Marketing strategist Jay Abraham says most businesses are losing customers for the simple reason that they refuse to study the competition that’s beating them.
Speaking with Jim Fitzpatrick on the latest Strategic Edge episode, the longtime business consultant said brick-and-mortar operators often model their advertising after big national brands, defaulting to institutional-style messaging rather than marketing designed to drive measurable action.
Abraham traces his approach back to his early training in the mail-order business, where every marketing dollar had to justify itself through a response, such as a visit, a call, a registration, a purchase. He said that same discipline should apply to brick-and-mortar businesses today, regardless of whether they sell locally, regionally, or nationally. Every promotion, he argues, should be built to stimulate some kind of action.
That principle extends to email marketing, which he said has grown unreliable as a standalone tactic. Collecting an email address means little without a clear incentive attached, since most people no longer consistently open marketing emails.
Adapt & adoption
From there, the conversation turns to competitive intelligence, which Abraham describes as a discipline most business owners skip entirely.
His consulting process starts with a 200-question assessment, and one section consistently exposes the same blind spot, in which few clients can explain:
- How their competitors market themselves
- What those competitors offer that they don’t
- Why customers might choose a rival instead
Then, he recommends an unconventional research method, locating former employees of competing companies on LinkedIn and paying them for an hour of insight into what made their former employer successful.
That same gap in self-awareness, Abraham said, shows up in how businesses define value. He pushed back against the idea that stronger marketing simply means running more ads, framing it instead as a communication problem. Businesses tend to impose their own definition of value rather than discovering what their market actually prioritizes.
Abraham cites automotive dealer Brian Benstock as an example, noting that Benstock built a following by offering pickup service for vehicle maintenance, then expanded with an app that let customers track when their cars would be ready, solving a frustration competitors hadn’t addressed.
"You don't have to recreate the wheel, but you definitely have to understand why somebody else's wheel rolls faster and further."
Generic claims about quality or service carry little weight, Abraham added, unless a business can quantify what those terms actually mean to the customer.
That same logic, he said, should extend to how businesses learn.
Abraham encourages owners to study successful companies, even outside their own market, and adapt those strategies rather than build from scratch. He also broadened the definition of research and development beyond technology and pharmaceuticals, arguing that businesses of any size should continuously study improved marketing approaches, business models, and sales tactics, including how competitors use AI and digital tools to pull ahead.
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