimidated by the refrain,
“no one has ever heard of us.” The comment usually follows an encounter
with a new prospect who admitted having no knowledge of your business.

Rest assured, if you are in business and ringing up sales, you enjoy at least
some level of market awareness. But you can be equally certain that not
everyone knows about or buys from your business. The biggest advertisers
spent hundreds of millions on marketing every year, and yet no brand in the
world has 100-percent brand awareness, let alone 100-percent market share.

The moral of the story is: Be reasonable as you set your market share goals
and growth expectations.

Also, as you seek to increase market share, steer clear of these landmines:

ߜ Avoid “buying” market share through price reductions. Don’t sacrifice
your bottom line as you prepare to welcome new customers through the
door. Before you go the price-slashing route, glance through the pricing
advice in Chapter 3.

ߜ Be ready before issuing an invitation to new customers. Don’t procras-
tinate, but at the same time give yourself time to be sure you’re ready to
make a great first impression. Run through the following checklist before
launching a new business development effort:

• Current customer satisfaction levels: Are your current customers
happy with your product? Are they happy with your business in
general? Do they return to your business again and again, or do
you have a high turnover rate? Do customers speak well on your
behalf? Do you rank well on the customer satisfaction attributes
detailed in Chapter 19?

• Customer-service adjustments: Before working to draw in more
customers, consider changes that will enhance your customer serv-
ice levels (see Chapter 18) so that customers — new and old —
will want to stay once they arrive. Do you need to fine-tune your
product offering — how you price it, how you package and present
it, even how you guarantee it? Do you need to dust off your envi-
ronment? This could include everything from enhancing the
appearance of your office space to revising your on-hold message
to improving the speed and accuracy of your Web site. And defi-
nitely review your customer conveniences — ranging from public
restrooms to payment policies. Have you received legitimate cus-
tomer complaints about your product or services, and have you
done all you can to address them positively and effectively?