Why Competition is Good for You and for the Business

Competition is human nature and is part of our daily lives. It can occur anytime and anywhere – at school, in your workplace, across companies or even within your family.

But is competition beneficial? The answer is yes! Healthy competition has many benefits. It motivates the person to develop their personal and professional skills. Being competitive also pushes companies to think out of the box and create ground-breaking products.

Competition encourages innovation, creativity, goal-setting, and purposeful living. But in what ways? Read on to find out more about the amazing benefits of being competitive in a professional and reasonable way. 

Competition is Good for You

Inspires Goal-setting

In sports, setting goals is a powerful motivator in an athlete’s performance. Goals help players and teams to identify what strategies they need to win the game against their opponents.  If you are aspiring to pass all your examinations, wanting to be an employee of the month or aiming to be one of the most recommended stores in your area, the first thing you need to do is to set personal goals. From here, you can start planning the necessary steps to help you hit your objectives. 

Promotes Continuous Learning

Competition encourages you to never settle for less. When you are good at something and you decided to stop learning, you will no longer find the motivation to continue what you have started.  If you want to hone your skills and be an expert in a certain field such as in writing, public speaking or painting, then find ways to achieve this. You can enroll in workshops, read books, do thorough research online, or talk to experts. Whatever your passion is, never stop learning and always be hungry for knowledge. This is one of the characteristics of having a Growth Mindset. 

Gives you a Sense of Purpose

Competition shakes off an aimless and boring life by giving you a sense of purpose. You work hard for something because you know you will earn something great at the end – this is the purpose. You wake up each day with your objectives in mind and the energy to strive for the best. When you focus on your tasks and objectives, you know that your efforts are not wasted. You know that your contribution to the company matters and that your abilities make you an integral part of the team. Every step closer to fulfilling your purpose will make you feel accomplished, alive and happy.

Competition is Good for the Business

Leads to Innovation

Your competitor is a great reminder that you are not the only business existing. There could be hundreds of establishments out there with the same industry as yours. If you are not competitive and strategic enough, you could potentially lose your prospects. To stay ahead of the game, you need to be innovative. Innovation is key to a successful business. 

Know that customers are always looking for products and services that are worth their time, money and effort. Companies compete to meet these qualifications by providing customers with better options, reasonable prices, and high-quality items. A healthy competition will help you to become more creative and generate ideas that will distinguish your products from your competitors.

It is much harder to acquire a new customer than to keep your existing customers. So innovate to show that you are a market leader and your existing customer will give you 10 times more.   

Improves Customer Service

In every business, the goal is to attract and retain customers. No customers, no business. And no matter how beautiful your ads are or the products you’re selling, if you have poor customer service, you might lose your clients. This can truly hurt your entire business. Always remember that you are not just competing for sales but also for your loyal customers. Aside from offering better quality products, be mindful of providing your customers with great experience because. This can be your edge. 

Avoids Complacency

Competition is like the fuel that keeps the car engine running. It makes people and companies productive, driven, goal-oriented and focused. Because of the tight competition in the business industry, companies are compelled to level up their customer service and to continue making useful products. They should innovate more for continuous improvement and unique ideas. When companies are committed to healthy competition, they are also encouraging their employees to go for the extra mile and put their best foot forward.

Conclusion

Once in our life, we experience competing with other people, and this is totally fine. We just have to understand that if we commit to healthy competition, we become a better version of ourselves. We tend to realise our weaknesses and our strengths, but most of all we got to discover what other amazing things we can actually do but never expected to. Competition is part of humanity and in every industry. If ever you lose the game, remember that it’s just a competition. Embrace the lessons learned and use them for your next challenge.

Stay at the top of your game! Learn more about the advantages of healthy competition and how it can help you become a smarter, productive person at work and in life. Contact Life Intelligence Group today! Visit our websitehttps://lifeintelligencegroup.com/ for more info.

Why Personas Are Important to Your Products

How well do you know your customers? Do you know what makes your customers tick?

In his article 5 Techniques to Help You Truly Understand Your Customers, Neil Patel recommends that one of the five strategies you should do to understand your customers better is to create more robust buyer personas. 

But what is a buyer persona and how do you make one?

Also called as marketing or customer personas, a buyer persona is described as the fictional representation of your ideal customers. They are used as part of the marketing strategy to answer your customers’ needs and meet their expectations. How old are they? What is their profession? What challenges do they face every day? These are just some questions that would help you identify your target buyer. 

If you want to acquire and retain your best customers, you need to dive deeper into their common challenges. From here, your ideal personas gradually emerge.

How Buyer Personas Transforms Your Business

Creating and using a well-constructed persona contributes to a more effective marketing and sales:  

  • Allows you to address and focus on your customers’ challenges and needs
  • Informs you of what you should do to help prospects
  • Helps ensure that all your activities related to serving your customers are tailored to the needs of your target buyers. 
  • Allows you to deliver specific, accurate and targeted information
  • Drives sales, increases profits and creates higher lead conversions
  • Guides your business and helps you build trust with your customers and prospects.

