I was just giving a client some advice and actually I thought it was pretty good advice, so I thought I'd blog about it. He just paid for the advice, but you guys can have it for free, but let's keep it a secret a from him, okay?
We were discussing competitors. He has a startup and has not yet come to market. So it's frustrating when there are competitors who are already out in the marketplace, making announcements and getting customers, while we fine tune the 1s and 0s that will become his product.
He's like to take a swipe at them, and I counsel heavily against it. It's likely that I'd council against it even if he had a product.
Years ago, I had a client who was very sharp at marketing. He used to tell me: "Love your competitors. Look at them as a prospect would look at them. Look at their product, their web site and find every reason why someone would want to be their customer.
Now, shut up and sit down, until you have that something and the market can use it. Look at their website and find every reason why someone would want to use it.
Then make yours better. Do not come to market until you can make yours better.
The idea is not to beat the competitor. The idea is to help the customer win.
It's a lethal strategy.
