So there little David was; standing five foot two, holding a single piece of leather and looking across a field at a nine-foot-tall guy whose mind was set to take him and his boys out. Dude was so big his posse called him Goliath. Undaunted, the little guy used what he could find to drop Goliath like a hot mike.
You can do the same. Whether you’re considering how to sell ebooks on your own website, sandals – or even better – slingshots, these tips for competing against a larger rival will serve you well.
Probe for Your Opening
David realized if he could put a rock right between Goliath’s eyes, he had a very good shot at bringing him down. So he put the tools he had at his disposal – a strip of leather and good-sized rock he found on the ground – to good use.
Your competitor, regardless of how large it is, has weaknesses too. Take a look at its target customer, analyze its pricing, examine its market strategy, ID its unique selling position, determine its strengths and weaknesses.
Somewhere in there you will find an opening into which you can propel a stone and stun them long enough to gain market share.
Infographic created by Clover Network, a POS software company.
Exploit Your Agility
Goliath saw the rock coming – he did. But he was a large and lumbering guy, so he couldn’t get out of its path in time. He also thought he was too big for the rock to inflict damage. Similarly, big companies almost always take a long time to consider innovative ideas and often deem them inconsequential.
An engineer at Kodak invented the digital camera – way back in 1973. When his management team finally got around to taking a serious look at it, they decided the film business was so good there was no need to bother with such a “distraction”.
Have you taken a look at Kodak stock lately? New ideas have to be floated through layers of bureaucracy before they can be implemented in large organizations. As a result, innovations are often ignored. Meanwhile, you can decide right now you’re going to figure out how to sell ebooks on your own website and get started in a fraction of the time it would take your large rival to do so.
Focus on Your Largest Opportunity
Sure, there were many different ways David could have gone at Goliath. But he looked at the situation, decided where his biggest opportunity lay and focused on executing it to the best of his ability. You will probably see hundreds of ways you can grow your business. But before moving on any of them, take a moment to look for the one with the biggest upside and focus on it to the exclusion of everything else.
As an example, Federal Express could have tried to go head to head with the USPS. Instead, the company recognized there was a pressing need for people to get packages delivered overnight. Despite its size and might, the Postal Service wasn’t doing it. FedEx figured out how to pull it off on a consistent basis and look at the company now.
These three tips for competing against a larger rival will help you tilt just enough of the playing field to your advantage to make a difference.
Hey, if a five foot two guy with a rock and a strip of leather can drop a nine-foot guy like Goliath, imagine what you can do with patience, contemporary technology and a well-composed strategic initiative. As successful as he was, David didn’t have anything on you.