Judo is a method of turning an opponent’s strength into a weakness and overcoming their physical advantage by skill rather than sheer strength. You can use something I call Small Business Judo (I sometimes refer to this as Virtual Business Judo) to compete against large and established companies by turning their greatest strengths into clearly defined weaknesses. Don’t try to show greater depth of resources or feign an ability which is not at your command. Don’t try to convince someone that you have a broader product line than an established billion dollar competitor if you only employ five people. But you can easily convince someone that you have great expertise in a focused area or that you’ll be much more responsive than a multibillion dollar corporation.
If you were to take a 40 foot cabin cruiser and place it in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, nobody would notice it, and even if you were searching for it, it is unlikely to be found. Yet if we were to take the same 40 foot boat and place it in the middle of a small two acre pond, it would be almost impossible to overlook. Small companies should consider this perspective when seeking market share for their emerging business. Some years ago, while leading the sales and marketing efforts of a small software startup, I decided to focus our sales and marketing efforts on a very small and specific target market, small medical offices with one to four physicians, in New England. We touted our local presence, ease of use and superior support, jabbed at competitors’ large, lumbering size, and critiqued their large scale platforms.
We then practiced Small Business Judo to help convey our competitive advantages. Don’t try to be what you are not. If you’re a small software company, don’t try to look like SAP. If you’re a niche integration firm, don’t try to act like IBM. Instead of fighting an uphill battle attempting to show you are superior in every way to an established competitor, take a boutique approach, leveraging their perceived strengths against them, and turning their superior size and marketing muscle into a weakness. Convey a responsive, flexible, expertise-oriented image by saying for example:
• We’re a much more responsive company because of our size
• Because we are a boutique, everyone who works here is an expert
• Your account will be working with our most senior people; there are no junior people at our firm.
• Our product is newer, taking advantage of current tools and technologies
• We don’t outsource your support calls offshore, when you call for support you deal directly with us
• We’re better because we specialize in this one specific area
• You’ll have direct access to our senior most executives
• It is much easier for us to accommodate your suggestions because we’re not trying to service 5,000 clients
• We’ll make you feel like our number one client
These types of statements attack your competitor’s strengths by turning them into weaknesses. You can leverage your modest size and resources as an advantage. Words like flexible, responsive, important, expert, focus, boutique, current and leading edge can make your startup sound like a winner. Imagine the small, swift ship that can change course at the slightest touch of the rudder, while the competitor’s battleship sails on another mile before beginning her turn. Think about the maneuverability of a Ferrari when compared to an eighteen-wheeler, or a jet ski compared to a yacht. Another great example of Small Business Judo can be used when you are competing with a firm that has a large account base and has been around a long time. Let’s say their solution has 1,000 customers installed and yours only has ten, and their solution has been in use for over a decade, whereas yours has only been in use for two years. You could say:
• Our system was written from the ground up two years ago and takes advantage of all the newer technologies
• Because our system is more recently developed it is more compatible than the older systems
• Our code is newer and more efficient than the competition
• We’re more focused than the older traditional companies because of our size and expertise in your specific market
• We’re more responsive because we’re not trying to service 5,000 clients
• We’ll make you feel like you’re our number one client (say it twice!)
With some practice and a good understanding of both your competitive advantages and your competitor’s weaknesses, you can leverage Small Business Judo to outmaneuver, out position and outsell much larger and more established companies. Today, the size of the company is not the most important factor; it’s the stability, viability and capability of delivering quality results at a great value. If someone is trying to leverage their size against your small or virtual business, just remember to mention Enron, General Motors, Washington Mutual, WorldCom, Conseco and Lehman Brothers, all monster size organizations that filed for bankruptcy. Today, small is good, and virtual is even better.
For more information read Your Virtual Success, Finding Profitability in an Online World: http://www.yourvirtualsuccess.net/
