Needed today: Competitiveness

We live in a world of "Participation Awards." Our children are given plaques for showing up at games. Every child is handed a trophy at the end of the Little League or soccer season for their participation. Everyone plays regardless of talent or interest.

Many businesses still run that way. But unlike children's sports, businesses are based on competitions that quite often are won or lost. There is no reward for participating in that bid you lost. That project you lost will not pay your salary or others' salaries.

In business, we are not "in this together" with our competitors, and everybody doesn't "get their share of the pie." Quite simply, there are winners and there are losers.

There are great performers dedicated to achieving and there are slackers along for the ride. Business is not a kid's game.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
www.labovsaleschannel.com

Competitive world

When you have less people buying stuff and less people working at companies, eventually one issue comes into play that was not there when everything was hunky dory: competitiveness.

A manufacturer can no longer thrive by being the number four choice of consumers. That will not mean enough business for them to survive.

Dealers can no longer merely carry the top brands and wait for consumers to break down their walls to buy. If they aren't a top producer, they risk being eliminated by manufacturers looking for more aggressive dealers.

If an employee feels secure just because he or she isn't the worst performer in the company, he or she may be the next one laid-off.

Whether we are competitive or not by our nature, doesn't matter. The nature of business today is changing and the strongest will need to adjust and compete.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

New Competitor for Service Firms?

If you're an aggressive service firm, you not only focus on the customer, but you're also well aware of your competition. The competition today may be hyper-aggressive, or it may be in a slumber - either way, it's imperative that you know their status.

There is a new competitor that we need to be aware of today: the customers themselves. More customers are taking services in-house. They see no problem pulling in basic functions ranging from Web to marketing to customer relations and so on.

There are two reasons for them doing this. 1) Obviously, it saves saves money, at least initially. But the biggest reason it's being done is 2) it's viewed as a way to increase job security. If they can have their in-house team produce services, that team would seem to be less likely to be laid-off, they would be proving their value to the organization.

I have no issue with the client going in-house, if those services can be done by them just as well as their supplier would do them. But as suppliers, we need to make sure our clients understand the real value we bring - that may influence whether they bring that work in-house.

Otherwise, if suppliers don't make clear what unique value and talent they bring, they have another competitor in a crowded recessionary market.


Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov