Beating your competition ?

That positive thinking will take you along way. As a small business myself, in an industry with some big players its hard to carve out your piece of the pie. One major thing that has proven to be by far my best tool is to work on making my company and services the best that I can offer....There is always room for improvement and it takes time to build a credible business relationship with your customers.

I have found that working on what YOU have to offer your customers and ensuring that they understand what separates you from your competition is the best marketing system you can implement. Over the past 3 years I have been developing a new business system that will address virtually every issue that has arose with my business during transactions with my customers. Listen to them, make sure they get a sense that your willing to go that extra step (but don't let em walk over ya) and your sure to make your way with customers that place a value on your services.

Try giving him a better rate on accounts he pulls from out of state. it'll give him more reason to advertise internationally. let him deal with the shipping!!! Then he stays away from your local clientel.

whatever you do i wouldnt worry about him or make changes because of him...its harder to walk in and steal a customer than it seems.. if your customers are happy..there not going anywhere and if they bollt for a cheaper price than the go.remember he has to contract out the embellishing so your pricing shouldnt even be an issue.. trust your instincts and god.. it will all work out

IF..as you say he has money to burn, they you are already on the losing side of this game and are in fact already falling pray to his game by getting you to spend money you DON'T have in marketing to YOUR already existing customer base.....Seriously, by your own admission you already have the home field advantage right? So why the worry?

As mentioned, do the unthinkable...Raise your prices. It will help in 2 ways.

1) It means a higher profit margin for your quality customer base.
2) If your customers ONLY care about low prices, than you will shed the bottom feeders.

Who will most likely go to your competition and make him work for fractional profits. All to often folks in this industry simply fail to use "basic" business principals. Lets face it, screen printers are NOT like Wal-Mart in that you can continue to drive down your suppliers for lower prices that give you a volume based price advantage. So to market yourself as "unbeatable prices" is in actuality one of the WORST ways to convene to your customers what your business has to offer them in a "price -vs- value" perception. Plus add to that the fact...you claim you have no real local competition, and really all you have done is convince yourself that you undervalue your own services.

This economy will sort out winners & losers in short order. As a supplier to this industry I can tell you that the losers so far have overwhelmingly been companies that built themselves on having low prices (lower margins) and when you have low margins it only takes a few bad months to bring the party to a halt.

Work harder at convincing your customers WHY you deserve their business, and the rest will take care of itself. If you work to convince your customers why they should not do business with your competition, than as mentioned above you will fall pray to a timeless business practice of making you work against your business interests.