More important than phone calls and visits is truthfulness.  Be open with your friends so they know the real you, even when you aren’t so proud of yourself. Friendships can only grow when honesty is present, so always be yourself. Always honor your friends.  If others are gossiping about them, either intervene or walk away.  Always keep their secrets. If you tell them that you’ll do something, do it without having to be reminded. For instance, if you hear someone talking badly about them, say “Hey, Monica is one of my good friends.  I’d appreciate it if you didn’t speak like that about her.” If you do something wrong to your friends, say you’re sorry to them.  Friendships are bound to run into the occasional conflict, and that’s okay. What’s not okay is allowing bitterness to fester and poison your relationship. Call them or pull them aside and say something like “I’m so sorry for making that comment about your mom.  I wasn’t thinking straight.  It won’t happen again.” Friendships thrive when everyone feels valued.  Let your friends know what they mean to you.  Tell them how thankful you are to have them in your life and compliment them regularly. Boost them and make them feel lucky to have you, too.  Take special moments like birthdays to be appreciative, but let them know you love them on regular days, too. Say something like “You’re such a great friend.  I don’t know what I’d do without you.  Thanks for always being there for me.” Just like you have your imperfections, know that your friends have them, too. Instead of trying to make them think like you about certain issues, accept their differences. This doesn’t mean letting them treat you badly, but do know that they are human and unique. For instance, your friend might be in an unhealthy relationship that you're tired of hearing about.  Instead of getting mad at them for staying, continue to love and support them.
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One-sentence summary -- Be honest. Be trustworthy and reliable. Apologize when you mess up. Show appreciation for them. Accept them for who they are.


A competitive advantage is simply a factor that distinguishes your business from others and makes customers more likely to choose your product over the competition. Without a competitive advantage, your business has no unique method of drawing in customers.  A competitive advantage is a way in which you can create value for your customers that your competitors cannot. This may be lower cost, faster service, better customer service, more convenient location, higher quality, or other factors. For example, a restaurant offering the best food in town (best-tasting, highest-rated, most well-known chef, or some other measure of quality) would have an advantage other its competitors by offering a higher-quality product. Alternately, a business could focus on reducing overhead and production costs to offer a market-quality product at a below-market price. Being able to offer this product at the price that they do would then be their competitive advantage. Creating a competitive advantage involves analyzing your business's strengths and those of your competitors, and then learning how to take advantage of these factors. Identify the demographic qualities of your customer base. If you serve businesses, what type of businesses do you typically sell to? If you serve individuals, are they typically young or old, male or female, married or single? Do they live within a 1⁄4 mile (0.4 km) of the business or 50 miles? What is their typical income? Are they different from your competitor's customers? If you do not understand your customers, you cannot determine why they patronize your business.   Take this one step further by seeking to understand your customers on a personal level. What are their hobbies? What do they care about? What aspects of your business or your product resonate with them? Demographic information can be discovered through customer interaction, surveys, or analyzing customer information. Examining the strengths of your business can let you know which areas you can build on to create a competitive advantage. Ask yourself, "Why do customers buy from me?" The answer to this question will help you understand what value you offer them.  For example, if you own a Chinese food restaurant, the quality of food, the location, or perhaps the speed of the delivery service may all contribute to a customer choosing you over your competition. Don't be afraid to ask your customers directly. You can make a survey for them to fill out, or just approach them, but your key objective is to discover why it is they choose you. If many customers list location, for example, you can work on other aspects of your business to create an even greater advantage. A competitive advantage means you need to offer some things your competitors don't. Therefore, you need to know what it is your competitors do well, and do not do well. Think about your competitors' products, services, prices, location, and marketing. Then, compile a list of all the reasons you feel a customer would choose your competitors' business.  Compare this to your list of advantages. What strengths do you have that your competition does not have? Which strengths does your competition have that you do not? The areas of strength that you have are the areas you should focus on expanding. Remember not to be a "me too" competitor as much as possible. For example, if your competition has one recipe that many customers come to that restaurant for, simply imitating their recipe will not add to your competitive advantage. Instead of trying to copy your competitor's advantages, strengthen your own to create a unique set of strengths that cannot be replicated. Remember that your competitors can include more than lookalike businesses. For example, a Chinese restaurant competes with other Chinese restaurants, but also with other dining choices. For example, Cortera  will research, construct and analyze a competitive landscape of your target market. They and similar companies will have extensive databases to quickly access the information you will need. The more information you have, the easier it is to make decisions on what is working and what is not.  Detailed customer knowledge is equally important as competitor knowledge. Gaining in-depth insights about your customer portfolio will allow you to maximize revenue potential, increase customer retention, and boost prospective customers. You can use a mix of many tools and methods to measure consumer insight and both your position in the market and the positions of your competitors. Along with traditional company information resources, consider social media analysis tools that allow consumer insight mining on a large scale.
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One-sentence summary --
Learn what "competitive advantage" means. Work to understand your customers. Examine your business's unique strengths. Look at your competitors. Hire a company that specializes in providing business information.