Is excessive competition driving you bonkers?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a monopoly?
Spending your days battling the competition can make you punch drunk, and bereft of all peace of mind. Eventually, you’ll lose your sanity, as has the unfortunate manager in the photo. Fortunately, there’s an alternative!
What distinguishes your company from the others in your industry? If you can’t come up with a significant difference — other than location — then you’re competing on price alone. It means that you’re continually running sales, seeking to undercut the competition. Your competitors, in turn, lower their prices hoping to undercut you. (That’s how they do it at supermarkets and in many other industries.)
This price war means that your profit margins are likely to becomewafer thin. You’re working harder and harder for less and less. It’s a desperate way to run a company, and an anxious way to live! Is there an alterantive? Yes there is; please read on…
A fellow named Peter Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal, wrote an essay entitled, “Competition is for Losers” Mr. Theil contends that to win in the game of business, you need a monopoly. What grants a company a monopoly is that it offers unique product or service that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate.
Along these same lines, Seth Godin wrote a book entitled, “Purple Cow” (Portfolio, 2009). It’s premise is that to avoid competition your business must not be a comodity. Rather, it must be like a purple cow, i.e., remarkable, totally unique. And some years before that the marketing mavens Al Reis and Jack Trout, and fathers of the notion of “positioning,” contended that the key to success is “Cherchez le creneau,” which translates as: find the niche, the hole, the gap in the marketplace and fill it.
As you can see, our business consultancy has a strong marketing focus. Our purpose, then, is to help you to find a niche, a product or service that distinguishes you from the competition. It could similarly be a brand that has a unique apeal. Of course, Sherlock & Zen provide a variety of business services, but helping businneses find and develop their unique brand, or niche, is our niche!