1.Give 5 reasons why every business needs an enemy?

Ans:

Enemies are good for business for a few specific reasons:

1. Tension

Just like competition, tension is good for business. It brings out the things people don’t want to talk
about and forces the acknowledgement of any elephants in the room. When you’re faced with a
huge breakthrough or the wildly successful marketing campaign your competitors just launched, you
have three options: adapt, change or die.

Tension paves the way for creative thinking, which can lead to major market breakthroughs. I love
causing tension within my own businesses. It creates a competitive mindset amongst my team
members to one-up each other.

2. Innovation

If you’re the only business in your field or industry, chances are you’re more likely to get
comfortable and complacent. Once that happens, innovation slows down to a crawl, and that can
spell trouble or even death for a company.

When you’ve got competition, you’re constantly looking at how to one-up them and to stay ahead
of them at every turn. This type of innovative racing can propel an industry forward and keep your
business seen as the thought leaders driving the innovation.

3. Customer service

Store A and Store B provide the same exact products and are located on the same street. However,
Store A has a noticeably higher amount of foot traffic coming into the store. Why? It understands
that to succeed, the store has to be 100 percent better than its competition at everything else,
including customer service.

Great customer service can be the driving factor to a business, with everything from how customers
are greeted when they enter the store to how their checkout is handled. Strive to be not only the
biggest in your industry, but also with customer service.

4. Credibility

If you’re the only company in your market, are you really solving a problem, or are you just creating
noise? It’s a legitimate question I wish more startup teams would ask themselves. The more
competition in your industry, the better consumers view the products overall.

Fitbit is a perfect example. When the popularity of wearable fitness trackers started to rise, Fitbit
was right there. Sure, there were early adopters to Fitbit, but no one knew what the company was.
When competition such as Nike entered the arena, Fitbit’s credibility rose immensely, helping it
solidify dominance in the field.

It’s one thing to be first to market -- it’s another to be the only in your market.
 5. Focus

With hundreds to even millions of potential customers, competition in your industry allows you to
focus on the right customer for your business. Think of it like this: There was a time I would check
my mail and there would be a stack of dog-food and diaper coupons.

At the time, I didn’t have a granddaughter and I had horses, not dogs. The companies spent
thousands on a blind mass-mailing campaign that not only annoyed me but also turned me off to
them completely. They lost a potential customer without even knowing it.

Rather than spending an obscene amount in marketing to reach a broad audience, many of whom
may not have a need for your business, you can focus your messaging on just the right target
audience. Understanding whom your audience is and creating custom messages for them is a
surefire way to build brand loyalty.

You should have the biggest, baddest enemy you can imagine in your space, because you want to be
the biggest and baddest in that space. When things happen (like they invariably do in business),
don’t get mad or even. Just get ahead, especially when it comes to your enemies.

2. In an entrepreneurial mind, how "substitute" was explained and how dangerous substitute in a
business?

Ans:

A substitute is one that may offer the same or similar benefits to a company as a product from
another industry. The threat of a substitute is the level of risk that a company faces from replacement
by its substitutes. For more generic, undifferentiated products the threat is always higher that from
more unique products. A company that has several possible substitutes that can easily be switched to
has little control over the prices it sets or how it chooses to sell the product.

Substitutes are not immediately recognizable since they are often from outside the industry a company
operates within. This is why there needs to be special attention paid towards identifying the threat of
substitutes and developing strategies to counter it in the long term. There is always the danger that a
company may be too focused on handling its direct competitors and may miss the imminent threat of a
substitute. This can even happen at an industry scale, where in the effort to compete with companies
within the industry can overshadow threats from the outside.

3. Give at least 3 characteristics that you want your business partner should possess and why?

Ans:

1. Passion

Ideally, the person you decide to partner with should be just as passionate about your business
as you are. Your company might not survive if your partner isn’t willing to work hard or do
whatever it takes to meet the goals you set. There’s no point in hiring a partner who isn’t going
to pull his or her weight and commit to making the business one of their top priorities.
 2. Reliability

Even if the folks you’re interviewing seem enthusiastic about becoming your right-hand man or
woman, it’s best to choose someone you can depend on. A job candidate whose resume seems
scattered or who hasn’t spent a full year at a single company might not be able to commit to
being your business partner.

It’s important to look out for any red flags that might indicate that the person sitting in front of
you can’t be trusted to help you lead and run your company.

3. Compatibility

When hunting for a business partner, it’s tempting to select someone who has the same
interests and hobbies that you have. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it might be wise to
find a partner who’s everything you’re not. You might be able to accomplish a lot more by
picking someone who has the skills that you lack over someone you have a lot in common with.

4. Upon knowing your competitors, give 5 steps that you need to do in order to beat them.

Ans:

1. Follow the Steps of Your Competitors

I know that you have strategies, tactics, and plans. But, do you know that also your competitors
have the same things to compete with you and other competitors on the market.

What are they doing? How are they doing business? How they approach doing business in the
market? What are they doing to make their customers happy?

These and million other questions can give you the real picture of your competitors. These
answers will help you to build better strategies, tactics, and plans for the competitive battle.

2. Make Competitive Analysis

When you collect enough information about your competitors, you can start making a brief
competitive analysis. With this step, you will identify your most important competitors and
evaluate their positions according to different factors.

Before some period, I make a Competitive Analysis Template that you can use it for this
purpose.

3. Compare Your Competitor’s Offers to Yours

The offer is one of the essential elements that differentiate one business from another.
Irresistible offer is something that no one can refuse it. Because of that make a more in-depth
analysis of the offers of your most important competitors. Find their advantage and
disadvantage. What is better for your offer? What is the most critical part of their offer? What
they try to achieve with their offer?
4. Make a Better Offer from Them

With all collected information and analysis, why you don’t try to make the better offer from
them? All their advantage let’s be your advantage. All their disadvantage let’s be your
advantage.

5. Solve Real Customer’s Problems

Find real customer’s problems, not what you think or what your competition think that is a
problem for them. But, find the real and actual problems that your customers have and want to
solve them. For those problems develop a practical solution that you can offer.

6. Know Who Are Your Customers

If you know your customers, you will better understand their needs.

There are two negative effects from unsatisfied customers needs: losing potential energy from
customers and marketing activities and losing potential energy stored in your cash.

7. Differentiate Your Business from Your Competitors

How can I know that your business is different from your competitors? If you show me, I will
know. If you want to show me, start brainstorming all vital business aspects that differentiate
your business from your competitors and use them everywhere.

Use them in all your marketing weapons. Use them in all your social networks. Make them
shareable. You can read more in 10 Steps to Better Understand Your Customers Needs.

8. Let’s Customers Tell You How Your Business Can Be Better

The most significant mistake that entrepreneurs can make is not asking their customers what
they think. Simply ask. Ask what they think about your products and services. Ask what they
want. Ask how you can improve the business with them.

9. Always Be There Where You and Your Competitions Customers Are

You must find ways somehow to be present where your customers are. However, why don’t be
present at the places where your competitor’s customers are? If they are on Facebook, let’s
your business be there. If they are on Twitter, lets your business be there. If they are on the
specific trade show, make your business be there.

10. Personalize Your Marketing Messages with Your Customers

Personalization of your marketing messages is a part of your overall work on your business
optimization for customers. You must use different segmentation of your current and potential
customers list. For all different types of customers, you must send different marketing messages
that were personalized for each kind of list.