Assess your competitors

Do you know what products or services your competitors are selling, how they are promoting them, what prices they are asking, how customers or clients are relating to them, and what they have planned for the future?

Staying informed about your competitors is crucial if you are not to be wrong footed and suddenly find them making inroads into your market share. The internet can prove to be a valuable tool in this respect.

Valuable competitor information

In the old days it was not always easy to acquire such information but today, with the rapid growth of the internet, anyone with a computer and an internet connection has vast amounts of valuable competitor information literally at their fingertips.

The burgeoning growth of e-business, the relative ease and low cost of electronic publishing, and the underlying ethic of full disclosure on the internet have led many companies to publish much more about themselves electronically than they previously did by more conventional means.

Competitors' websites

The obvious place to start is your competitors' own websites. If you do not already know their addresses you can find them in their printed publications, or in online search engines and directories. In fact, a frequent search of www.yahoo.co.uk, www.scoot.co.uk and www.ukdirectory.co.uk, for example, might even unearth actual or potential competitors you did not know you had!

Most companies disclose reams of product and strategy information on their sites. Don't just visit the mainstream pages - pay regular calls also to their 'backend' pages such as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), online instruction manuals, troubleshooting guides, and customer service sections.

Other online sources

Alco check out newspapers in your competitors' locality (especially the job ads), patent databases, and company information sites, as well as relevant newsgroups - especially those where your competitors' employees discuss technical issues.

If you have not already done so, consider assigning someone to conduct regular online research on your competitors. Chances are they have someone watching you!

Easy Accountancy

Easy Accountancy is the UK’s only national specialist accountancy firm for freelancers, sole traders and small businesses

If you’ve just started out as a freelancer or run a small business, you’ll definitely need a small accountant and there are plenty of options out there! However, most accountants will charge you every time you get in touch with them; for every phone call, email or meeting.

We don’t want our clients to be scared to contact us and potentially lose out on valuable tax saving advice. It's even more important when you first start out as you really need to set your business up in the best way possible. As a start up you’ll probably have loads of questions and will really appreciate the fact you can call your accountant as many times as you like without the fear of racking up large bills.

Our low cost, all-inclusive fixed-fee accountancy service includes unlimited access to your own accountant throughout the year, so you never need to worry about picking up the phone and then receiving a bill afterwards for the privilege, and covers all your business and personal tax affairs needs. All clients additionally receive:

Help to run your business in the most tax efficient way possible
Help so you can understand the taxes you need to pay
Advice on the best ways to manage your business
Updates and reminders so you'll never miss a deadline
Help to ensure you maximise your tax allowances
Provide proactive tax advice throughout the year

We’ve saved our clients up to half on their accountancy bills – if you’d like a quote, click on the quote me button to the right of this page. Alternatively, call us on 0500 234111 / 01442 275767 or email jessica@easyaccountancy.co.uk

We also have a money-back service guarantee - all of your telephone calls and emails will be answered on the same day, or we will refund your monthly fee (another first within the accountancy world).

To appoint us as your accountants, please fill in our Client Agreement Form online.

If you are a contractor working through a limited company then visit SJD Accountancy (our sister company) who specialise in providing tax advice and accountancy services for Limited Company contractors. You can also keep up to date by following the SJD Accountancy Twitter

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