At the Visionaries Group, we often hear from eyecare professional’s how they shop their competitors on a regular basis. When we ask what they have learned, we almost always get the same 
litany of comments.
- “Their store was dirty…the showcases had fingerprints all over them”
- “Their product mix was horrific…who the heck is their buyer?”
- “Can you believe their greeting and sales approach?”
- “Their pricing is off”
- “Can you believe how many of that old X product line they have in stock?”
We wonder why anyone wastes time competitive shopping if all they come back with is what everyone else is doing wrong. Let’s face it, we could probably take a stroll through your store/practice and find plenty of things you are doing wrong too.
The best practices we’ve worked with, always go competitive shopping with another purpose. These entrepreneurs walk into not only their competitors, but every business with their eyes wide open not to see what others are doing wrong, but what others are doing right.
Dora Maar by Pablo Picaso, 1941 ("Dora Maar au Chat")
It is easy to point out what someone does wrong. Microsoft Word has done it 4 times in writing this blog so far. 
It is far more difficult to find a good idea and adopt it for your business or practice. Imagine taking the best idea from a dozen other practices in your area and adopting them to your own. Imagine taking the best ideas from your favorite restaurant, salon, clothing store, and blog (The Optical Vision Site, dbadesigns or The Visionaries Group?) and integrating them all into how you do business. Who could possibly compete with you when you have collected and integrated the finest ideas from everyone around you?
Remember the Picasso quote… “Good artists copy; great artists steal”
Daniel Feldman, is a co-founder to the Visionaries Group visionariesgroup.com or on Facebook and CEO of dba Communications dbadesigns.com, a web design and social media firm specializing in helping eye care practices achieve success.
Great Point, Dan!