124. Slaying Your Competition - Part 1

How do you deal with big competitors? How can you challenge your competitors? How do I gain market share? Russ and Dana discuss "A dozen ways to beat Goliath" from Chapter 13 of Patrick Bet-David's book, Your Next Five Moves.

Your Next Five Moves, by Patrick Bet-David

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Transcript

Dana Dowdell  00:00

Hey there, thanks for tuning into a new episode of It's Just Business. This episode is part one of two where Russ and I are breaking down a dozen ways to beat Goliath, which comes from the book Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David. So, we discussed the first six ways. And then next week and next episode, we'll discuss the other six ways to beat Goliath. So, we hope you enjoy. And of course, if you found this topic interesting and useful in your business, be sure to check out the book Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David, and we'll make sure it's linked in the show notes.

Dana Dowdell  00:43

Hi, Russ.

Russ Harlow  00:44

Dana, how are you today?

Dana Dowdell  00:47

I'm good. How are you?

Russ Harlow  00:48

You're fantastic.

Dana Dowdell  00:50

Always!

Russ Harlow  00:51

you're fantastic. I'm doing very well. And also. So, listen, our listeners are here. And I appreciate that about them. Because they're trying to learn, try to get better, try to level up just like we're trying to do in our own businesses. And we try to share some of that experience. We added our lightning round with all our guests to try to get some additional information. My favorite question is asking about what their favorite business books are. Because it's like my own personal library list now. And I want to talk a little bit about something I've learned from a book I'm reading right now, by Patrick Bet-David, who is a very large business owner. And he's got his own podcast and puts out a lot of great business information. So, it's called Value Tainment, which I always thought was interesting, right, giving out the value but in an entertaining way. That's a great name. Yeah. And his, he wrote a book called Your Next Five Moves. And so, I'm reading it with my accountability partner right now. And we're working through it together and talking about some of the things in it because it's like, planning out your next five moves like a chess grandmaster, like, thinking down the road and thinking what you're going to be doing. And one of the chapters he talked about 12, ways to beat Goliath. And I thought we could talk about those 12 things because as small business owners, there are tons of Goliath in our life.

Dana Dowdell  02:20

Okay, so that was gonna be my first question is because I is David and Goliath like a biblical story. Okay, I'm not a Biblical person. So, it just basically means how God against the big guy, how to compete against larger competitors. Right. Okay. I love it.

Russ Harlow  02:41

I love him. And some of the background to I guess, if you've ever read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. I think, in particular, if you can master those two and translate it into business, it'd be a very formidable opponent. And I think it's it doesn’t let it turn you off like men, maybe you are like, oh, the art of war, or I want to check that out. But there's a lot of great wisdom in it. And so, it's not like it's not talking about battles and things. It's really about strategy. I think that's what's important. And so, you know, don't be turned off by it, necessarily just because of the title. There's some really great strategy there. And this is probably something I need to read again, because I read it probably 20 years ago.

Dana Dowdell  03:26

All right, well break it down for us, Russ, where do we start?

Russ Harlow  03:30

So, the first thing he says is a dozen ways to beat Goliath in this chapter was know your weaknesses. So, it's easy to know your strengths. But knowing your weaknesses helps you be nimble and pivot in hard times. Like, let me ask you, have you done a SWOT analysis?

Dana Dowdell  03:49

So, I haven't done a SWOT analysis, but I'm very, I think this comes back to like a conversation that we often have with our guests of having that self-awareness, you know, knowing where you're not the strongest, or if there's a skill set that you don't necessarily have. So, I've never done a SWOT analysis, but I'm very tuned in to things that I'm not good at. And from my perspective, it's like hiring for those, you know, if you know you're not good at a certain thing, can you hire out for that, but then also knowing it's like doing constant work on your weaknesses? You know, like, I know that I'm one of my weaknesses is that I overcommit myself and I over promise and therefore sometimes struggle to deliver, and it adds extra stress. And so having an awareness of that helps me keep it in the forefront of their you know, that's something that I need to constantly work on. What about you? Did you do a SWOT?

