7 ways to Out-Smart your Competition

WAZE: 1) **inner Alpha, 2) Confidence, 3) know/understand your Competitors, 4) Fence them out !! 5) Don’t encourage the Competition, 6) Be strategically noisy !!! 7) or Learn to live with them !!!**

Alpha Traits? a strong sense of rightness, determination, conviction, leadership, ambition & working hard.

25 (+) Traits of an Alpha

1 Strong, 2 Leader, 3 strong Will to Win, 4 Ambitious, 5 Competitive, 6 Charismatic, 7 Challenging, 8 Confident, 9 Rule-Breaker, 10 Inspiration, 11 Ingenuity, 12 Optimistic. 13 Protective. 14 Planner. 15 strong Ego. 16 Charismatic. 17 Risk-Taker. 18 Focused. 19 Controller. 20 Dependable. 21 Dreamer, 22 Creative, 23 Smart (quick learner) 24 Solution-Finder, 25 Hard-Worker, 26 Organizer 27 Apologize.

The 10 dark (-) Traits of an Alpha

1 Arrogant. 2 Intense Rivalry. 3 Perfectionist. 4 Bullheaded. 5 past Perseverance. 6 Ruthlessness. 7 Recklessness. 8 Dominating. 9 No Apologies. 10 loves Pressure. 11 Stubborn, 12 EZ Distracted, 13 Not keeping Promises.

Alpha Traits are key to leadership success.

Business leaders can learn from these top traits how to out-smart the competition and never give in ground. In recent years, Black Hat Hackers (Coyotes) have made themselves at home across the United States, Canada and Central America. Unlike the classic cartoon character Wile E. Coyote — always outwitted by his crafty nemesis, Road Runner — the real-world Coyote has become a paragon of adaptation & resilience. I’m issuing a loud & clear cry to all leaders, everywhere: Summon your inner Alpha and apply these five (5) lessons for dealing with Coyotes to handle — and foil — the competition.

1. Tap into your inner Alpha

Everyone has some Alpha traits, and that’s a good thing when facing dominant, powerful competition. The Alpha traits most useful for beating Competition are confidence, dominance, facing conflict head-on, resilience, being enterprising & bold.

2. Push forward w/ Confidence

When confronting a Coyote (Competitor), you must summon your inner Alpha by projecting dominance & strength, puff out your chest to appear larger, make unfamiliar noises, carry a stick and walk toward the animal while looking it straight in the eye. If you back away out of fear or simply because you think the Coyote will leave of its own volition, the animal will claim dominance over you, with potentially dangerous consequences.

Project Strength.

When it comes to your Business, project it as large regardless of its actual size, stay strong and push your strategy forward with uninhibited confidence. Customers will embrace you. Competitors may not like you, but will respect your strength – and may even back off. Although Competitors may be larger, they’re frequently not as nimble or able to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. Use a larger Competitor’s slow pace to your advantage by seizing market & sales opportunities before they get word of what they’re missing.

3. Know & Understand your Competitors

As Coyotes have a keen understanding of the world around them, know Competitor’s Strengths & Weakness. Do a SWOT analysis. Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats. Respect their strengths and learn from them – if possible. Focus on how you can use their weaknesses against them. Apply your strengths with prospects & customers for sales growth and business expansion. Look for new opportunities that haven’t been tapped yet and move fast to take advantage of them, because they’re bigger and can’t move as fast. Evaluate current & potential threats and decide how you’re going to handle them.

Continually Monitor your Competitor.

Sharpen your senses and fine-tune your competitive intelligence – so you’re on high alert to anticipate – when a Competitor is thinking about making a move that could affect your business in the short or long term. Monitor your Competitor and be flexible to determine when a pivot is needed to achieve more substantial business growth.

4. Fence them out

Coyotes will frequently find a way to get over, under or through the fence around your property if it’s not high enuff or buried deep enough into the ground. Knowing this is an external issue that’s hard to control, plan to deal with Coyotes in your backyard using the Alpha dominating tactics – noted earlier. You should be able to surprise the animal, and watch it skulk off into the shadows and other places for comfort.

Competitive Strategy.

Focus your company’s attention on competitive strategies such as better, faster, cheaper, rapid scaling & better distribution channels. This will force your Competitors to seek their comfort zone in other markets. Plug holes in any weakness in your competitive strategy. Don’t inadvertently allow your competition to encroach on your market and customer base. Identify and understand threats to your market share. Be sure to proactively protect your intellectual property, whether trademarks, trade secrets, copyright or patents.

5. Don’t encourage the Competition

Mark Twain mentions the Coyote in his book, Roughing It, as “a living breathing allegory of want, he is always hungry.” To discourage Coyotes, don’t leave any food out. Not only will food attract them, they’ll return to that same feeding spot expecting the food to be there again.

Blocking the Competition.

Discourage the competition from elbowing their way in on your market. Identify untapped markets and rapidly build up market share before your Competitors know about the market. Erect barriers to entry, such as unique technology that would take a huge investment to duplicate, endorsements from key industry influencers, exclusive targeted distribution channels and any regulatory approvals to enter the market.

**6. Be strategically noisy !!!**

Practice Coyote hazing with noise that catches them off guard. Yell, then suddenly bang something, continue moving toward the animal and puffing out your chest to show dominance, keeping eye contact with it. Eventually, the Coyote will retreat.

Getting Attention.

Surprising, unexpected noises in business translates to your company being intentionally visible. Unless you’re a startup in stealth mode, silence will render your business invisible. Perplex the competition by using targeted media in your market through a variety of platforms — video, e-blasts, social media, your website & trade shows – whether in person or virtual. Gather earned media in market publications to get your message out. Focus on publications that give you maximum visibility. If your business is seasonal, time your Media Exposure to ensure your message gets in front of your audience – precisely when needed.

**7. Learn to live with them**

Business Competitors – and Coyotes — are here to stay, and we must learn to live with them. If you accept living with business competition as a potential for innovation, think about ways your Competitors could be future allies through new strategic alliances. The two global tech giants Apple & Samsung offer a classic example of “coopetition,” in a Strategic Deal – focused on Apple’s content & services.

Monitor your Competitor Coyotes carefully.

If you keep the competition in your sights at all times, you’ll also keep your business on its toes, innovating and out-maneuvering companies that will try anything to dominate. The Coyote can leap a five-foot fence; what will it take to ensure a Competitor doesn’t leapfrog over your business, potentially sending you into a defensive posture because – for a fleeting moment – you weren’t paying attention?

Conclusion.

In the same way you summon your inner Alpha, project confidence and come to terms with your Coyote Competitor as a wild animal that uses calculated strategies to outwit you. Approach your competition with caution, respect, and an infinite supply of highly calculated cleverness.

WAZE: 1) inner Alpha, 2) Confidence, 3) know/understand your Competitors, 4) Fence them out !! 5) Don’t encourage the Competition, 6) Be strategically noisy !!! 7) or Learn to live with them !!!