Unless you’re on “Duck Dynasty,” the old “duck” theory of business is a terrible strategy. Here’s the “Don’t Compete” Competition Plan. You can succeed and win.

Is Your Business All It’s Quacked Up To Be?

Your growth kind of – sucks. You have a solid product or service. Your sales force is well trained and professional. Marketing is competent. Still, you aren’t hitting projections, and top management is breaking out in a cold sweat.

Why aren’t your customers or dealers buying more? Why isn’t the business growing? I hate to break it to you, Bubba – you’re a duck!

What To Do If You’re A Duck

Okay, class, this is Marketing Husbandry 101. Please hold all questions – like “What the heck do you mean?” – until the end of the session. Let’s begin with a simple truth: You can’t compete and succeed through the old “duck” theory of business.

If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck … it’s a duck!

You, your sales force and your company need more than valuable products and services. You can’t look or act like every other member of the business flock. What’s wrong with looking like that other duck? Because it’s not a cute, cuddly quacker – it’s a giant, ravenous vulture circling closer and closer. It’s the competition and you have to differentiate yourself … fast!

How Scary is the Competition?

Let’s do a quick exercise:

1. Make a list of all the possible competitors you encounter.

2. Underline all of the biggest, baddest ones.

Why are they so successful? Do they have tons of people and resources, loads of marketing money and are simply smarter and more professional than you are?

3. Strike through the competitors who are just not as experienced, prepared and professional as you are.

Pull them out of the mix. They shouldn’t be a threat if you’re doing your job well.

4. Analyze who is left.

It should be roughly 10-15% of the pack. That’s your new focus.

How do you deal with this short list? First, take a hard look at how you market, sell and communicate. Does every sales plan say basically the same things? Is every sales meeting the same as the last? Does your sales team walk, look and sound like the competition?

You hate to admit it – but they do! Quick – raise your right hand and swear to stop being a duck.

The “Don’t Compete” Competition Plan

If the main competition is a flock of ducks … Job One is don’t compete with ducks! Toss out the traditional strategies and start using some untraditional ones.

Strategy #1 – Find out what the competition does best and don’t do it.

Take an honest look at every company, product or person on the list. Every one of them has strengths. In fact, most major players in any industry have the same basic strategy – do the same things the competition does – just try to do it better.

But this is key: Don’t go head-to-head in those areas. Do those things in different ways or do something completely different.

Example: Grocery Stores Sell Groceries

There’s a grocery store on just about every corner. They all see the same brands. They all have the same experience. They all market the same way. Whole Foods realized that millions of people don’t want groceries – they want a place to buy wholesome food.

Whole Foods became a content source, an environmental leader, and a group of local stores that don’t look and feel like a grocery chain. Forget the long aisles and high shelves. They put all a consumer needs for a “green” lifestyle in easy reach. The big chains send out weekly ads and duke it out over the price of Tide. Whole Foods has a synchronized online and offline relationship with its consumers that shares ideas and information about eating well.

Strategy #2 – Don’t Play By the Rules – Change Them.

Have you ever seen a bunch of ducklings walking? They line up single file and follow the one in front. Have you ever noticed that most businesses do exactly the same thing? They’re afraid of risk so they wait until someone leads and then they follow. New products, opening markets, using new techniques – it’s usually the same.

The moral is: If you can’t win the game – change the rules.

If there’s some area where you can’t compete and win, make it unimportant. Don’t follow, be prepared; determine the best time and then lead. Be the first duck and not the last. I won’t mix metaphors with sled dogs but you get the idea.

Strategy #3 – Stand Up and Stand Out.

If every competitor looks alike, uses the same images and has the same marketing language, where’s the competition? Think about the major players in fast food. One hamburger looks pretty much like the next, and the same with fries. You can load up on marketing and sell price, but does that really make you different?

Example: Take A Giant Step To The Far Side

Chick-fil-A is famous for chicken in a market filled with hamburgers. The company utilized all three of these strategies in 1995 with “Eat Mor Chikin.” Here’s the idea – the cows of the world have united to encourage the American public to eat less beef and eat more “chikin.” Apparently, cows are big on teamwork and a little loose on spelling. Twenty years later the campaign is still working. Chick-fil-A turned what looked like a perception problem into a benefit. They ignored the rules and dared to be really different.

Here’s Your Takeaway: How to Compete and Succeed

Be “unconventionally conventional” – Don’t feel you have to do business in a traditional manner. Traditional means “just like the competition.”

Be consistently different – Be unpredictable. Do the unexpected. If you’ve become just another sales rep with an appointment, then shake things up. Become known for surprise in providing dazzling benefits that delight customers.

Pick your battles – Don’t go head-to-head. Create, or play in, a different market.

Find an equalizer – Eliminate an obstacle or flip it and make it a benefit. Create a strategic alliance or partnership.

Find your unique benefits and use them – If you can’t honestly develop a compelling list of valuable, unique benefits for that customer, then get another customer. There are just some businesses where you can’t compete in ways that are practical and profitable.

Ducks Don’t Soar – They Waddle

No one every associates the words: Inspirational, Majestic or Motivational with ducks. Ducks make a ton of noise and don’t do much. So, you can compete and succeed by “ducking” the competition, changing the rules and really stand out. It’s a tough barnyard, and you have to be able to compete and succeed if you want to be the goose that laid the golden egg. And not an ugly duckling.

Let’s spend 15 minutes talking about your next project or challenge. Just click on CONTACT US or send an email to andy@ideagroupatlanta.com and get in touch.

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