Killer Bees

Would you know what to do if you were attacked by a swarm of
killer bees? "Run!" you say, and you would be right; sort
of.

You must not only run, but you must run in a zigzag pattern.

What if it were a mountain lion? Stand your ground, and
make yourself appear as big as possible by holding out your
arms and, if wearing a coat, opening it so it makes you look
even larger. Mountain lions respect size and probably won't
attack if they think you are bigger than they are.
("Probably!")

What about a bear? Play dead. Bears lose interest if you
don't fight.

What's the lesson here?

Know your enemy and exploit their weaknesses.

Let's think about that in terms of our businesses. If we
know our competition (the 'enemy' in this analogy) and we
know their weaknesses, we can exploit them to come out on
top. For example, speed has always been an issue in the
shipping business. UPS has always been very efficient, but
sometimes we need to get documents delivered overnight. UPS
wasn't setup to do that. Enter Federal Express. They found
a weakness in the system (speed of delivery) and capitalized
on it, offering overnight delivery no matter what. Their
advertising slogan is a classic: "When it absolutely
positively has to be there overnight."

In the first example, an entire business (Federal Express)
was built around a weakness. But what if we have an
existing business that has a head-to-head competitor?

The better you know your competition, the easier it is for
you to be of service to your customer. Without being pushy,
you can ask a prospective customer who else he is
considering to do business with. If you know all of his
options better than he does, you can easily explain why you
are the better choice.

"You are considering Acme to refinish your furniture? They
are an excellent choice but they tend to use a lower quality
varnish than we do and, although their results are
excellent, we have found that our results are equal to
theirs and the finish lasts longer."

The first step, then, is to identify your competition. It
may not always be as obvious as you think. A movie theater,
for example, competes with other theaters as well as with
other forms of entertainment. After all, people who want to
be entertained have many different choices besides seeing a
movie. Another example: a gift basket business has to
compete with other basket makers as well as other forms of
gifts.

After the competitors have been identified, you must become
familiar with what they do and how they do it, comparing
your business to theirs and why someone would want your
product or service over theirs. I would be surprised to
find a successful auto salesman (key word being
"successful") who doesn't know just as much about competing
vehicles as he does about his own. That way, he can ask
what else his prospect is considering and discuss his
products with their weaknesses in mind. And, at the same
time, he appears to his customer to be knowledgeable,
dependable, and helpful!

Know your competition. It's the best way to be the best.