This article is written with the found money business in mind. However, it applies across the board to whatever business you’re working in. Viewing competition as a positive or a negative is, like everything else, a matter of perception. Perceive it correctly, and it’ll work to your advantage.
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If you’re anything like me, the idea of your competition swooping in and getting deals away from your prospective clients is one of the worst parts of running your own business- be it the overages business or any other business you’re involved in. For the consumer, competition is a great thing- it causes companies to work harder, price their products more fairly, and try to create a better product than the competition.
However, if you’re the one trying to market and sell products, the competition can force you to work so hard, and whittle your profit margin so low, that eventually it’s no longer worth your time to do business. Luckily for us, the overages business works a little differently than other businesses. The competition is still alive and kicking, but in many cases it’s not a threat to us, and can even help us in the long run.
You, and Your Service, Are A Unique “Product”
No one is offering quite the same “product” as you are in this business. Yes, we’re all going after found money being held by government agencies. We may even end up calling the same claimants about the same claims. However, each of us has a different approach, a different personality, and a different strategy for signing up a claimant.
Certain claimants will “click” with you, while others “click” with your competition. Whether a claimant believes you, or trusts you to work their claim, is arguably the most important factor in whether you will sign them up. Personality is a huge variable in this business, and there’s room for all types.
The moral of the story? Do your homework, follow the rules, and be the best you can be, but at the end of the day realize that personality and timing will certainly affect who decides to work with you. Encountering a claimant after they’ve just dealt with your competition can be a great advantage if their personalities clashed, or the claimant didn’t feel they could trust your competition.
More Companies In The Business Means Greater Credibility
Having competition actually helps build trust with potential claimants. They may not believe the first person who calls to tell them of the claim.
They may decide to try to find the money themselves. They may just be shocked and suspicious, and take a few weeks to get used to the idea, and then wham! You call them at the right time, and get the claim.
Timing plays a huge role in signing up claimants. Many times, you will find that your competition has come in and done the dirty work for you, gotten “no” for an answer, given up, and moved on. They’ve primed the claimant to be ready to say “yes” when you call. Undoubtedly, the claimant who has said “no” the first time has been wondering about that money since then. When you call, they’ll be convinced it’s for real this time. Then signing them up is easy.
Befriend Your Competition… Overages is a “Numbers Game”
If you really want to get a leg up on the competition, why not invite them over for a beer and take the wild card factor out of the equation? Get more deals by passing dead leads (people who have told you no, or that they don’t believe you) back and forth with other people in the business. You’ve got a great opportunity to network right here.
If you’re still not convinced to stop viewing your competition as a threat, how about this? According to Wikipedia, the United States is comprised of 3,140 counties, or 62 average per state. Each of those counties has excess funds for you to find, and new overages are being created every month. There are millions upon millions of dollars waiting to be collected, and in the current economic climate, excess funds are being created even more rapidly.
There’s more than enough cash to go around in the excess funds business. The sooner you begin to see your competition for the blessing that it is, the sooner you can focus all your energy on finding claims and connecting with clients, and enjoying the fruits of your labor! And if it’s still difficult for you to see the positives of competition, then allow it affect you positively by getting out of bed a little earlier, working a little later and harder, and being a little more persistent than you might have been without it.