Russ Harlow  04:49

I did so anyway, SWOT because I wasn't familiar with it until like a couple of years ago as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. And so, part of my business plan this year there was a small portion that was a SWOT. And then I went over to score.org, which is a great resource for small businesses and downloaded their SWOT analysis worksheet. And it was much deeper, because it goes into like, what are some weaknesses and strengths in your product, you know, your brand, your finances market, it breaks it down a lot, like you don't just have to come up with it, it dives into a little bit more detail. And so, I was looking at it going, Yeah, I did this and my weaknesses, I was trying to be honest about it, you know, talking about, you know, my county has a low population density. So how do I really manage that market, because it's, I have to go out a little bit further than maybe some of my competitors who are in tighter markets, or, you know, we have less experience and some of our service lines and some of our competitors. So, for me, the strength on the other side is one of the our services lines, we do far more than our competitors. And so, we can really get in there and be much better in those areas. So, understanding what your weaknesses are, like you, you can hire around it, you know, to fill those gaps in issues. And you just need to be able to say, I am addressing these, right? Because when you're taking on a big giant corporation, it's a real challenge.

Dana Dowdell  06:24

Yeah, I've loved that. I also am thinking about it in a way of when you start to reflect on what are your weaknesses or your less than strong points. I feel like it also tunes you into what your customers need. I'm, I think we've talked about it on here. Like there's I'm a firm believer, there's a lot of ego in business. And sometimes we go into it thinking that, oh, yeah, we have this best idea this best service is best product, and it's going to fill the market and, and really make it something that everybody needs. And, and having that self-reflection around what are your weaknesses, I think helps you better align what you're offering to what your customers truly, truly need.

Russ Harlow  07:09

Sure. And it's about self-awareness. And I think that's a great point by you. And the diving into understanding that. And I think that it leads us to the next one, which is no Goliath weaknesses. So, whoever Goliath is, in your industry or in your region, I could just take a second to think about it. Like, for me, I look at an ago, they're the big franchise names ServiceMaster, Servpro. I mean, everybody, you know, they're everywhere, right? And so those are the Goliath in my industry, but there are larger independents that I can go up against as well. Been around for a long time, you know, and so we have to know their weaknesses, whoever it is in your industry, and there's got to be somebody, like, there's got to be somebody when you're thinking about your business, who's the big one you're going up against?

Dana Dowdell  07:56

Yeah, so we compete against same thing, the larger payroll platforms have an HR support or an HR functionality. And I very, I have a very big awareness around their weakness, it's, it's the personalization, that they're just not able to do and the relationship component, they're just not able, able to deliver on that in the way that we are. So, I have a huge awareness of what their weaknesses are.

Russ Harlow  08:26

Yeah, and so what the author says is, you can't fight this big behemoth, where they're strong, right, you've got to find their Achilles heel and exploit it. So, for us, a lot of times it's about communication, and communicating with clients in a way that doesn't leave them out of the loop. Because we find so often that the larger companies don't do that well. And so that's one of the things that that's a great weakness that we can exploit. Because we can come in there, communicate with a client, walk them through him, you know, hold their hand through the process, where they're not always getting that from our competitors.

Dana Dowdell  09:06

Yeah, that's really interesting. And I'm sure you could also look at it on your end. And there's other weaknesses, whether it is that personalization that, that that, like you're a community member in the places that you serve, and I think that that's hard when there's larger franchises, and it's so corporatized.

Russ Harlow  09:29

Right, and oftentimes, they have, you know, business development people or whatever, but it's not, it's just, it's a little bit different, like great business development, people can do a great job. But some people and our ideal clients in particular just love dealing with, I've got the owner and I have the owner’s phone number, and I can call him and text him whenever I want. And he gets back to me immediately, or, you know, within the hour, you know, there's nothing that can't wait 60 minutes, right. So, if I'm in the middle of something, it can wait, it's okay. But yeah, so that's an extra added bonus. because, you know, those large companies, they're not given out the owner’s phone number because, you know, he's skiing somewhere.

