The game of “Cat and Mouse” is one that usually never ends…one day the cat is chasing the mouse and the next day the mouse is chasing the cat. The end result is that neither one win…but they expend a tremendous amount of energy playing the game. This is not unlike many businesses today…especially small and mid-sized businesses.
But it doesn’t have to be this way…you can change the game where you WIN…ALL THE TIME! Stop playing the “cat and mouse” chasing game and elevate your business to be at the top of your industry…consistently and repeatedly. You can choose not to participate in this game and create a game where you are in control and can consistently lead your industry.
Competition is often times more imagined than real…it takes on a new life and creates fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. But it doesn’t have to be…it can take a back seat and you can watch it in your rear view mirror.
When I ask business owners and leaders who their competition is, they can immediately give me a list of names. They can even prioritize them for me…easily. And when I ask them “WHY” they are such a strong competitor, this is what I usually hear…
- They are much bigger than us and have lots more resources
- They carry more products and have a broader product line than we do
- Their services are broader or deeper in certain areas
- They are always offering a lower price than we can offer
- They have most of the top customers in our field
- They have some of the best employees in our industry
- They have…and the list goes on
I would argue that while these may be very real and true, they aren’t your real competitive threats. These are all COMMODITIES…areas that anyone can compete in if they offer more of it, lower pricing, and attractive deals to employees and customers. They can be “traded” back and forth at any point in time. And the one that happens to have the “best deal” in any one of these areas at a single point in time can be the leader…for the moment.
This is the number one issue with playing in the “COMMODITY GAME”…the game of “Cat and Mouse”…and you can be the leader for only a certain period of time until someone comes in and takes this away from you. Then you have to figure out how to get back on top and take it away from them. It’s a “cat and mouse” game where everyone in the sector chases each other around…sometimes you are in the lead being chased and sometimes you are the one chasing someone else in the lead.
It doesn’t have to be this way…you can end it…CHANGE THE GAME of ALWAYS BEING CHASED.
If you listen closely to the leaders of some of the largest, most successful companies, they will tell why they are always in the lead and don’t play the cat and mouse game. And they all say the same thing…“If you treat the customer better than anyone else in your industry, you will be the leader.” Whether you are Virgin America, Zappos, Amazon, Nordstrom, or a host of other companies that are recognized industry leaders, they all focus on the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE as their primary differentiator…their primary COMPETITOR KILLER.
All these “best companies” know they can’t win in the commodity game…and they don’t want/try to. One of my favorite phrases of all time is, “You can’t ever win the race to the bottom.” Playing the commodity game means you have entered the race to the bottom…trying to win in competitive areas such as price. This will eventually erode your business along with everyone else in your category or industry. Let me share an interesting way to think about this race to the bottom…one that you may have already experienced.
Let’s say you decide to cut your prices just a bit so that you can try and lure customers away from your competition. You succeed…and you pick up some of their customers. Your competition sees this happening and determines that this is a good strategy to do as well. After all, it worked to attract customers away from them…so they lower their prices a bit as well. Then another competitor sees this and says we can take customers away from both of you if we lower prices quite a bit, which they do, and they pull a bunch of customers away from both you and your other competitors. This goes on and on and on until at some point you are barely profitable and you have had to cut costs, lay off people, and lessen your service. Then something happens…
A brand new competitor comes in…someone you have never heard of or seen before in your industry. They don’t cut prices…in fact their prices are markedly higher than yours and your competitors. But they offer an incredibly amazing experience…one your customers immediately sit up and take notice of and want to check out. They check it out…it’s awesome…they love it…they want more of it…they want to tell all their friends about it because it is so phenomenal compared to you and your other competitors. So THEY LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK.
This is happening all the time today in almost every industry…and this trend is going to continue to grow. Think Uber, Airbnb, Legal Zoom, and many others that have come in out of nowhere and taken away millions of customers from competitors fighting it out with each other. They offered a different model that gave the customers a better experience at a reasonable price…they are taking your market share away and they came out of nowhere.
THIS WILL CONTINUE…AT A VERY RAPID PACE WELL INTO THE FUTURE. You and I, the customer, are dying to have this happen. We are tired of all the gimmicks, price battles, and being treated poorly. We DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS ANY LONGER. We want (and deserve) to be treated like we matter…because we do and we will take our dollars and spend it on those businesses that recognize this and deliver it to us.
THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY FOR ANY BUSINESS IN ANY INDUSTRY TODAY. The question is whether you, the owner and leader, can see it and be willing to transform your company to take advantage of it. If you do, I promise you will not have to play the “cat and mouse” game any longer…you will be the one everyone is chasing.
