Enjoy this excerpt from Derek Christian’s recent article at www.arcsi.org

My favorite way to learn about my competition is www.Angieslist.com. Angie’s List is a member’-only service and the cost to join is $35 – $70 a year depending on the market. Members of Angie’s List post reviews on service companies in a variety of areas including ours. Once you’re a member just log in and read all the reviews on your competition. The customers will tell you how much they charge an hour and everything good and bad about the company. It is a great way to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the competition.

I also check the websites of the business brokers. Most businesses are sold by a broker and you can learn a lot by seeing what businesses are being sold. In my area two franchises changed ownership in the last year and both were posted on these sites including their sales, profit margins, and number of employees. While the businesses are not named there is often enough to narrow it down if not flat out identify it. One business was described as “This company with their well known yellow cars has the franchise rights to Warren county.” www.bizbuysell.com and www.sunbeltnetwork.com are the two I use.

Finally I read the employment pages every week to see who is hiring. Seeing your competition advertising for a lot of employees is often a sign of growth. They will also often give away a lot of details. For example one employment ad I read recently said “We need 3rd shift employees for a large new medical complex we have signed.”

This does not need to be a huge and time consuming project. I normally do these activities once a week while watching “Glee” on TV.

Written by:

Derek W. Christian
Owner, My Maid Service, with locations in Cincinnati and Dallas
www.mymaidservice.net

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…