Things we stumbled upon in the dark: Top Ten Competitors.
Intangible competitors. Ask your marketing managers to name their top competitors, and you will see them rush over the names of some of the companies in their industry. The real competition comes from what I call "intangible competitors." These competitors include ways of thinking and ways of looking at the world. They are obstacles that stand in the way of success. When marketing managers resist change, they are facing an intangible competitor. Not controlling them with the proper skill is what determines the biggest failures in the markets.
- Competitor 1: Change. Our society is in perpetual change. Everything changes. Companies change. Industries change. Products change: Today it seems that all products have »intelligence«. Distribution channels change. Attitudes change: Attitudes in the industry change as new technologies transform the way we approach our work. Ethics has become the concern of many companies. The issue of customer satisfaction has become the main theme of large companies that now try to understand what it means. Competitor 2: Resistance to change. Many times companies recognize that a change is taking place in the market, but they still do not react. In this case the competitor is resistance to change. This resistance to change can destroy companies. Often turbulence and continuous change enhance this fear. The demon of resistance to change rarely visits young entrepreneurs. These enjoy innovations and changes. However, as business companies grow, they are increasingly resistant to change. Competitor 3: Informed customers. The customer who lacks information is very easy to satisfy. But today there are not many clients who do not have information. The customer's technological synergy is a requirement for manufacturers. Customers are no longer easy opponents to beat. As the amount of coverage has increased the quality has improved. There are hundreds of data gases connected to computers that can be used by anyone, we live in the information age. However, in the next decade the information will be increasingly specific and programmable by the client. This alternative will generate more power for the buyer. To be successful, companies must try to ensure that the increasing knowledge that buyers have of their products is not an obstacle but rather a capital. Before fighting a critical audience,skeptical and uninformed should learn from him. Technology-based companies should learn a lesson from all of the above.Competitor 4: Customer reasoning. In technology-based businesses, people tend to think of decision-making as a simple and rational process. They are wrong. Indeed, when a user considers the possibility of buying a product, the decision-making process is neither simple nor rational. The information comes in disguise in many ways, with all kinds of doubts and fears coming into play. In order to influence the buyer's reasoning, marketing is designed. Competitor 5: The «merchandise» mentality. What is good for manufacturing is not always good for marketing. As an efficient and low-cost product, nothing beats merchandise. By continually producing the same product-commodity, manufacturers can long realize their every whim in the production process. As volume increases, manufacturers descend the so-called learning curve, and their costs decrease more and more. But a marketing strategy that depends on a merchandise mentality. Clients generally prefer products made according to taste: "exclusively made for me" they want their needs to be exclusively satisfied. Please note that we live in the era of diversity.For a company that works with this profile considering products simply as merchandise, times of high competition and increasingly difficult are approaching. To avoid this merchandise mentality, companies must consider their products as elements to solve problems. Coordinate the different marketing and manufacturing needs that are not always easy, but must be done.Competitor 6: The penchant for big. Edward Schumacher, the economist, was very correct when he coined the expression "small is beautiful". Let's analyze some of his claims:
1) Most of the innovations in the last 20 years in the US have come from companies with less than 200 employees.
2) David Bricho MIT notes that companies with fewer than 20 employees created 60% of all new jobs and companies with fewer than 500 employees created 86% of all new jobs.
3) Small businesses are more efficient in research and development, etc. Indeed, study after study shows that small businesses grow and become big. Unfortunately as they get older most of them start having the same problems as the big ones because as companies grow they are more reluctant to take risks. The bureaucracy of economic groups also reduces risk taking and innovations.
- Competitor 7: Interrupted chains. The business world is full of chains and connections. The products are attached to each other. In a large chain that finally connects the company with customers. No problem or business decision is isolated or silenced. Companies have problems when they think of only one link in the chain and focus on advertising. Or in sales channels or in manufacturing without taking into account that all functions are related. Without taking all these links into account, companies end up in an interrupted chain…., and a failed product. The chain is as strong as its weakest link. That is why all companies must pay attention to each link. If the company breaks up into a bunch of loosely connected sectors,you will lose to your more coordinated competitor. In other words, you will have little chance of reaching your client adequately. The distribution strategy as you can infer has a relevant importance in this matter. In fact, its products are sold through different distribution channels that have to be properly coordinated.Competitor 8: The product concept. What do IBM, AT&T, CBS, Dow Jones and Apple have in common? 5 years ago the answer would have been not much. IBM sold large computers and office equipment. AT&T was in the phone business. CBS had a television network. Dow Jones was a publishing company, and Apple sold personal computers. Today the five companies compete with each other, at least indirectly. In the future they will compete with each other more frequently. In this environment, companies cannot think about products with too many limitations. With this mindset, a personal computer company should not view its product simply as a box with a keyboard and screen.If you view your product this way you will have a very narrow view of the competition and think that the other personal computer companies are your only real competitors. You will plan your strategy with this false sense of the market.Competitor 9: The things you trip over in the dark. Despite how well a company knows and stores its market, it can sometimes be surprised. New technologies, new companies, new applications - all of this can cause a stir in the industry, when they come up with little or no advance notice. I call these unforeseen events "things that you stumble upon in the dark." Companies don't see them coming, but - like the iceberg that sank the Titanic they can do a lot of damage. Today there are more things than ever that we can stumble upon in the dark. The first is the speed with which technological changes occur. The scientific knowledge base, from which technology is fed, continues to grow rapidly.No technology-based company in the industry is free from an unexpected stumble in the dark. Companies can't avoid companies stumbling around in the dark, but they can be prepared for it. They can act without arrogance, expect the unexpected, and react quickly. They can stay close to customers and build strong relationships with all members of the industry infrastructure, including their customers.Competitor 10: Yourself. This competitor is the strongest of all. Machines and equipment do not compete: people do. People have to locate market opportunities and take advantage of them. People have to develop competitive products and strategies, and allocate resources and develop customer relationships. There are many ways that people end up competing with themselves. When someone underestimates their own ideas, simply because they have not been tried before. He is competing with himself. When he also exhibits an air of arrogance and believes that he cannot fail, he also competes with himself. When someone is not willing to listen, when he does not want to change, when he is not inclined to experiment, he is competing with himself. Old approaches to new problems just don't work. AND,Above all, managers must pay attention to their clients. They must listen to them and attend to them. They should not underestimate their competition, nor should they overestimate it. You must continue to experiment.
From Regis McKenna's book "Relationship Marketing" Posted at www.ganaroptions.com