Dana Dowdell  10:06

Because the owner is on a yacht somewhere,

Russ Harlow  10:10

that one of our larger independents, that is if you follow his Facebook, employees are kind of ticked off because he's always skiing or on an island

Dana Dowdell  10:18

must be hard. 

Russ Harlow  10:20

Yeah, well, you know, it is what it is. Alright, so the third thing we talk about, or the author talks about here and does in beating Goliath is master three things you do better than Goliath, you know, you choose the battle in the marketplace. And so, using your strengths against three things that maybe they don't do better than you that you're choosing how to beat them. So going in there and mastering three things that you can do better.

Dana Dowdell  10:50

And that narrows down your focus, right? In terms of like, your marketing, how you strategize, right, if you're trying to beat them in every area of business, you can be spreading yourself and your strategy and your people too thin. Right?

Russ Harlow  11:06

Yeah, I mean, it could be as simple as niching down. Like I said, one of our service lines, we do far better. I will just give you an example. So, the big companies that chase a lot of insurance work do a lot of water damage. And we do less of that, that's probably about 25% of our revenue, we do a ton of mold, and they don't do as much more. So, we know that we can do that better, we do it a lot more, we are working in that area. And that becomes our expertise. And so, we can say, yep, you can go to them. But this is what we do best. And so, we've chosen that niching down, we still do that other work. But we found that doing one thing, and doing it better than our competitors, is the best way for us. And so, I'm not sure you know, what, three things or what things that you do to, in your own business to do better than, you know, the Goliath in your region or in your market. But you need to be thinking about, what can I do better? And it probably comes out of the weaknesses that that you find from your competitor?

Dana Dowdell  12:15

Yeah, I'd have to think about that one, that one a little bit more in depth, I'm thinking back to your situation like the idea of focusing on those three things that has influenced your marketing, right, like you have started to really push the messaging and the marketing and your business as the mold doctor. Right. Like, that's, that's what your marketing focuses. So, I think about this one is just it's, it's really just creating that structure, in your business of what are you going to focus your time and energy on? Because we do we want it, we always want to be good at everything, right? We always want to a client will come and say, oh, do you do this? And maybe you don't, but then you start thinking, well, I could do that, if you know that it gives me that piece of business. But yeah, if you master the three things, it will influence your marketing, it'll create much more structure in your business, and you then can become an expert in those things.

Russ Harlow  13:23

Yeah, and I think it goes hand in hand with the fourth point that the author makes. And that's Don't try to be Goliath. Right? Don't try to copy your competitor. Because you're one you won't be able to stand out. Like you can learn moves from them, you can learn information from them. But if you model yourself after them, you can't beat them, because the best you can do is hope to be as good as them, maybe not better. So, you have to take care of your own strengths, not someone else's, I think is what the author puts best there. And so that's important because a lot of a start out in business going, oh, look at that company, they're doing great I want to do, I want to be just like them. And it doesn't take long to realize I think that that's the wrong direction because you haven't identified what's, what your core values are and what your ideal client looks like. And once you start getting those in, it becomes very easy to not mimic or copy your big competitor.

Dana Dowdell  14:27

And then you also exist in this space of always being influenced by what they do. I remember we have a marketing client, and she was telling me about an employee that went to one of her competitors and she was distraught about it. She was like so worked up about it and I finally said to her I was like they're a marketing company and they have 123 followers on Facebook. Okay, you like your, your worlds beyond that, you know, you're Any years beyond that, and I think that also takes that, that self-control that self-awareness. I mean, I feel like that's going to be the theme of all of these points that we're going to talk about. But you know, focusing too much on what the competitor is doing and trying to emulate that just will keep you in a space of constantly trying to catch up and chase what they're doing, instead of chasing why you started your business in the first place?

