If you’re in business that’s worth being in, you will likely have competitors. I have several of them. In fact my primary business “real estate investment sale” has a low barier of entry to the marketplace that any Joe off the street can do it. In fact most that are in this business don’t even have real estate licenses. Scary thought huh?
Service businesses often see a tremendous number of competitors leaving few that stand out from the crowd. Now add the fact that you are a creative entrepreneur. You probably are if you read this blog (smile). Now take the fact that your competitors are not creative, even a little sluggish. You’ve probably noticed these dudes copying you. Maybe the lexicons you’ve dreamed up, the branding, the product, the system, etc. Why shouldn’t they if it works. They’d be idiots not to. The sad thing is this is too common. What can you do to stop them? Precisely nothing.
If you own a patent, a copywright, etc then you can do something if they’ve violated these terms. A common one is them snatching up a domain as if it was a prize. More common and often more mosquito-like is them just stealing a business methodology that is in your advertising or they’ve mystery-shopped. My all-time favorite is when they lift a business practice, then call it their own because they SHOUT louder.
If this is happening to you, then you are likely changing the world. And Changing the world is tough especially because few others are willing to do so. It’s much easier to sit back and let someone else change the world. And when they do, just copy the idea at the early stages. Small business marketing theory says this won’t work over time. I’m convinced.
Usually if a competitor is copying you they are too busy studying you and not the customer. This regularily happens in my field. Competitors are all copying while their customers are calling and telling me about their bad experiences with them. Trust me they’re not copying your service. That’s too difficult. Ripping off a slogan or a lexicon is much easier.
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