What is Benchmarking?
In plain language, benchmarking is the process of comparing a particular firm with competitors in a niche. And in this method comparing everything, beginning from the construction of sites and finishing with the search of those counters which do work of competitors better, than the client of the marketer who ordered service.
The peculiarity of this type of research is its actual continuity. Because it is important for most entrepreneurs to know why things are not going as well as their competitors. And one result does not happen. As a rule, the answers are calculated in tens or even thousands. Depending on the niche, the level of competitors, etc.
Varieties and goals of benchmarking
The main goals of benchmarking include:
- identifying the weaknesses of the client in comparison with competitors and their effective elimination;
- developing and changing behavior patterns in their market.
If you analyze the goals of benchmarking, you can logically deduce the following main varieties of this area:
- functional;
- internal;
- competitive;
- procedural;
- strategic.
All these types of benchmarking are reduced to several main goals. Namely, finding leaders in the customer’s niche, identifying their strengths, and eliminating errors in the customer’s business model.
In other words, with the help of benchmarking, you can go from constant analysis to direct action, knowing what and where to fix. It is worth noting that benchmarking is used both for the analysis of online business in general and for viewing individual communication channels, such as mail, social networks, etc.
In order to better understand the specifics of each type of benchmarking, it is necessary to analyze each of these in more detail.
Internal type of benchmarking
With this method, you can compare processes within the customer’s organization, or branches and other business units. The role of objects, as a rule, are different types of services and products. Due to the ease of data collection, this method is quite popular.
This method, logically, is popular among network companies with a large number of branches. You can compare the results of one with another and identify the most effective. But due to a number of limitations in the analysis, the results can be very biased.
Summing up, we can say that the main task of this type of benchmarking is to analyze the internal processes of the client. This allows you to share experiences with large network companies.
Benefits, given the exchange of experiences
It is clear to entrepreneurs that the benefits of sharing experiences within the company are huge. The experience and knowledge gained in one branch can increase the effectiveness of work in several others.
Thus, the gained experience and skills are used at once in all organizations, increasing its efficiency as a whole. Instead of individual pieces, tarnishing the reputation among customers in different parts of the country or cities.
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