David did beat Goliath.
During coaching last week, I spoke with seven people who were trying to operate against the likes of Amazon, Yahoo, big coaching organizations, Ulta and a large medical group.
Many think it’s fool-hardy to run against the big guys.
I don’t…when you do it right.
Almost all of us have at least one really big company or individual that swallows up all the air in the room. Yet, Davids succeed every day when they know how.
You can’t throw the big guy out, and you can’t beat them at their own game. Instead, you build your own game. Happily, many small companies have succeeded in beating Goliath, and we’ve got the principles they use to become masters of their own game.
The “Beat Goliath” principles come from a very unusual place—the world of judo. In judo, a combatant uses the weight and strength of the competitor as an advantage. Much better than being slapped silly to the mat, trying to match a really big opponent blow-by-blow.
We smart, smaller guys aim to take the advantage our really big competitor has—resources, strength, size, money, market awareness—and use it against them.
Judo strategy operates with three elements, and for the next several conversations we’re going to examine how you can use them in your business to best the big guys. Rapid movement, flexibility and leverage all translate into your competitive advantage.
The first principle: rapid movement.
Judo smart players move rapidly to new markets or niches—to uncontested ground or into your spot of maximum preeminence. Step away from hand-to-hand combat. If your big guy wants to dominate everything—like Amazon—you find your niche. One client last week was seriously trying to figure out how to take on Amazon.
Ah…no.
Move to uncontested ground. Move to where you have an advantage.
At first, it might not seem like you have any advantage at all. Amazon is “gi-normous”, highly profitable and a gorilla in the market. Could there even be uncontested ground when battling against Amazon?
You bet. Amazon doesn’t provide many products that require upfront sales assistance. Products generating lots of hands-on or questions prior to the sale don’t show up on Amazon. However, my client is great at that.
Round One: My client.
She won, not because Amazon didn’t do…they couldn’t do.
Another client found she was losing business over-and-over again to a large coaching company. What didn’t they do…what couldn’t they do?
Her competitor used a “formula” for coaching everyone. My client’s coaching followed a process, but one with a great deal of flexibility in it. Everything she did was designed to each individual. She began to focus her marketing on her customized path to peak business performance, and she started to win more contracts.
Round One: My client.
Judo strategy and the first principle—rapid movement—can be a powerful tool for any company, including yours. Avoid the sumo match where weight and strength matter most.
Instead embrace your agility and brain power. That big, old competitor will start to look pretty slow and dated when you do.