I was talking with a client recently who couldn’t decide between two advertising agencies. But here’s the thing: One of the agencies Unique Selling Proposition is : “Separate Yourself from the Competition, Then ELIMINATE them.”
I kid you not.
Off-course in today’s business climate, eliminating the competition can be highly profitable.
Think Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and just about every monarchy on earth.
So let’s pretend for a moment that you could totally eliminate the competition, destroy them, beat them into a demoralized, quivering pulp.
Would you want that? Would you be better off? Would your customers? Would the world?
Think about the alternatives?
Would this lead to mediocrity all around? Unambitious sameness? Lousy products and services?
In this post, I’d like to share my thoughts about the pros and cons of competition.
If you’re uncomfortable about this aspect of business, about having to be better than someone else, about fighting for market share, about having “business enemies,” then I guarantee you’re not being or doing your best. Yet if all you think about is defeating your competition, you’re not being or doing your best either.
Having a healthy attitude toward competition is one of the most liberating and powerful business tools you can possess.
“Competition” Defined
The word “competition” comes from Latin and means “to seek together.” That’s cool, isn’t it? You and your competition are both striving for excellence, using each other as motivation.
Yet in ecology, competition refers to two organisms who simultaneously demand the same resources from their environment. It’s not about love and achievement, but life and death.
So which is it for us? Are we trying to better ourselves, or fight to the death?
Competition Sharpens Us
Here’s the obvious good news about competition: it makes us better.
Our local health food store, used to have a monopoly. They were the only store that focused on selling organic, natural groceries and supplements. Then a few months ago, a competitor opened a kilometer away.
The improvements in our local health food store were rapid and staggering: store expansion, took credit cards for all transactions (not just ones above $20), extended hours, more staff on Sundays, lower prices, and they finally paved the parking lot so it no longer resembled the set of Dune.
Customers had been suggesting and complaining about all these things for years. But it took a competitor to bring them about.
A study reported in the May 28, 2003 issue of Nature reports that playing an action video game like “Call of Duty” for just 10 hours can significantly improve your visual skills. Your brain can process more of the world and do it faster. You can pick out new and relevant items in an ever-changing environment.
Does that sound like a useful business skill? If so, maybe you should go home early today and waste a few hundred Terrorists with your Vector CRB machine gun. Because it seems that video games in general don’t have this effect. Only games in which you trick your brain into thinking that you’re about to be wasted yourself lead to such rapid learning.
At some level, you have to believe that competition is about survival in order to take the steps necessary to grow. Management consultants refer to this as the “burning platform” motivation.
Our local health food store changed not because they saw the light, but because they felt the heat.
Competition is a Distraction
Let’s not take this competition thing too far. In tennis, it’s good to know what the folks on the other side of the net are doing. It helps you know where to hit the ball. But at the moment of truth, when you’re swinging your racket, you’d better be focused totally on the ball. If you’re paying attention to the competition at that point, you miss your shot.
Our own doubts, panics, chokes, distractions, false motivations, and overcompensations. Why do I handle all the really fast “fault” serves with ease, but return so many slow “in” serves into the net? It’s because of the internal game I’m playing, reducing my effectiveness when the perceived stakes are higher.
The true game of anything is the inner game. The outer game is just a distraction. So be aware of your competitors, but don’t play the game against them. Play the game to be your best. Observe the competition, develop strategies in relation to them, but when it’s your shot, keep your eye on the ball. On how and how well you serve your customers.
Think Rival, not Enemy
Here’s where I part company with my own competition, the marketing firm that wants to “eliminate the competition” and “beat them into a demoralized, quivering pulp.” I find that language offensive and counterproductive. I suppose it appeals to some testosterone-driven, club-wielding part of myself, but equating business with war is just bad for business.
I prefer metaphors from the worlds of sports and nature. In sports, the best games and the best seasons are driven by rivalries. Think Yankees and Red Sox. Federer and Nadal. Tiger and, uh, never mind.
The thing about rivals is that, most of the time, they really respect each other. Sometimes even love each other. Because if it weren’t for Magic Johnson, Larry Bird could never have attained the heights he achieved. Federer made Nadal a much better tennis player than he would have been otherwise. Think of the boxers hugging each other after a tough match, one where they’ve been pounding the stuffing out of each other for 9 rounds. They need each other to achieve greatness.
You need your competition too.
If you eliminate them, you’ll become Microsoft: putting out crappy products that malfunction all the time and satisfy no one. You may even start treating your own customers like idiots and criminals (think “activation codes”). While the wealth of Bill Gates may be an aspiration of yours, I would hope for all our sakes that your commitment to quality and service takes precedence.
Think Niche
In nature, there are extinctions (where competitors are “eliminated”). But much more common is the driving force of evolution: differentiating into non-competing niches. If you can develop your business to do things that no one else can, you can own a niche that only you can service.
And here’s the good news: you are unique. There’s nobody in the world with your experiences, outlook, style, and abilities. Once you realize that your success lies in becoming yourself to the fullest extent possible, it’s easy to find and own a niche.
Competition is Fun
If you accept that competition sharpens you, helps you focus inwardly, pushes you to greater achievement, and encourages you to define yourself more clearly, then you can go out and compete in a spirit of play, rather than grasping survival. People don’t generally enjoy feeling like they’re under threat. But if we can get out of “survival” mode and play like our lives don’t depend on it, we and our customers and our competitors will all benefit.
After all, if I can stake out a different niche than my competition, they start to look more like potential business partners than enemies. I can feed them referrals, either for cash or consideration. And they can do the same for me.
In conclusion, I’d like to thank my competitor for sparking todays post topic, and wish them the best of luck. If they don’t succeed in eliminating me in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be back with another blog post.
In the meantime, I’m going to look for a video game in which I drive around a health food store parking lot avoiding the Volvos and potholes.
Quotes
Things to Do On Monday Morning
- How do you think of the term “competition?” Does it excite you, scare you, or make your blood boil? How does that affect the way you do business?
- Who are your main competitors? Actual competing businesses? Inertia? Your clients’ internal resources?
- What’s one advantage your competition has over you? How can you sharpen your business to address their advantage? Before settling on an answer, take 10 minutes and brainstorm without judgment. Be wild and crazy.
- Is there a competitor you can work with to increase both your businesses? What would the arrangement look like? Are there any unintended consequences you need to be careful about?