Competitive Mudslinging

Although I realize by a recent survey that I read and another that I took in class today that universally politicians are not trusted and not liked, I am using a political ad as an example for this week’s Insight. Please look beyond the politicians to the example. Russ Feingold, one of the senators from Wisconsin, is facing reelection against Ron Johnson, an entrepreneur who owns a plastics manufacturing business in Milwaukee. Johnson’s commercials have featured him dismissing the traditional political advertising and talking straightforwardly about runaway spending. In no nonsense terms, he firmly states that he wants to go to Washington to fix the situation. “Government doesn’t create jobs; government creates debt. You know that, and I know that,” he says.

Feingold’s response to Johnson is to say that his opponent wants to turn the Great Lakes over to the oil companies. Playing on the disaster in the Gulf, Feingold maintains that he will never let that happen; he will protect the Great Lakes from the oil companies.

Of course, you can guess that Johnson has come back and now has ads running which state that he would never turn the Great Lakes over to the oil companies. Furthermore, he states, Feingold knows that there is a law against that happening. After all, he says, Feingold voted against that law. In fact, he was the only Great Lakes senator to do so.

I know. That sounds like the traditional back and forth mud slinging typical of most campaigns. Voters get tired of hearing these exchanges and become so confused that they do not know for whom they want to vote. Ultimately, the difference between the two blurs into a “He said, he said” exchange.

While businesses do not usually engage in mud slinging, unfortunately, many business people do become obsessed with their competition. They fret about the competition’s prices. They agonize over how their inventory compares to that of the competition. They worry that customers will buy from their competition and not shop them. They place too much emphasis on what the competition is doing rather than on what their business offers customers.

Customers don’t care about competitors; they care about what you offer. They ask, “What’s in it for me to do business with your business?”

99.9% of your customers do not think about your competition when they are dealing with you. If your business has what a customer wants, most likely that customer will buy from you. If not, he or she may look elsewhere. If the customer has done business with you before, the chances are very high that he or she will do business with you first and foremost.

Realize that the concern about your competition resides in your head, your outlook, and your worry. Switch your view and look at your business from your customer’s point of view. Focus on solving your customers’ problems. Don’t focus on your competition. Talking about your competition doesn’t solve a customer’s problem. In fact, you may pique your customer’s interest in them.

Take a lesson from the politicians. If you solve customers’ problems, your business will thrive. If you don’t, you will always be rolling around in the mud with your competition.

That’s not a profitable place to be.