The Value of our Competition

I'm a runner - sort of. By that I mean I have run seriously in the past, and plan to do so again in the future. I have the kit, and the capability, but today am lacking the right weather. I guess you could say I'm a fair weather runner. But that's another blog post - for now, let's just take it as accepted that I'm a runner.

When I run, I am faster, and more focused when I run against a goal - that could be a time, a distance, but ideally it's another runner. I'm a tad competitive, and so want to push myself harder when I see another - to catch them, pass them, and keep my pace up. I realize this (as a runner) and seek out competition.

In other aspects of my life, I see the same behavior traits manifest themselves, and seek out competition where I can find it. I know my own performance in whatever it is I'm doing is enhanced when I have a competitive motivation. "Winning" isn't the end game in these situations, rather it's the ability to harness a latent aspect of how I was built to push harder, to do a better job and be favorably compared.

I think marketplace's experience companies behaving like this as well, however with a strict set of market dynamics blinders on, most companies don't understand the value (to themselves) of their own competition.

I was reminded of this today, when I heard that the market-leading dominant airline in my part of the world, would be starting service to an under-utilized, previously ignored little airport that happens to the home base of a start-up airline that's making some PR and other waves. This move to serve this airport is intended as a 'kill-shot' to the start-up. This start-up is doing what any small business needs to do - it's trying to get attention for itself by screaming from any available rooftop about it's services and trying to sway customers away from their obvious choice - the frequencies, loyalty programs and the fact that you can't get around the country without getting onto the major carriers' planes. They've an uphill battle - the list of failed start up airlines going up against this incumbent player is long and not particularly illustrious.

The story and lesson here isn't the new little carrier though, it's the impact on the established player of competition. Like any established player that has marketplace dominance, when it doesn't feel threatened, it gets complacent and lazy. It is one of the most loved and and also most hated organizations in my nation. It can be pretty cutting edge, and offers fantastic levels of service and value at times...its' people are innovative and push to make the customer experience memorable at times. But when it's not motivated to keep its customers - those are the days when you're lucky to get where you're going, lucky not be snarled at, and probably much poorer for the purchase of their offerings. They tend to fall back into "screw the client" mode very fast.

You see we like it as customers when an organization understands it needs to earn our loyalty, and keeps trying to impress us as we are involved with them. It makes us come back - pointedly it makes us not want to try the untested new player in town - and stick with what we know works well. Our marketplaces have a few of these spectacular providers around - but they stand out because they are so rare. What Tim Horton's, Disney or Zappos understand is that competition makes them reach farther, push harder and it makes them better at what they do. It helps them ensure that they don't get complacent and lazy and they see they ought not to try to kill off the competition, but rather they should learn from it and adopt its best practices (and a fair share of their competitor's customers).

You see the greatest value as consumers we can get from a providor is the understanding that they need to continually earn our custom. The smart organization leverages it's competition to provide that motivation.