Category Archives: Strategy

Who Are You Competing Against – Really?

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Who Are You Competing Against – Really?

Top Ten Reasons why you should Love Your Competition

Seth Godin says: “Competing with yourself is more difficult, requires more bravery and leads to more insight.”

When someone says ‘Ah, so you are a competitor?’ - what are they really saying? Your greatest competitor is probably not another player in your market – in fact they are not nearly as much of a threat as you think and surprisingly provide you with more benefits than you could imagine.

So who, or what is the real competition?

  • Yourself – bettering the person you were yesterday
  • Time – not beating the clock, but being more efficient
  • Procrastination – the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now
  • Distraction – resisting temptation, trivia and timewasting
  • Knowledge – do you know so much that you can’t take on a new idea?

Our real competition is our human failings, including our fear of competition.

So here are my Top Ten Reasons why you should Love Your Competition:

  1. Competitors grow the entire category
  2. Competitors can service clients you can’t, shouldn’t or won’t
  3. Competitors are often your best source of qualified referrals
  4. Competitors will welcome your qualified referrals
  5. Competitors can be your best collaborators as they understand the industry and add the valuable dimension of a different perspective
  6. Competitors keep you on your toes and encourage you to do your best and continually improve your offering, service and performance
  7. Competitors are investing in and developing your industry with research, new ideas, designs, tools, methodologies and processes
  8. Poor competitors aren’t competitors at all. They will either make you smug (because we are all so good, right?) or drag you down with excuses for poor performance
  9. Effective competitors create whole new opportunities for the market and create masses of downstream wealth and activity
  10. Competitors keep you honest

The competition is you. Your time starts now.

 

The Man In The Arena

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The Man In The Arena is an excerpt from Theodore Roosevelt’s now famous speech ‘Citizenship In A Republic‘ delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910.

It is one of my favourite quotes as it acts to both strengthen resolve in adversity and celebrate success in victory:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

It is almost impossible not to be stirred by such powerful words. So, who will you be today? The critic – or the Man In The Arena?

For more inspirational quotes, follow Stolen Quotes on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Disclosure: Stolen Quotes is a specialist PR, media and communications firm wholly owned by Michael Field Pty Ltd.

Contributor:

Michael Field, Managing Director for Michael Field Pty Ltd.

Entrepreneurship and growing businesses

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Michael Field was recently interviewed by The Profitalist for their Entrepreneur Insider Series. He shares his views on the future of marketing consulting industry, entrepreneurship and growing the businesses.

Below is an excerpt. The full article can be found at: http://www.profitalist.com/entrepreneur-insider-series-michael-field-michael-field-strategic-marketing-consultants/

Q: Where do you see your industry heading in the next 5 years?

A: The marketing industry is benefitting enormously from technology and globalisation. One positive impact is that we can now source talent from a global talent pool and increase our productivity by optimising workflow across time zones.

I see an ever-increasing reliance on technology, increased in-house marketing capabilities and talent development (especially in business development, account and relationship management) as key drivers for success in the future.

Q: What do you plan on doing/changing in order to keep growing in this time period?

A: Our business has evolved from a single person consultancy to a fully integrated strategic marketing consultancy, advertising agency, and PR, media and communications consultancy.

To remain competitive, we need to be at the forefront of these changes, ensuring that we are taking our clients with us on the journey. We are more focused on developing our client attraction and retention strategies while simultaneously developing global reach and expertise in our talent pool.

Q: What one piece of advice would you give to someone just starting out in your industry and wanting to make it to the top?

A: The one piece of advice I would offer is this: Ask yourself if you are truly committed to doing this for the long haul.

This is not a ‘get-rich-quick’ industry. It is built on long-term, mutually beneficial trust relationships. Relationships take time to build, cultivate and harvest. If you are going to set up a marketing or strategy consulting business, it is a lifestyle choice, which has multiple demands on you and your time. The rewards are not all financial. Much of the rewards for the first several years are simply surviving, winning the next deal, building strong relationships and delivering high quality work. Ask yourself if you are really up for it!

Article link: http://www.profitalist.com/entrepreneur-insider-series-michael-field-michael-field-strategic-marketing-consultants/

Contributor:

Michael Field, Managing Director for Michael Field Pty Ltd.