Find out what they actually are
Before reacting, get the facts. Most of this takes an afternoon:
- What services do they offer, and which overlap with yours?
- What do they charge, where it is published?
- Where are they, and whose drive time do they beat?
- Are they a new independent, a franchise, or an established business expanding?
- What is their hiring telling you about their capacity?
A franchise with a marketing budget behind it is a different problem from an owner-operator starting out. So is a business that overlaps on one service versus one that competes across the board.
Work out who is actually at risk
Not all of your customers are exposed:
High risk. Price-driven customers with no relationship to you, and anyone geographically closer to the new business than to you.
Low risk. Customers on a maintenance agreement, customers who have used you repeatedly, and anyone who came through a referral.
This matters because it tells you where to spend attention. Protecting the customers who were never going to leave is wasted effort.
Talk to your existing customers first
The cheapest defensive move is contact. Call your best twenty customers — not to sell, just to check in, confirm they are happy, and remind them you exist.
In a market like Katy where several businesses serve overlapping communities, being the one that stayed in touch is often the whole difference. A customer who has heard from you in the last three months does not go looking.
Fix what you were already tolerating
A new competitor exposes weaknesses that were always there. The ones that cost customers:
- Calls going to voicemail
- Quotes taking three days
- No published pricing when the competitor publishes
- A site that is slower or worse on a phone
- Reviews you never asked for
These are cheaper to fix than any campaign, and fixing them helps whether or not the competitor is a threat.
Do not start a price war
The instinct is to cut prices. It is almost always wrong:
- A new business often prices low deliberately to buy market share and cannot sustain it
- Cutting trains your existing customers to expect less
- Your costs did not fall
- You cannot easily go back up
If you must respond on price, do it with a specific limited offer rather than a permanent reduction, and preferably tied to something — a maintenance plan, a booking commitment.
Compete where they cannot
A new business lacks three things you have: local history, an existing customer base, and reviews. Lean on all three:
- Publish real work you have done locally, with dates
- Ask satisfied customers for reviews now, while the gap is widest
- Make your years in the area explicit
Watch the numbers, not the anxiety
Track enquiry volume, close rate and repeat business monthly. If nothing moves in three months, nothing happened. If enquiries fall, you now know when it started and can look at what changed.
Most new competitors have less effect than the incumbent expects, and the businesses that lose ground are usually the ones that were already coasting.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do first?
Get the facts — what they offer, what they charge, where they are, whether they are an independent or a funded franchise, and what their hiring suggests about capacity. An afternoon of research changes the whole response.
Which customers are actually at risk?
Price-driven customers with no relationship to you, and anyone geographically closer to the new business. Customers on maintenance agreements, repeat customers and referrals are low risk and do not need defending.
What is the cheapest defensive move?
Calling your best twenty customers to check in rather than to sell. Being the business that stayed in touch is frequently the whole difference in a market with overlapping coverage.
Should I cut prices?
Almost never. New businesses often price low deliberately and cannot sustain it, cutting trains your customers to expect less, your costs did not fall, and going back up is hard. Use a limited offer if you must respond.
How do I know whether it actually affected me?
Track enquiry volume, close rate and repeat business monthly. If nothing moves in three months, nothing happened. Most new competitors have less effect than the incumbent expects.