Your Unique Competitive Advantage
What do you do that is different than what your competitors might do? Why is there a need for a new participant in this market? What are your competitors’ missing in their product offerings that you plan to offer? For example: “Mitsy’s Animal Friends will offer only natural pet products that are organic and biodegradable. No other pet store in this area offers an all natural selection. We are also the exclusive distributor of two pet product lines that are popular in Europe and up until now have only been available for on-line ordering and shipping overseas.” Or “Although there are several dry cleaners in our community, Fred’s Cleaners is the only one which will be open late each evening and on Sundays. We also offer an express 24-hour rush service for a modest additional charge.”
If you have a retail business, your next task will be to clearly define what products or groups of products your business will be selling. How are they related? Will you focus your business on the highest quality products of your type? On the lowest cost? Products of a particular type that will appeal to a clearly defined market?
It is vital to the long-term success of any retail business to have repeat customers. Part of the key to this is to always have a supply available of each of your products. If you run out of your product, you will have nothing to sell. The reader of your plan will want to know that you have given this sufficient thought and that you have back-up sources of supply for your key products.
As we’ve also said before, location is key to the successful retail business. In this section you might also add to your previous discussion on location. Why will customers be attracted to your location? Are there other businesses in the area that will attract the kind of customer you are looking for? Does the location make it easy to do business with you?
If your business primarily offers services, what range of services will you be providing? Will your services be high quality, high price? Are you providing an unusual type of service that is hard to find elsewhere? Are you providing an unusually high quality of a type service that is otherwise plentiful in your community? Is the main service you are providing speed? Or perhaps the ultimate flexibility of service offerings – customer services based on the needs of the individual customer? For example: “Plato’s Sign Company offers not only 24-hour service in creating a banner for any event, we also specialize in helping customers for whom English is a second language by offering a professional grammar and spelling proofreading service by degreed professionals in English.” Or “The Law Offices of Stephens and Stephens specializes in handling legal disputes resulting out of automobile accidents. We understand what a stressful time this can be for our clients and we offer a premium level of service by handling all accident-related paperwork and making visits directly to the client’s home.”
For new product businesses, two other elements are essential. The first has to do with the development of your product. Has it already been developed and manufactured, or is it in an earlier stage of the process, such as only in drawing or testing phases. It will be important to investors to know if the product really can be manufactured and as cost-effectively as your financials would show. They will also want to know if there will be barriers to the product development process that could force you to abandon the project prior to completion.
In addition, readers will also want to be assured that you have exclusive rights to this product and that it won’t be easy for your competitors to steal or copy. They are making sure you and they have a proprietary position in all rights to those things that make your company valuable. These are called intellectual property rights and take one of several forms:
• Patent – right to an exclusive use of an invention for a period of time.
• Copyright - right to reproduce written documents, music, or software
• Trademark – right to the exclusive use of something which uniquely identifies your company or your product such as your logo or brand name
• Trade secrets – protection for something essential to your business, such as the formula for Coca Cola
• Franchise rights - right to exclusively duplicate your business concept
I would like to see a continuation of the topic
Comment by Maximus — December 20, 2007 @ 9:31 am