🙅 This popular advice is actually very bad for you!

Have you ever been told to study your competition?

“Know what they are doing and do it better than them.”

Believe it or not, this is a popular advice and for years, I took it very seriously.

Every morning, I will check out my competitors’ social media pages and websites, just to see what they are up to.

Every week, my team will do a SWOT analysis of our competition and we will make adjustments to our plans.

Every month, we will measure our performance against our competitors.

Pretty extreme isn’t it?

In its defence, this advice did help us do pretty well in the business.

But it came with a number of side effects.

(1) I find myself behaving reactively rather creatively.

Consequence: I will never become a market leader because I am constantly following, rather than leading.

(2) I become competitive rather than collaborative.

Consequence: I deny myself the chance to create synergy with my “competition”.

1 + 1 could have been 11.

Together, we could have created something innovative and more powerful for the market.

(3) I feel more stressed than satisfaction.

Consequence: I got grumpy and fell sick more often.

If this keep up, I will probably be dead before 50.

Not exactly the smartest retirement plan.

So if you are like me, obsessed about beating your competition, STOP.

There is a better way.

Instead of focusing on your competition, focus on your clients.

Three benefits.

(1) You will come up with a lot more creative ideas to help solve your clients’ ever changing problems.

This will instantly set you apart from your competition!

And your clients will also be super appreciative of you!

(2) You will be more open to working with your “competition” because you have the same goal as them – to serve clients.

You get to leverage on your competitors’ strengths while neutralising your own weaknesses.

Together, you will also create way more value than you can on your own.

And most importantly, there is strength in unity.

By collaborating, you consolidate your market and effectively become the market leader!

(3) You will feel a sense of achievement

How not to when your competition are your friends and your clients are your fans?

So take it from me…

If you want to live long and prosper, stop focusing on your competition and start focusing on your clients!

How?

The answer is in this week’s podcast which I titled “How to stand out from your competition and stay top of mind?”

My guest is Melvin Lim, CEO and co-founder of PropertyLimBrothers, one of Singapore’s most well-known real estate brands.

His property videos have already garnered over 49 million views and his team hit a record high of 379 property sales over two years.

So go LISTEN to this power-packed interview right away.

Or if you are more a visual learner, you can WATCH our interview.

Your #1 fan,

Eric Feng