DIY playbook
Do the competitor check yourself
Everything our report does, you can do by hand. Set aside about a day for three competitors. Here's how, in five steps, with the same checklist our report uses.
- 1
Find who actually shows up
Open Google Maps on your phone and search for what you do, the way a customer would: "roofing", "fence company". Write down the first three businesses.
Now drag the map to another part of the area you serve and tap "Search this area". Do it from four or five spots: across town, the next town over, the edge of where you'll drive to. Customers see different results depending on where they are.
Count how often each business made the top three. The three that showed up most are the businesses at the top. That's who you compare yourself with.
- 2
Cross off anyone who isn't really a competitor
Supply stores, national chains, and businesses that don't serve your customers come up too. Cross them off: one wrong competitor skews everything you compare.
- 3
Compare your Google reviews
On each of the top three's Google listings, note the star rating and the number of reviews. Add the three review counts up and divide by three, then put your own count next to it.
This is usually the biggest gap, and the one owners never see. The fix is free: ask every customer for a review when you finish a job, and reply to the ones you get.
- 4
Go through their websites with the checklist below
Open each of the top three's websites: the homepage, then their services, pricing, about and contact pages. Go down the checklist and note yes or no for each of them, then for your own site.
Anything two of the three do and you don't is a gap. Anything none of them do but you do is a strength: keep it. And if none of you say you're licensed and insured, or name a written warranty, and you are or have one, say it: you'd be the only one.
- 5
Sort what you found into two lists
Just do it: things that cost nothing or very little, like naming your town in your headline or putting your phone number at the top. Most take under 30 minutes.
Your call: business choices, like offering financing or a yearly maintenance plan. Your competitors doing it doesn't mean you should. Decide on purpose.
The checklist