I have been running a small business since 3 years. We've

Just spend more on advertising and marketing.

>>1897800
What sort of business OP? You sound like you're growing, no need to be shady

>>1897800
Do some Porter forces analysis and take your measures

>>1897846
I'm selling custom software and custom designed electronics to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

I have a competitor that reported $250K earnings last year on their income tax filing and I'm wondering how they managed to do that. Their website is absolutely shitty and full of spelling mistakes and I'm curious how they're getting the clients.

I'm not sure if what I plan to do counts as shady since I'd just call it business intelligence.

>>1897800
Spying isn't necessarily underhanded. Your competitor's prices and customer base are not top secret information. In fact it's the sort of stuff they probably tell potential clients and bankers all the time.

I have a small business in a small city, I talk with my competitors regularly. We're friends, we work together on projects sometimes.

We can't legally discuss future work we intend to compete on, or future or current pricing, since these topics are illegal price-fixing. But we each know in general what the other charges and who they work for. Because we help each other out sometimes and compete with each other other times. And our prices aren't secret. In a lot of cases they're public information or something we flat out advertise.

>>1897884
Perhaps they have been in the market for longer and have retained clients.
Advertise and visit/ check out these business see what you can learn/improve from their tactics and go from there, I wouldn't try anything shady like following employees or shit like that, little to be gain and reputation matters too