Just opened and another business opens next to me offering same services. HELP!

[angelflyer123]

Afternoon everyone.

I feel so sorry to have joined in this moment of crisis for me. While looking for alternatives to advertise against my competition I have stumbled across this site.

Short story: I do cellphone repair and recently we relocated to a higher traffic area in hopes to have better business and target a larger crowed. Everything was going great for the first month and just last week another cellphone repair store opened up right behind us. Unfortunately here comes the nightmare let me begin. They have access to a four way stop constantly getting exposure from all sides, unlike us we only have one street available. Secondly, yes we have our customers and carriers such as T-Mobile, AT&T, Best buy refer us customers constantly but I have seen it for myself they confuse our location with the competition since their exposure is more they think they are us. :(

Finally, here it comes we have seen our numbers being cut by half if not more since there new arrival. Now, I know for a fact our business store is bigger and our quality of work is superb and without a doubt I know that once a customer walks into our store they probably will not go elsewhere after being here. But our problem is how can we convince them to come inside our location without having that much advertising exposure in the exterior.

I am deeply thankful for any advice giving, as this has been causing me nightmares for the past 3 days.

[nealrm]

First I would make sure that your name, logo and signage is very different than the other store. Then give preprint, professional pamphlets to those are referring you. The pamphlets should contain a photo of your storefront, a map, logo and other contact information. Make it something that look very good and make the person referring you look good. You may have to put a coupon on it.

[Harold Mansfield]

The first thing that jumped out at me was that you said Best Buy refers people to you. Then maybe some kind of "Welcome Best Buy Referrals" sign in the window, and then, let Best Buy know to tell people "Look for the "Welcome Best Buy Referrals" sign in the window.

If there were a bill board on the corner where the other store is, I'd advertise on it with an "Around the corner" arrow to let people know that the other location is not you. There's a bar in town that purchased the bill board right over a nieghboring competitor that has a big arrow on it that says "We are around the corner!". I thought that was brilliant, and there's nothing they can do about it.

If it's a residential area, then pay people to let you put lawn signs on their lawns like it's election season. Or better yet, pay them with services.

I'd make sure all of your marketing had your exact location on it , including intersection (eg: on the corner of 1st and Maple), so that there is no confusion from here on out.

I'd put maps on everything. Link to maps from everywhere. Beat your address and intersection to death on every piece of marketing that you can get your hands on.

Next, I'd run a special or deal that a new store can't compete with, or on products and services that they don't offer, so that they are either forced to take the hit, or are forced to tell people that they are in the wrong place.
Maybe run one of those 10% off deals where people have to say your store name to get the discount. No mistake in that.

Basically, do what ever you can to make sure everyone knows "That's not us". Don't be scared to address the fact that the other store exists, and are trying to confuse people in order to take business from you. Call them out with "Don't be confused by the imitation store behind us" kind of stuff.

By the way, welcome to the forum.

[angelflyer123]

Yes, I was looking into taking some pictures and placing them on our flyers so that customer can be like "WAIT!" this is not the location I was told to come. But it just bad cause now we are relying on referrals only as oppose to walk ins too.

[Harold Mansfield]

But it just bad cause now we are relying on referrals only as oppose to walk ins too.
Then you'd better get to work to do everything you can to take them down. You knew you'd have a competitor one day. Now it's time to start thinking on your feet to differentiate yourself from them.

Seriously, is there anyway that you can get any signage or advertising on their corner?

[nealrm]

I wouldn't overestimate the walk in factor. You are more of a destination store. People will look for a cell phone repair store and then drive to your store. Unlike retail stores I somewhat doubt that someone driving by will just decide to stop in a get their cell phone repaired. What you need to assure is that on the way to your store that the potential customer doesn't stop at the first business they see.

[angelflyer123]

Amazing Harold, great tips.

If you guys don't mind, I will be uploading some pictures so that you all may have a better idea as to how this looks. Sorry, if im going to detail but this store is everything and I am not going to let it fail.

Thank you, for your time replying... god bless.

[Harold Mansfield]

I wouldn't overestimate the walk in factor. You are more of a destination store. People will look for a cell phone repair store and then drive to your store. Unlike retail stores I somewhat doubt that someone driving by will just decide to stop in a get their cell phone repaired. What you need to assure is that on the way to your store that the potential customer doesn't stop at the first business they see.

True dat. I had to pay full price for my phone ($499), I'm not taking it to just anyone if I ever need it repaired.

[broudie]

Have you ever thought of moving to a better spot? Never minimize the power of walk-ins. Being on a more visible spot with more traffic is the real-world equivalent of ranking higher on Google

[billbenson]

Have you ever thought of moving to a better spot? Never minimize the power of walk-ins. Being on a more visible spot with more traffic is the real-world equivalent of ranking higher on Google

I think this is more of a branding issue. The suggestions Harold had in post 3 were great. Promote yourselves as the guy's around the corner and shell out the money for a good sign over your store.

