Sometimes the competition seems insufferably huge and almost impossible to contemplate. To help you get a handle on competition, here are 3 things to know and 10 steps to take to do something about it.

1. Knowing your competition is just part of knowing your market. Whether you like it or not, competition is part of every market landscape eventually and it is vital to know who is on the playing field. Examining your competition will help you understand your market better and will also stimulate your creative marketing activity. Just as you must learn the needs and objections of your customers, you must learn what competition you are facing in order to know what to do to succeed.

2. Fighting the competition doesn't help you get business. In fact it will usually hurt you. In the end, the other guy is just like you, trying to make his business as successful as he can. Let your competition do his best, and use what you know to do yours. Maybe you'll both succeed. Bashing the competition or getting into price wars hurts everyone and is simply bad form. Even worse, fighting others can distract you from the important thing, building and promoting your own business!

3. Your most important weapon is knowledge. Market research is homework for being successful. A thorough and realistic understanding of your market (including your competition) is what will allow you to take the necessary steps to outfox the rest of the field. It will help you to position yourself in the marketplace, put your brand on everyone's lips, create demand for your products and even price your products or services properly.

So just who is your competition? Are they in the position to take your customers? Most importantly what can you do to compete against them? Finding the answers can involve some work, but they also may surprise you. You can hire expensive companies to do this research for you, but here is a simple program you can do yourself just by paying attention and using a simple tool like the internet:

1. Pay attention. Watch your mail. Read the paper. Look at the billboards as you drive down the highway. Listen to your customers or people you know and notice what they are hearing about. Ask questions if necessary. Write down things that you notice, and save promotions that you receive or think are good.

2. Run a search. Be one of your own customers for a moment and pull up one of the major search engines like Yahoo or Google. Put in your main product and see who you find. Do you recognize the companies? Who is there? Who is not? How are they getting there? Take notes.

3. Make a list of your competition. By doing the above, you should have an idea of who is out there. Take stock of what you are up against. If you are doing business in a certain geographic area; concentrate on those companies within your territory. But note that you can learn a lot by looking at other areas too. Add new competitors as you find them.

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