J.F. (Jim) Straw
October 12, 2000, 10:39 AM
Gordon:
In your posting you mention one of my pet-peeves in business ... competition!
Having spent over 40 years of my life in the business world ... man & boy ... it never ceases to amaze me that business people still buy into the "competition" dilemna.
Business is NOT a competitive sport. Either you have, and can provide, what the customer wants (or need) or you can't.
In the paper & ink newletter business, I have for 25 years recommended other newsletters to my subscibers ... even if those newsletters were direct copy-cat versions of my own efforts. -- My feeling is that if that newsletter can take a subscriber from me then that newsletter must offer something more than I can provide to that reader.
Funny thing though ... time after time, newsletters I have recommended to my readers have denegrated my own efforts. Their purpose, of course, was to "beat" the competition (me). But, I have noticed over the years that those who make the greatest attemepts to "beat" their competition have the shortest life spans in the industry.
As for me, I have no competition ... on contemporaries.
Jim
The Cold-Blooded TRUTH about Mailorder! (http://www.businesslyceum.com/mailorder.html)
In your posting you mention one of my pet-peeves in business ... competition!
Having spent over 40 years of my life in the business world ... man & boy ... it never ceases to amaze me that business people still buy into the "competition" dilemna.
Business is NOT a competitive sport. Either you have, and can provide, what the customer wants (or need) or you can't.
In the paper & ink newletter business, I have for 25 years recommended other newsletters to my subscibers ... even if those newsletters were direct copy-cat versions of my own efforts. -- My feeling is that if that newsletter can take a subscriber from me then that newsletter must offer something more than I can provide to that reader.
Funny thing though ... time after time, newsletters I have recommended to my readers have denegrated my own efforts. Their purpose, of course, was to "beat" the competition (me). But, I have noticed over the years that those who make the greatest attemepts to "beat" their competition have the shortest life spans in the industry.
As for me, I have no competition ... on contemporaries.
Jim
The Cold-Blooded TRUTH about Mailorder! (http://www.businesslyceum.com/mailorder.html)
