You've got to know your Zata ™ If you've ever wondered how your business compares to your competition or if you've ever wished you knew whether sales were up or down in your specific market, you've got to know Zata. Are you an independent small business? Are you the President of an international company? Either way you need to know how you're performing relative to the rest of your market. Knowing that your sales are up, or down, isn't good enough. You need to know if your sales are outpacing the market, if you're just keeping up, or if you're lagging behind. In order to really know where you stand, you need to compare your operation to local competitors every week. Businesses don't fail all of a sudden. It's usually a slow decline. Those who spot the trends early make adjustments and can capitalize on a wave of optimism or improve on a looming negative trend. Those who either don't see the signs or neglect them one way or another, will end up closing their doors. Compare these two business owners. Bill's sales are up by 8%. Joanne's sales are down 4%. On the surface, it would seem that Bill is doing a better job. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Bill coasted to success on a stronger-than-expected market. If he had been running his business well, he would have increased sales by over 20%, the average increase his competitors enjoyed. In Joanne's business however, sales plunged due to major road construction that prevented access to her business for over 3 months. The results would have been considerably worse if Joanne hadn't quickly accelerated marketing efforts and increased awareness of her store when access was restored. Her local competitors never recovered from their loss in sales. Their customers simply found new places to shop. Stories like Bill and Joanne's are common. What isn't common is the insight into the competitive landscape in order to judge success. That's where Zata comes in.