In his book, The Art of War, Sun Tzu writes “The skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting.” In business, especially in sales,his quote rings true to me. That’s why so many business leaders use The Art of War as a strategy playbook to outsmart their competition versus engage their competition!
Here are some tried and true examples of using military strategies to create a business advantage:
- Engage a “Pre-Emptive Attack” on your competitors with a superior or differentiated offering
Launch the most innovative product and/or processes, occupy a new territory or be the first to market
- “Surround your Competition” assuming you have adequate resources to cover the market
- If you have insufficient resources a “Divide and Conquer” approach may work
Segment the market and attack each market individually
- Meet your competitor “Head On”
This strategy normally ends up becoming a price war
- Engage in a “Siege Mentality”
Very costly for both attacker and the attacked
Over the years I have found that guerrilla business strategies also work quite well. For example:
- Advertising that compares your products/services with those of your competitors
Showing clear differentiation/competitive advantage
- Short term alliances/joint ventures
Leveraging one another’s core competencies to see if they move-the-needle
- Mystery shopping your competition
A competitive intelligence library is a must if you want to succeed long-term
- Selective reductions in price for short periods of time
Called market-building pricing
In war, like in business, executing your strategy becomes a matter of life and death!
The bottom line is this…if you don’t have a competitive advantage…don’t compete!
