Over my life time, I’ve trained in several martial arts. It started at eight years old with Judo. Within six weeks I had learned how to maneuver a 200 pound man (instructor) and flip him over my shoulder. (I weighed about 70 pounds at that time.) The feeling was ecstatic and at 54 I can still flip people over my shoulder effortlessly.
Lisa Barone’s article, 6 Ways Your Small Business Can Steal Customers From Big Brands reminded me of the euphoria a small business owner can get when defeating his 500 pound gorilla competitor.
1. By Focusing on Simplicity
2. By Solving Users’ Core Problems
3. By Outmaneuvering Big Brands
4. By Excelling at Customer Service
5. By Being Fearless
6. By Becoming a Big Brand Yourself
Now Ms. Barone does a nice job of laying out a theory, but small business owners expect case studies. Take Nucor Corporation. They sought to defeat the Goliath of the steel industry like Bethlehem Steel. Bethlehem Steel and other mega steel companies were already in decline due to their labor relationships by time Nucor made a technological breakthrough in 1986. Nucor’s “continuous thin slab casting” worked as an accelerator to Bethlehem’s demise, but the main advantage was its culture. Nucor treated its employees equally in status. Nucor eliminated class distinctions with such practices of having all 7,000 employee names appear in their annual reports and issuing the same color of hats to all employees. In addition, Nucor did not provide large fancy suites and aircraft to its executives.
The result was that Nucor created a more stable culture. A detailed analysis is discussed in Jim Collin’s Good to Great.
Whether you are an artist, or a small business, how are you fighting your major competitor? You must start by taking the gorilla’s weaknesses and using them against it. Just like I used use the weight of a 200 pound man to flip over my shoulder at eight years old. Small business competition shines brightest at those moments.
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