Business Innovation: Shoot First

General Christian Theology
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mike
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by mike »

appleman2006 wrote:Some of my best friends are some of my closest competitors. Our attitude towards each other is that there is more than enough business to go around for all of us. We sell and buy from each other. We ask advice of each other. We even at times will send each other customers if we think it will be better for that customer.

There are lines of course that we do not cross out of respect but as a rule the only competitor that I fear is the one that actually finds me to be a threat. Generally when I hear a business running down their competitors it makes me question their own business practices.

I remember years ago we were getting a quote to do a major addition to our house. I had only got two quotes and the second person I asked to quote asked me if I was planning on getting a quote from a particular third company. He then proceeded to run them down big time with a whole bunch of what I deemed to be petty things. I had not even considered this company but I immediately called them up and they actually got the job.
To his credit the sales guy from the other company actually called back and apologized. He stated that it was not normally the way he did business. But he lost that job at least partly because of that.
I really, really like this post. Excellent.
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Remember the prisoners, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily. -Heb. 13:3
undershepherd
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by undershepherd »

I agree with Appleman on all his posts.

I think the quote in the OP is not quite the right terminology but I think the idea he is trying to present is the right one. We don't all have to be on the cutting edge of innovation all the time, but we do need to be constantly seeking to improve ourselves and our business. To do otherwise is to eventually become obsolete and non-existent. For some businesses that takes longer than others. The pace of innovation in a particular field will tend to dictate how long a business in that field can last without innovation.

My grandfather was a very wise farmer/entrepreneur. Once when I asked him about some farming technology that was a pretty recent development he told me that a profitable farmer usually is not going to be the first one to adopt a new technology but neither is he going to be the last. He explained that new technology costs a lot of money and the early adopters pay that price. Once the costs are absorbed by the early adopters then it makes a lot more financial sense to jump in. But if you wait too long you will lose profitability because you haven't kept up with the marketplace. I have often thought of his advice to me when I was barely a teenager and I have observed it to be true for most businesses that I have been involved in.

As far as competition, I didn't see the OP really speak to competition directly. I don't think our goal in business should ever be to squash the competition. If we have a good product or service and we provide good value to our customers, then our competition may suffer, but it won't be because we are trying to push them down or out. It will be because people would rather do business with us for whatever reason. If the competition runs a good business and provides good value, then they should not feel threatened. I have collaborated with my competitors for years and some of them have been a huge asset to my company. I hope I have been the same for their companies.

One of my business mentors always says that we have a duty to give back to the business community or industry that we operate in. We are not an island even in business. I have always been a member of trade associations and have served as a speaker or board of directors member in those associations. The connections/relationships/education that I have received by being a part of those associations has paid for my membership dues many times over.
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Valerie
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by Valerie »

Bootstrap wrote:Much of my career has been on the technical side of innovation. I agree with what Peregrino says about Win-Win.

In general, I think the best paradigm is not "beat your competitor", but "find something really useful that needs doing, and find a way to get paid to do it". Or "find someone to serve in a way that also results in an income". Find a value proposition that your customers care about, make sure that's what's being marketed, make sure that's what's being developed, and you can do business with integrity.

Even better: "What is my calling, and how does God provide for that?" Perhaps God supports your calling via a day job. Perhaps you calling is your day job. Perhaps your calling is to earn money and support other ministries. But beating some other company is definitely not your calling, why would God call you to tear them down?
Years ago, a man at our church took an opposite approach then what was conveyed in the article- he HAD been in the computer business (somehow) but left that business, I think too much competition.

So he prayed & sought the Lord on what to do for a business- he started going through the yellow pages & noticed there wasn't many "Invisible Fencing" (for dogs) businesses in the yellow pages- so he determined to learn & start doing that- so really, he chose a business that he felt there was a need for and that there wasn't a lot of competitors to 'outdo' or compete with.

He was highly sucessful at this and I think keeping the right heart/motivation & praying helped very much. I admired his story.
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