Customer life stage as a competitive threat

Assuming competition will only come from those companies you define as traditional competitors overlooks the extent to which other forces, such as those originating with customers, pose a serious competitive threat in your markets. One of the easiest such threats to overlook is customer life stage. Once so-called "evergreen" accounts start turning brown, it would be easy to assume business is being won away by competitors. But when traditional CI shows this is not the case, one needs to find out if the life stage of customers is what is really stopping the flow of funds to company coffers. Once customer life stage has been identified as a competitive force in the markets, one will need to determine if it can be met and overcome or whether it is a permanent threat which needs to be factored into one's plans.