Cripple a Competitor

When I speak at conventions and conferences in breakout sessions, one of my main goals is to shut down one other concurrent session. I want to have such a large audience eager to hear my information that I have standing room only and one other speaker has an audience of 3 or less. Does this sound cruel to you? Does this sound like I have my priorities all askew? I am in a competitive world just as you are and everyone should be looking for ways to make your business such a draw it cripples your competitor.

I learned this years ago when I was working a cable television trade show and part of my compensation was to have a booth. It just so happens my booth was in between HGTV and the Playboy channel. Because of my antics in the booth, the games I was running and the prizes I was giving away created an excitement that drew a critical mass of people. Once there was the critical mass, people started to noticed and wondered what they were missing and the crowd grew even more. In fact for that show I out drew both of my neighbors purely because I created the right excitement and enthusiasm and had a plan to draw a crowd. Isn’t that the purpose of a trade show? It’s the same purpose for your business.

Create excitement

What are your employees doing to create excitement to draw in customers? Every day is a challenge to grab customers and the excitement and enthusiasm of your employees can become contagious in drawing in customers! Make sure you have the right people with the right attitude to create the right atmosphere for customer growth! Have what your competitors don’t have – employees that want customers.

Draw your target

Business growth is all about survival of the fittest. Who is the weakest in your industrial pack? Target them to cripple the business by creating such a draw in your own business that their customers prefer you. There is nothing wrong with taking down a competitor in the right way. The right way being creating such a demand for what you have to offer they no longer can stay open. The only way you gain market share is to take it from someone else. Keep in mind there is a competitor who should be approaching you the same way. Fortunately for you, most of those weak businesses will end up closing and use the wimpy excuse of blaming the economy.

Be consistent

Growth only happens with a consistent expectation of growing, measuring growth and making every action a step in the growth direction. I’ve watched companies put on a growth push and everything went successfully! Then they say ”that worked well” and start high-fiving each other and sit back and rest. All the growth advantage they gained starts to drift away over time until the next growth panic attack. Leave that approach to your crippled competitor because panic attack growth is exhausting and not sustainable and eventually they just can’t make that one last push because they see growth efforts as exhausting.

In sports people love to be with a winner, and business is the same way. Customers want to be aligned with a company that is exciting, vibrant and growing. Be that company.