Superior Employees
The biggest reason my father never opened his own business was employees. They can be either the greatest head ache or source of greatest joy. The company I work for has a unique system. It sets them apart from competitors. But we didn’t start taking off until the president hired a top gun sales guy to reach our home city of Minneapolis and hired me to turn it into a national company. On my wall I have written, “Recruiting Emerges as a Competitive Strategy.”
As the owner of your company don’t feel that all the innovation, skill, and drive have to be from you alone. Hiring or developing employees that can take your company to the next level is a huge advantage. Your competition, who is not reading this magazine, is just grinding out another month of work. Pushing their employees to show up on time and do acceptable work.
You, on the other hand, are investing in your business by reading Unlock Your Life Blog and searching for competitive advantage. Great leaders don’t just lead, they surround themselves with great leaders. Eisenhower could not have won World War II if he was the only general. He had incredible generals and admirals working with him, Nimitz to run the naval fleet, Patton in north Africa, Bradley across Europe to Germany, McArthur in the pacific theater. To be a captain of commerce you must have superior leadership.
Superior Operations Systems
Finally we get to the operations, the products, and the equipment that may give you a competitive advantage. Industry journals are a great source of companies advertising their unique machines and chemicals. A wise business owner is not just looking at how to get more business but how to stay ahead. Every month, our company is looking at products and services that are coming on the scene which we may want to add to our arsenal of unique services for our customers.
When I was an infantry platoon leader in the U.S. Army I studied and applied strategies and tactics. One key lesson I learned was I could not depend on one strategy to win all of my battles. When I excelled, it was because I implemented a blend of various strategies and tactics in different proportions to my environment. The same is true with your business. Each of the unique advantages above can enhance your business. However, you can dominate your market if you blend various advantages in varying degrees and apply it to your company.