[Steve B]

Do you have the same landlord as the new store? I think I'd have a chat with the landlord about doing this to you.

[patrickprecisione]

That's a tough situation and I completely understand your frustration! But I think with a little bit of work you can overcome this.

One thing I noticed was that you mentioned that you know your store is better and your work is superior, but how does a potential customer know this? What kind of advertising are you doing? Are you online at all? Could you offer a discount for first time customers?

[Harold Mansfield]

The suggestions Harold had in post 3 were great. Promote yourselves as the guy's around the corner and shell out the money for a good sign over your store.

Over THIER store. Or somewhere in the vicinity of their store where it will be seen by the foot traffic.

[KristineS]

Don't forget to reach out in as many ways as possible. You might want to look at setting up social media profiles on Facebook and Twitter. Many businesses overlook these options because they think they don't work locally, but I've seen several local businesses in my area have great success on both Facebook and Twitter. You have to follow strategically, but if you make sure you're following local people, and if you keep your content relevant to the locality you're in, you could publicize your business and draw in new customers.

[Jack Burton]

I have owned and worked in retail and faced similar problems with my competition in the past. I worked in the mattress and furniture industry for over 20 years and it was very cut throat business. To overcome this type of problem what we would always do is some kind of over the top outdoor advertising stunt and make it impossible for the people passing by not to notice our store! It greatly depends on your type of business and your location to what you can do or cannot do, but you can always do something. There is no better low cost way to advertising for a small retail business. The more people that notice your store when they pass by, the more likely they will come to you when they need you product of service. This concept in advertising is called top-of-mind awareness. Think of it this way, the main goal in advertising is very simple. The main goal is to make the customer think of you first when they need the product or service that you sell. When your company comes to mind first, you have accomplished what is known as top-of-mind awareness. That is how you beat your competition. The more over the top the better! You will find that it is money well spent. I have done just about every type of outdoor advertising stunt that you can think of and it has always paid off!

[angelflyer123]

No different land lord so that's not going to help. Is there like a law or something in Texas that can help me... Ex, no same business providing same service within 200 yards of first location?

[Steve B]

I wouldn't count on any laws like that in any state - certainly not in TX. I think you just have to compete the old fashioned way - based on price, quality, and service.

[Mr Rewire]

What are you doing to grow your business? What are you doing to drive traffic to your door? Look at businesses around you do they have competition? What are they doing to compete for the customers business? Ask yourself why do you go to one business over another? Location can help a business but if you are seeing numbers go down then it is time for you to look at ramping up your advertising establishing your brand and regaining your market share.

[angelflyer123]

I do see customer still walk in to store and get services done but I do believe that I am still loosing approx 25-30% of my traffic due to the competition. At the moment I am investing a lot in advertising in order to get customers into store. In desperation I bumped up almost twice my Facebook advertising, also I began a radio campaign, a billboard and in addition am replacing our store sign to something twice as bigger to stand out. This is affecting me a lot I can only pray that this will make people really say hey this is the real deal.

[Mr Rewire]

Be your own "secret shopper" become a customer looking for the product or service you offer and see how easy or how difficult you are to find.
google your service and see if your business comes up on the first page.

[Daniel Arbizu]

Okay, this may be a bit hokey, but have you thought of having someone (possibly in a cell phone costume) handing out coupons or holding a big sign with an arrow that says you are the store behind the "imitation store". If
you can beat them on prices it would be good to let your customer know. You don't necessarily need to hire someone else part time at minimum wage, just have people from your store do it during down time.

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[Paul Elliott]

No different land lord so that's not going to help. Is there like a law or something in Texas that can help me... Ex, no same business providing same service within 200 yards of first location?

I doubt it. Certainly not the State of Texas and likely not the city of Laredo or the county.

Paul

[tarcia@fisher]

Just throwing out an idea see if you can strategically locate some greeters or flyer people on the outskirts of the facility to guide your traffic back to you. maybe some promotions along with the suggestion of clearly differentiating your logo and brand from the other store.

[davidb3069]

I would have to disagree with the person that said to mention best buy in your frontage. Get permission first. You don't need issues or problems.

In terms of bringing people in to your location so they cannot be confused, clearly displaying your business name and asking best buy, etc. to make clear the name of your business (and maybe even mention the confusion) might help.

I have seen GPS type locator programs (and even through google) where they list businesses that are close by of a certain type. That might help target them to your location without chance of confusion. Get listed in more of those resource directories.

Don't be afraid to ask best buy to hand out your card and print a map on the back of it that they can point out. The worst they can say is no.

[davidb3069]

Make sure your rental contract does not have a non compete clause if you have the same landlord. It is at least worth looking at.