Thoughts, ideas, and lessons learned from real-world customer engagements and interactions...
Co-opetition
27 Sep 2009 | No Comments | posted by admin | in Media
In the October 2009 edition of Profit magazine there was a good article by Brian Scudamore who is the Founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. In his article Collaboration – The Enemy Advantage, he talks about finding ways to cooperate and work with your competition. For many of us we have been raised in business to “beat” and “fight” our competition, however there is quite a bit of merit to what Brian shares in this article.
First off, I am not suggesting that you share your books or customer list with your competitors, however for Seed, Early, and Growth Stage companies there is a great deal of value that can come out of some collaboration with your competitors within the industry. By taking the time to get to know each other and to explore common challenges that you face within the industry, you can then begin to find ways to work together for the benefit of everyone within your industry. For example, by working together you may have a bigger voice in order to take on lobbying for some new government regulations, or you can explore new methodologies and technologies that can increase the efficiency and profitability of both of your businesses. In the article, Brian even states “…who knows when I might need my competition for help?”
The definition of insanity….
27 Aug 2009 | No Comments | posted by admin | in Media, News
The definition of insanity, is doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results!
According to Rick Spence who is the author of Canadian Entrepreneur, in a recent article that appeared in the Vancouver Sun entitled Deep Cuts Not the Best Cure reiterates this statement. According to his article and research provided by a Canadian marketing firm, it appears that of the of the small to medium sized companies, many of which have been affected by the current economy, have done nothing to change their approach. It goes on to highlight that these companies have not changed their sales strategies, have not tried anything to adapt to their customers needs, and have not done anything in order to try to get closer to their customers.
That is insanity. It is one thing to not know what to do or how to do it…but, it is another to do nothing at all. It is unfortunate because the success or failure of these companies affects us all. Not only does it create jobs and opportunities for Canadians, it affects the communities we live in, it affects the opportunities available to the next generation (our children), and it affects the ability for Canadian companies to be able to truly compete on a global level.
