There are a number of reasons why maintaining a competitive edge has become so difficult in the business of aesthetics.
In brief, these relate to a lack of differentiation, the rise in different types of competition, public perception, price wars and last but certainly not least, a widespread obsession about what the local competition are doing.
The truth is, competition is tough because we make it tough.
Rather than remembering the reality that no-one is invincible, we construct an image of the competition as a combination of Albert Einstein and The Terminator – infinitely smarter and ready to eat us for lunch.
The field of possible alternatives becomes the competition, larger than life and virtually indestructible.
However, there can be major repercussions if you accidentally convey this feeling of discomfort to potential patients.
Letting them know that you are concerned is like handing your competitors a club and telling them ‘Beat me.’
Among the most negative outcomes are the following:
1. It allows the competition to write the rules of the game
When you compare yourself to the competition in front of a prospective patient, you tactically imply ‘They are the standard. It’s their pace, their achievements, their pricing, their agenda, that I’ve got to match.’
Whether you phrase this admission as a ‘better than’ or ‘me too’ argument, the subtext is ‘I’m trying harder – because I have to.’
2. It advertises your weaknesses, not your strengths.
If you spend all your energy questioning another practitioner’s qualifications or experience, you run the risk of beating yourself to the punch.
You need to show your potential patient exactly what YOU and YOUR PRACTICE can do. A reactive strategy shows them only what you can undo.
That decodes as a weakness.
3. It deflects attention from the patient’s concerns.
A competition-driven strategy is a response to YOUR needs – your anxieties, your projections, and your fears about losing business you don’t even have yet.
If that’s what’s driving you, you will find it hard to define and communicate the benefits of your practice, in a way that matters to a prospective patient.
You’ll be perceived as ‘average’ at best.
4. It makes you look foolish.
Imagine you’re sitting around a table with your competitors and a potential patient, and you speak only to respond to what the competition says.
When you give a reflex response to your competitor’s efforts, you’re telling the potential patient ‘I have no ideas of my own.’
If you are finding yourself constantly obsessing about your competition, then please click on the button below to learn more about how you can innovate and improve to stay one step ahead…