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Could beating your competitors into the ground be considered a strategic move? Could beating your competitors into the ground be considered a strategic move? That isn’t the sort of question you will see answered at a business school anytime soon. It’s unlikely that your board will need to decide on buying your own corporate cricket bat. Or to hire Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad to clean your competitive environment. Although sometimes I’m sure it may be tempting. But our website proclaims that we help create certainty and Competitive Advantage. So you can dominate markets and beat your competitors. This statement is true. But, when we say to beat your competitors, we believe it’s never about them. Focus on what you are doing To beat them, you have to focus on what you are doing. Bad mouthing a competitor and spreading rumours is never good. And looking for their clients just to take them away from them is the wrong way to look at your situation. Some of this can be unethical, and most of it is “just not cricket”, as we say in the UK. In the long term, doing these sorts of activities will mean you will lose. You will lose any respect your client has for you. And any business gained will be at threat from others doing what you did. It’s what’s called a zero-sum game. Trusted advisor To be a success, we believe you have to be a trusted advisor. Someone who tells you how it is and how you can learn from your competitive environment. A common thread within our articles is that you need to know your competitors to be able to beat them. But you don’t beat them by slapping them into the ground. You beat them by being better than them. By providing a better product or service for a reasonable price and by being trusted. Don’t hate them all the time Your target should always be about your prospects and clients. You need to know your competitors, not hate them. But to understand what they are doing well and doing to make their clients loyal. Know what they could do better and why their clients dislike them. One of our best clients asks us to look at competitors. We are finding out what they are going to do next, what they excel in and what they are poor at. My client is happy that they know about what they are doing and that they have a quality competitor. Only once did we find a competitor conducting in bad practice and verging on the illegal. Activities that were taking business from them by undercutting them in price. Trouble was they were lying, and slavery was even in their supply chain. So action was taken. It’s not about beating your competitor So, remember it’s not about beating your competitor into the ground. It’s about beating your competitor through best practices and product improvement. Through excellent customer services, an understanding of current and future markets. Spotting trends and predicting what a competitor could do next. Olympic final decided by a last gasp trip. After all, the 100m Olympic final is not won by tripping up the race leader. It’s about being faster. Better prepared, in the right state of mind, and getting your season peak correct. Combining the 100m and heavyweight boxing will provide an interesting spectacle. But the credibility of being the worlds fastest person would be called into question. Conclusion Could beating your competitors into the ground be considered a strategic move? Could beating your competitors into the ground be considered a strategic move? Not a question any business consultant would want to answer. This article explains that Intelligence is about beating your competitors and dominating markets. It’s about learning about what and why your competitors do what they do. What do they do well, what they are terrible at, and what will they do next? It’s about them not growing at your expense.
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Competitive intelligence, Market Analysis, Competitor Analysis, Corporate Investigations, Commercial Intelligence, Market Intelligence, Competitor Res,
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