Rush Hour

There are no traffic jams when you go the extra mile. - Anonymous

And no speed limit.

Doing Things Differently

If all you're trying to do is essentially the same thing as your rivals, then it's unlikely that you'll be very successful. - Michael Porter

What do your customers need that your competitors don't provide?

Competing for Life

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty. - Abraham Lincoln

Come on Abe........The sheep and wolf are in competition. Liberty does not mean freedom from competition. It's your job to educate them.

Don't Be Late

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. - Abraham Lincoln

Particularly good advice when the dinner bell rings.

Feared Competitors

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time. - Henry Ford

Work for a company so you don't think you have a business? You have a business - Yourself. Become the competition to be feared.

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say. Here's a post from the past - expanded.

Price Isn't Everything
Maybe the reason it seems that price is all your customers care about is...... that you haven't given them anything else to care about. – Seth Godin

This thought can be applied to a lot more than customers. The next time you find yourself thinking "All they care about is my.......", remember this line.

My father went into the lumber yard bussiness in 1962 with the idea of expanding. The nearest competitor was just down the street and was much bigger with a lot more customers. He wanted some of them.

One of the vendor's salesmen told my dad "You don't want his customers - they are the kind of customer that wants cheap stuff." The guy down the street specialized in cheap stuff. He sold the cheapest two by fours in town and his customers delighted in finding those that wouldn't break in half if you picked up one end.

There are those that want the cheapest - they will abandon you for a penny. You don't want them. If you have a new product you may be tempted to price it cheap in order to make sales. If you do you will get that kind of customer - you don't want them. It is better to offer the best product you can; price it reasonably; give exceptional service. That way you will get "good" customers who know that value is more important than price. There are customers you do not want.

The Status Quo Police

The status quo police aren't going to go away, and in fact, they are often a big help in that most of your competition is held at bay by them. – Seth Godin

People are going to tell you to do things as they have always been done. If everyone listened to them there would be no progress.

Chess

The master chess player has not merely mastered how each piece moves or developed a few opening and closing strategies; the master chess player can think at least 6 moves into the future, understanding how to trap his opponent and win the game. - Charles Koch



The same applies in the business world.

Goals

If you are not working daily toward your goals, you are helping someone achieve theirs. – Kerry L. Johnson



I doubt the inverse of this is true (working towards your goal prevents others from reaching theirs). The prudent person wants everyone to succeed.

Novelty

Of all the passions that possess mankind, the love of novelty rules most the mind; in search of this from realm to realm we roam, our fleets come fraught with every folly home. – Samuel Foote

Isn't using this what Apple has been best at? Novel products can become fads but to become indispensable they must have value beyond their cost. Microsoft has been good at he latter, Apple the former. So the lessen to be learned is to imbue your product with both.

Business Competition

There is one rule for industrialists and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible. - Henry Ford



I have always believed that any company would succeed by providing a quality product, at a reasonable price, with good service. Paying well may enable all three (quality, price, service). If the industry you are in has many players who provide all three of these qualities perhaps paying better wages is the competitive advantage you've been looking for.