Personally I feel you could write a whole novel on key planning factors for competitive success. However I will try not to go over board on this.
First I feel you need to know your product or service before you can make it any where. That old saying “Knowledge is power” could be no truer then in the business world. If your competitor knows both their product and your product better then you they will pull you under. Not only will you not have a penny to your name after the fact you will be humiliated. Also, not only will you be humiliated it may be difficult for you to find a job with that on your resume. Also if you start your own business again, you either learn from it or live with paranoia and fear that failure again. It’s also important to know your product for the sake of the customer. Today I was contacted by a customer to ask if one of my lipglosses with a blend of some kinds of peanut flavoring had any peanuts or peanut extracts in it. I had to call my distributer, which transferred me to another department. Once I talked with them they said they did not know and I should take the product to my physician. Instead I looked up EVERY single ingredient on the list to be sure it had no peanuts. Fortunately it is peanut free. However, what if it was not and someone had an allergic reaction? That would have been horrible. While legal issues would lie on the shoulders of the distributer or parent company it would still be a bad thing. Customers are depending on you to know crucial information and if you don’t you have to do everything in your power to find out. Going the extra mile can bring customer loyalty.
That is another thing, spending time on customers can give you an edge on your competition. People do not want to be on hold all day. People do not want to ONLY have access through email when contacting a company. People want answers and consideration asap.