Russ Harlow  15:31

Well, I think it's important to understand that if you're going to be a disruptor in your industry, and stand out as a differentiating factor, you have to do things differently. Now, that doesn't mean break the mold and do a different just because it's different, but find a way to be a disruptor. And a lot of people who have been in the industry for a long time, and a lot of businesses that have built up to a large size, have been doing things the same way for a long time. And so, they may be missing opportunities, you have to find that opportunity. And then be a disruptor in your industry by doing it differently. And I think one of those ways we kind of alluded to earlier is, you know, focus on specializing the big companies, they tend to generalize, right? They spread out their influence and power. They're just a big thing. Somebody calls him says, hey, can you do this, they're like, not really, but we'll do it.” Maybe they have the personnel where they can. But if you specialize, you can grab a certain market, and you can steal that entire market from them because you become the best at that particular segment. And I think that's what you need to start doing. Because that's, that's the way to success. You can't try to do everything they do.

Dana Dowdell  16:48

Interesting, I'm thinking about this as like, you know, those like flowcharts that are like yes or no, if yes, go this way, if no go this way. I feel like this. This list that this author gives us is literally like a, it's a map. It's a roadmap for success. Right? Like know your strengths, know your weaknesses, know your competitors, strengths and weaknesses. Use that to then focus on what your focuses, what you are specializing in, what your knowledge bases, what your expertise is. And it all kind of wraps back in together and how you're doing business.

Russ Harlow  17:25

Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, we've talked about mindset before, too. And I think one of the big things, we were just, you were just talking about it with your client, right? When you're small, make yourself look bigger. You know, you don't have to, like your marketing can look polished, doesn't have to look like it was done by a multimillion-dollar marketing agency, but it can look polished. And when it looks polished, people go. I didn't realize that was just one guy. You know,

Dana Dowdell  17:55

it's like a sense of legitimacy to like, this is a legit company. This is a legitimate service or, or brand or any of those things.

Russ Harlow  18:06

Yeah, so you just hold yourself high. Put yourself out there. Don't be intimidated. Like, yeah, okay, they do it that way. We do it this way. And this is why you don't have to like living Goliath shadow, whoever it is in that in your industry, you know, just compete, find your advantage and move forward.

Dana Dowdell  18:30

I have a question for you, since you've your businesses, kind of, you know, we were in the franchise, now you're out of the franchise. And you've I feel like you're really focusing on these things. Are you is what you're specializing in now different than what you specialized in when you first started?

Russ Harlow  18:49

Nope. We started doing that from the very beginning. For me, I really, I realized that, well, it came down to money. Funny enough, right? So, marketing wise, when you're doing you know, pay per click, and Google advertising and all these things, the leads for Water Damage are very competitive, like Pay Per Click could be 80 to $150 per click. And if you don't understand Google Pay Per Click, they're just clicking on your ad. It's not a phone call. It's not a lead. It's literally just clicking on your ad. So, from the beginning, I was like, well, I really liked the mold work anyway. And those clicks are like 18 to 20 bucks. So why don't we focus on that because one, we do that? Well, we really liked that schedulable work. It's not an emergency call at 5pm on a Friday, and all the sudden we get a rush out for this flood. We still do those things, but we started focusing on mold and it started because like I said a little bit because of money and those big companies are chasing those hearts. So, there's more competition for those clicks. So yeah, that's kind of how we did it from the beginning. But on the same note When I had everything branded, when I came with the franchise, the truck everything else, I couldn't step backwards and just drive around with a white van with like a magnetic sign, I had to put the Like, I couldn't take a step backwards in my mind, I had to create a great professional logo and I had to wrap the truck and make it look great, because when you roll up in that, it makes a statement. So that's walking tall, right? It's like we are a real business. We're a big boy. You can respect us. So, I couldn't just do that. And a lot of contractors do, and it is what it is. But from us from what we wanted to do in a direction our business, we had to do some of those things moving forward. And that's some of our smaller independent friends don't do those things. And but they've secretly told me Hey, I really love what you're doing. I love your logo; it looks so great. And I love what you're doing with your business and everything else. So, we'll get to that a little bit further down the line to working with competitors. So, making yourself look. Bigger is an important one.

Dana Dowdell  21:13

Thanks for listening to part one of two of a dozen ways to beat Goliath. We'll catch you in our next episode where we cover the remaining six. And as always, it's not personal. It's just business