Does your competition have you playing their game? Are their moves so unsettling your company that you are not sure which way to turn? If that is the case, then you are playing in their garden by their rules. If they have set it up right, you can’t win.
What are your choices? Well, its either roll over and die, or understand what your own core competencies are and change the rules to win on those, if you can. If you can’t, it’s because you are playing in a market that doesn’t value them. In that case you have two choices..exit the market or change the market. I’ve chosen the latter, simply because the market is ready for it. How do I know?
In 2000, my sales team told me I was nuts to launch a range of solar panels at $4.50 per watt when the market was at $3.50 per watt. They warned me that we would be outpriced and never penetrate. Four years later, I think the results speak for themselves.
And now, I think it’s time for a change again. Funny enough, I’m not hearing the same resistance. Two reasons: First, the team and market have learned to respect my opinion when I say that a change is good for all. Second, the market is ready for it. It has gone through the bottom-feeding try to find the lowest cost cycle and realized that consumers will pay for value, but value must be paid for to gain consumers.
So what’s the link between the topics above? Well, if you toe other people’s line, you don’t stand much chance of distinction and growth. In fact, you may just be setting yourself up for failure. Don’t confuse novelty for innovation. Novelty is new up until the point in time where it is disproven as valuable. Innovation is not only novel in its approach, but delivers the objective at hand.
Let them play by your rules. The entry fee to the game is much more expensive for the ones that don’t own the playing field.
Sass