Listed below are some mind-blowing statistics that proved the power of using buyer personas:

  • Using personas have been found to increase: website traffic by 210%, website generated leads by 97%, website generated sales by 124%, Organic search traffic by 55%, online marketing focused efforts by 73%. (Marketing Sherpa)
  • 90% of companies have been able to create a clearer understanding of their buyers with personas. (ITSMA)
  • 82% of companies using personas have been able to create an improved value proposition. (Cintell)
  • 71% of companies with documented personas have been observed to exceed revenues and lead goals. (Workfront)
  • Boosts customer engagement almost 6x. (Board View)
  • Increases email open rates by 2-5 times. (Bright Talk)
  • In the near future, 83% of B2B marketers expect to use personas. (ITSMA)

It is not enough that you simply know your target buyers. You also need to get a full understanding of what makes them patronise your product and trust your company.  And the first step to achieving this is to create your buyer persona.

How to Create a Buyer Persona? 

Start by asking yourself, “Who are the customers I want to attract with my products and services?” This is just the beginning of your entire buyer persona-creation process, as this involves a combination of internal and external research, which requires time, effort, and strategic thinking to find your ideal personas. 

Here is a simple guide to help you get started:

Research your target buyers

  • Conduct thorough research on your prospects, customers and those outside your customer base.
  • Get their key information such as age, marital status, income, behavior, and interests.
  •  Gather more details from conducting online/personal interviews or email surveys.
  • Use tools such as Social Media Analytics and Facebook audience insights to see those people interacting with your business online.

Identify your customer goals and pain points

  • Know your customer’s goals and challenges. Identify how they prioritise their goals, how they solve their problems, and what are the things that keep them from reaching their goals.
  • Check with your customer service team to know what questions or complaints they usually get.

Create separate personas

  • Customers have different goals and challenges; thus you need to create more than one persona.
  •  If there is a need to gather more details about the other persona, do another research to help you identify the missing piece of information.

Give your buyer persona a name

  • Make your persona like a real person by giving them a name.
  • You can also add a photo along with the demographic information to represent your persona completely.

Create personalised emails.

We’ve mentioned above how creating persona-based content can upsurge email open rates by up to 5x. After doing a thorough research, giving your persona a face and details, you’re all set to create and send personalised emails to your subscribers with your ideal persona in mind. 

Buyer personas are examples of real buyers who influence decisions about the products, services or solutions you market. They are a tool that builds confidence to persuade buyers to choose you rather than a competitor. – Adele Revella, Leading Buyer Persona Authority

Ready to Create Your Own Personas?

Different people. Different needs. Different decisions. By creating detailed and robust buyer personas, your team can effectively address these differences and do a better job of attracting and serving your potential and existing customers, not just for short-term but for as long as you want to.

At Life Intelligence Group, we make complicated things more fun and easier. If you do not have your buyer personas yet, make it a priority today or else you might miss a lot of wonderful opportunities ahead! Not sure when and how to start creating your personas? Visit our website today for some great templates like the one below:

At Life Intelligence Group, we believe that doing things right at the start will make things easier in the future. Go to https://www.lifeintelligencegroup.com to see how we can help.

Little Known Ways To Make Qucik Money Online

So, you don’t just want to make money online. . .you need to make quick money online! You don’t have the time to read some e-book or the money to join any systems or programs. You need money. . .and fast. Here are just a few ideas that you can turn to if you’re truly desperate. . .
 
 Something like an online yardsale, CraigsList is a great internet site for buying and selling almost anything legal — housewares, bikes, furniture, musical equipment, art, and and anything that you may even consider junk. Over 40 million people use CraigsList every month. It’s free and localized, so you shouldn’t have to worry about shipping anything.
 
 Read emails and take online surveys: some companies receive thousands of emails every day that need to be read. And some of them actually outsource the reading of these emails as well as other tedious, time consuming chores such as product testing, online surveys, online mystery shopping, etc. You can sign up and get paid on a per assignment completed basis. The pay varies by what type of assignment you choose and you can choose where you want to make money.
 
 Get serious about Ebay. There are just so many ways to make quick money online with Ebay. You can buy stuff at garage sales or Estate auctions and turn around and sell it for a profit on Ebay. You must have a good idea what something is worth in order for this to work. You can sell your own things or make things to sell. The possibilities with Ebay are limitless.
 
 Sell your images. You can actually sell non-professional images to a number of different sites that need stock photos. All you need to do is make sure that the image isn’t vulgar and doesn’t include any brand names or famous people. Be creative. . .you’d be surprised what sort of images people are looking for. iStockphoto, it is one of the most popular sites. Big Stock Photo is huge with more than 1.5 million images available. Dreamstime is also a top player in this industry – they pay photographers 50 – 60% of the amount of each photograph sold. Shutterstock is subscription-based and offers more than 2.5 million images for sale.
 
