Imagine for a minute that somewhere out there, someone is planning to attack your business to win your best customers. What do you do?
It’s just idle thought, right? Surely no one would really be planning to attack you. After all, your business is safe and secure and your customers love you…
Oh really? Think again! Think about it – and plan for it.
Change in the digital age is a combination of rapid evolution and occasional disruptive revolution. It’s often largely driven by competition, and by the ability different business people have to see different – and better – ways to use emerging tools and technologies.
In digital age business planning, it’s worth recognizing you have three key types of competitor: Static, Evolving & Revolutionary.
Your Static Competitors
Your Static Competitors exist in a static comfort zone with a traditional view of your industry. They don’t pro-actively change, are slow to react and may even be asleep on the job.
They will either wake up and learn to change through survival necessity, or they will die in their sleep.
Your Evolving Competitors
Evolving Competitors make strategic or ad-hoc incremental change to their business to provide more value by offering new or enhanced products and services utilizing new methods and systems.
Evolving Competitors may have a good understanding of digital age trends and make sound decisions to achieve both short-term and long term objectives, or they may just be lucky in their choices.
Think about your Evolving Competitors and how they already have been changing their products or business operations. Consider three of your competitors who seem to be evolving their business and your industry. Look at what they have done well, and then look at their weaknesses. Look to see what they have done that you can implement in your own business plan.
Your Revolutionary Competitor
Sooner or later however, a Revolutionary Competitor may emerge who partially or totally disrupts your industry. This is the guy who could totally stuff up your previous business planning.
This Revolutionary Competitor may be new to your industry or may be a green fields off-shoot of one of your existing competitors. They understand digital age trends and have been focused on finding and providing highly effective digital age solutions that address the same customer problems as you do but deliver more benefits and value faster, better and at a lower cost.
This competitor will not let themselves be hamstrung by their past or current operations, and may be starting fresh without unprofitable legacy customers, out-dated legacy systems; unwanted legacy staff or expensive legacy suppliers. They have no corporate ego or negative baggage.
They could have a better product with better benefits, better customer service and deliver it faster, more conveniently and at a lower price than you. They may have ample funding, have quickly built their new brand, established a credible reputation and be trusted in the marketplace.
The Revolutionary Competitor that could hurt you the most would be one whose strategy is to go after your most profitable and juiciest customers and entice them away. Despite your previously secure position, your business could start to lose its best customers.
If you were the Revolutionary Competitor wanting to put your company out of business, what would you do?
Your Revolutionary Competitor Planning Questions
- If you wanted to put yourself out of business, what would you do?
- Which trends could you work with to make your old business obsolete?
- If you were free of the legacies of your existing business operation and free of your products, systems and staffing, how would you set up the business differently?
- How could you operate this business?
- What could you have on your website? What Reasons To Visit (RTV) and Reasons To Return ( RTR)?
- What products could you have that will deliver more benefits and greater value better, faster at a lower cost?
- What could your products look like? How could your products operate?
- How could you build trust?
- What are the risks and threats to your current business from a real revolutionary competitor?
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