An inherent advantage of a small business is it’s agility and flexibility in the competitive landscape. Having limited bureaucracy and rapidly deployable assets, a small business can become a huge thorn in the side of larger competition. I believe most of us are aware of this fact, yet, how many small business owners actually take advantage of their size? An issue I faced myself was that most small business want to become big businesses very quickly. We take courses on strategic management, read books on complicated working models and do our best to imitate the strategies that seem to have worked so well for the larger players. I followed this thinking for quite sometime until one of my mentors sat me down and told me how much time and resources I was burning attempting to play a duplication strategy.
Small companies, due to their size, should not take on larger companies head-on. We have to be very selective of the competition we choose to attack, and more importantly, the strategy that we choose to deploy. The competition that you want to stay far away from are relatively established sized companies who are growing at a fast clip. Replicating their strategy or going after the same market makes it harder for you to stand out from the pack. Rather, pick more established larger players who are offering products or services in the same industry as yours, but, are not as focused. By launching targeted attacks on their space it is much more likely that you will begin to see results.
Frankly, I love competition! If someone tells me that their business has no competition, I am genuinely worried for them. The existence of competitors means that there are customers willing to pay for a particular product or service in the market. When you go about creating a market, you need a lot of cash and even more patience to wait it out. I much rather go after an established market, with a unique competitive advantage and ruffle some feathers. Easier said than done, I know….but, it sure beats trying to convince customers what your product or service is all about, and why they should choose you and use it.