 Become a Freelance Writer. This may intimidate a lot of people but it’s really easier than you might think. In fact, it’s probably better if you’re not a “professional” writer since people want to read things from other “real” people! You can sell your articles at the marketplaces of certain forums like DigitalPoint and SitePoint. Don’t expect to make a killing here but you can make some extra cash and you can do it very quickly. There are many more opportunities for writers online, such as Freelance Home Writers, which is a job board where you can log in to see what kind of Writing Jobs are available and possibly, how much they pay.
 
 These are some of the easiest and most immediate ways that you can make quick money online.

Learn More Here

The Powerful Benefits of Embracing Transparency

In general, being authentic and transparent takes a lot of courage. Not everyone can show their true motives or true self because of fear. Fear of judgments. Fear of being rejected. Fear of being less authoritative. And sometimes, fear of being manipulated.

Dalai Lama once said, “If you are honest, truthful, and transparent, people trust you. If people trust you, you have no grounds for fear, suspicion or jealousy.” Transparency is important – in industries, workplaces, and leaders. More than its significance, transparency is good, and we all need it. 

Here are some of the best reasons we need to embrace transparency and how it empowers companies and individuals.

Transparency in Leadership

Photo from rawpixel.com

Authentic relationships can form. Being open makes you less intimidating and more approachable, bringing you closer to your team. You become more authentic and human than a robotic leader. Thus, allowing transparency to foster a healthy employee-employer relationship and a positive working environment.

People trust you more. Openness and honesty are powerful traits of being a leader.  You can’t expect people to trust you right away. You need to show them you are worthy of it. Building trust takes time, but the easiest way to achieve this is through consistent transparency. Transparency strengthens your leadership skills, promotes a healthier work environment, and better communication channels within the company.    

Leads to better decisions and solutions. Transparency can improve a leader’s ability to solve problems and make better decisions. This is also a key in maintaining high employee engagement. By being open and honest, employees can express their individual viewpoints instead of relying on a singular viewpoint. According to Andy Atkins, director of research and development at Interaction Access, “Employees want more transparency into decisions and more involvement in the decisions that affect them”. When employees are more engaged, they come to the office daily and work more productively. This allows leaders and employees to work together to make the best decisions and achieve a common goal.

Transparency in the Workplace 

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Fosters employee happiness. In one global study, management transparency has been identified as a top factor in determining employee happiness. Also, a survey from the American Psychological Association showed that only half of the employees believe their employer is open and upfront with them.  When employees work in a transparent and communicative environment, they can have better relationships not just with their colleagues but also with their employers.

Improves employee experience. Research from the Neuroleadership Institute reveals that transparency is a secret to improving the employee experience. This experience not only makes the employees motivated but also engaged in solving problems, creative thinking process, and collaboration. 

What does good workplace transparency look like? The Young Entrepreneur suggested five characteristics:

  1. Communication
  2. Honesty
  3. Regular feedback
  4. Respect
  5. Admitting wrong

Employees don’t quit their job. They quit bad bosses. The good news is that employers can avoid this by taking significant steps in creating a better workplace environment. By being open and honest, work can flow easier and problems are solved faster. Employees are driven to do their best and have more reasons to stay longer.  

Transparency in Life and Business

Photo from rawpixel.com

Makes life and business easier. Being honest and open reduces the risk of misinterpretations and confusions. It’s easier to discuss with your colleagues and prospects when the things you say reveal what is really inside your mind. When people feel that you are transparent with them, you can naturally earn their trust and respect.     

Helps improve your services and boost customer loyalty. A recent study by Label Insight found that more than 97% of consumers surveyed are more likely to be loyal to a company brand that gives complete transparency. People are more confident in buying your products and patronising your services when they feel that you are true to your mission and goals. There are no shortcuts in attracting the right target market, but if you want this process to be easier and successful, start by being honest and transparent. 

Maintains a good reputation. Lack of transparency can have negative effects on your business, employees, and connections. Frequently neglecting or withholding information can be a bad move for your career, leaving an undesirable impression on the people who put their full trust in you. Transparency doesn’t only strengthen your company’s reputation, but also yours too! 

The single most important ingredient in the recipe for success is transparency because transparency builds trust. — Denise Morrison

Establish and Embrace Transparency

A transparent culture is good not just for business but also for an individual’s personal growth. This is where trust in yourself and from other people can come in. People like seeing and hearing the truth. They are drawn to transparent companies. They follow transparent leaders. They stay loyal to transparent industries. These days, being real and authentic can be challenging. But if you aim to succeed in your business or position at work, you need to connect to people on a human level and embrace true transparency. 

Learn more about transparency and how it can help you in life.  Talk to our expert coach today! Visit https://www.lifeintelligencegroup.com/ to reach us.