The only thing worse than a weak competitor, is no competitor at all

When I was a young businessman, the company for whom I worked was a rather successful retailer in a niche space.  We were part of the warehouse club industry like Wal-Mart’s  Sam’s Clubs.  As we continued to achieve more success, some of our competitors were not so fortunate.  Some went out of business while others were acquired by larger companies.

I thought this was great news and felt no reason not to celebrate our success openly with my colleagues.  We would often talk about our “weaker sisters” and in some morbid way we would joke about how long they would be in business.  It was what is sometimes called gallows humor, but nonetheless, we loved talking about our dominance.

One day we were all talking in a little circle on a coffee break.  We were chatting about the imminent demise of one of our closest competitors, when an older executive overheard our conversation.

“Mr. Hayes, did you hear the news?” I asked.

“No, what news?” the executive replied.

“The Warehouse Club just posted another loss for the quarter.  They will be out of business in no time.”

“Well, that isn’t really good news.  We are much better operators than they are, and when customers don’t have something to compare to, they won’t know how good we really are.”  And, he left.

I stood there and realized how important having a competitor is.  Without short people, I would not know I was tall.  Without less intelligent people, you would not know you were more intelligent than some.  Without John McCain, Barak Obama would not have become president.

Having a competitor, a weak competitor is very important to your success.  We need competition.   Don’t try to kill your competition.  Rather, keep your competition, your weak competition near so everyone can see how good you really are.

Hope this helps.

Mike