Negative Target Acquisition
February 7, 2010
If you have ever been in a hang glider you know about ‘Negative Target Acquisition’. The concept is pretty simple, if you focus on the obstacles you are more likely to hit them. Hang gliding instructors will tell you, “Don’t focus on the power lines or the trees, instead focus on the path.” Of course this seems obvious. In business it isn’t so obvious.
I was quoted in the paper today as saying that my biggest challenge was, “focus[ing] on what we’re doing, not what our competitors are doing. If I focus on my competitors, I can’t sleep, I get physically sick and I’m apparently a nightmare to live with.” While I actually believe this, I think it is worth a blog post explaining what I mean.
In 2010 Scott and I decided to spend our time on our two most important initiatives - Architel and ShopSavvy. In both cases we have serious competitors. On the Architel side Scott is dealing with a competitor who plays dirty. Their sales people call our clients regularly suggesting that Architel is facing financial difficulties despite the fact that we are experiencing the best year in our company’s history. They use a quote that I gave to the Dallas Morning News back in 2009 as proof that their claims are true. Additionally since our pricing model is ‘one-size-fits-all’ they simply offer a 30-40% discount over our standard price - of course clients learn the services are not apples-to-apples only AFTER they sign up.
Before the new year, Scott and I had several meetings with our team to come up with a strategy to beat our competitor at their own game. We had a million ideas, but they all had one minor problem - they were about our competitor. Scott turned out to be the voice of reason. “Why not focus on how Architel could be a better company?”, he asked. Of course that was a target we wouldn’t mind hitting. To that end, our 2010 strategy includes a) internal systems improvements, b) service mix update, c) community outreach and d) employee development. We would combat our competitor by simply getting better and telling current and future customers about it.
Ironically, our competitor deserves some of the credit. Without their actions I am not sure we would have decided to revamp our entire company for 2010. Would we have changed our online backup system to use the latest technology? Would we have outsourced our trouble ticket system to experts? Would we have expanded our help desk in the US? Would we have sponsored Fight Night, Chiapas or help send a surgeon to Haiti? To be honest, I doubt it.
So my advice is to focus on your competitors long enough to help you understand how you can make your company better. Take an honest appraisal of your competitor’s offering and then your own and get to work making your offering better. If you keep your eye on your competitor instead of your own business they will likely run you over.
