Competition in business is a good thing. It separates the mediocre from the outstanding by continually raising the bar. Competition improves entire industries and ultimately the quality of our lives. It pushes us to be better than we thought we were able. However, when competition becomes corrupt, it acts like an acid eating up the vessel in which it’s stored.
In every industry, marketplace and neighbourhood, you’ll find competing businesses. When I drive down the street from my home and turn the corner, I’m assaulted by gas stations on every corner, each one serving up the same as the next. Are they different? Not to me. When I need gas, I stop at the most convenient station that doesn’t require making a left turn when I exit. Easy in. Easy out.
How about donut shops? We must have the highest donut shops per capita in the world. In one particular intersection I know, there are three Tim Horton’s – one in a plaza, another at a gas bar and the third is a freestanding kiosk – within eyesight of one another! I thought the intersection was adequately covered but I was wrong. A Coffee Time franchise opened in the plaza and started competing with the three Tim Horton’s. Then Second Cup got into the act and opened down the street but not before The Great Canadian Bagel opened kitty corner to the Tim Horton’s at the gas bar. The only thing missing is a coffee plantation to reduce shipping costs; just take the beans from the plants and grind them directly. Who needs middlemen?
People compete over everything. As a neophyte homeowner, I recall clearly how my new neighbours would tour each other’s homes every night during the summer months. Whenever someone got a new barbeque, lawnmower, porch light, whatever, everyone on the street had to have one. I was a poor student at the time, taking night courses and working during the day. To ease my wife’s feelings of inadequacy at being overtaken in the material possession contest by our neighbours I kept reminding her that everything will happen in its time, and that what we had together was more important than “stuff” we didn’t really need. That was cold comfort when she felt we were losing the race, but what race? A race to acquire junk that would fill our garage? Hell, I was thrilled to own my own home! The fact that we only had furnishings for 3 rooms didn’t bother me one bit. It just meant my daughter and I had more space to play ball inside when it was raining out. The kids loved our house, because they could move around unobstructed, and there were no carpets to soil, and no one yelled at them if they left fingerprints on the walls. In time we painted and furnished, and acquired, and moved into a larger house. So everything comes in time. Sometimes competition speeds it along, but if you persevere, you will achieve what you set out to do.
Competition by itself is unrewarding. When we compete, we need a goal. To simply bash the other guy out of existence isn’t competition, it’s mercenary and misguided. Competition in business is about growing by improving performance. The point of competition in business is to achieve your business, personal and life goals. It is a positive endeavour. When you set out to do better than the competition, either by price, quality, service or innovation, you attract more business. You make more money. You build yourself and business up. But when you compete by trashing the other guys, you bring yourself down.
People judge you by what you say and do. When you focus on the positive, it’s easier for people to identify with you. When you compete by tearing into your competition, you reveal your own shortcomings. Eventually you’ll lose the trust of the people you’re working to win over. You may get ahead in the short run but over the long haul your negativity will do you in.
Focusing on a positive objective elevates you and your enterprise. The more successful you become, the more competition you’ll attract. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can refuse to wrestle in the mud with them. And if you don’t wrestle in the mud, you won’t get dirty.
