How To Fail In Business...
Without Even Trying

The hit musical comedy How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" ran on Broadway in New York City for several successful years from 1961-1965. Later it was made into a movie ... and it has played on other stages all over the US ... as well as on the other side of the Atlantic.

Based on Shepherd Mead's earlier book of the same name, it is a hilarious tale of climbing the corporate ladder the "easy way" ... by using personal "connections", opportunistic blackmail, and whatever other means happen to be available to get ahead.

Nearly three decades later, the hype and hoopla from the late 1990s and very early 21st century seemed to tout the same theme — get yourself a business website on the Internet and become rich beyond your wildest dreams, without really having to try.

Even though the book and play were written as comedic satire, it helps to remember comedy is funny because it is nearly always based on at least some element of truth.

But Aren't We Supposed To Be Talking About
How To Fail In Business?

In the real world of Internet marketing and Internet-era business — careful observation of actual Internet websites ... and how their owners manage them ... suggests that a more appropriate title would be How To Fail In Business Without Really Trying because that's exactly what a lot of businesses are doing with their websites — failing — because they're not trying.

They're not taking care of business.

It's easy to find businesses that haven't taken a serious look at overhauling their websites in years. It's almost as if they're in an Internet vacuum where they don't notice the changes in market conditions or audience interests.

Even web-development companies — whose sites boast how they're going to make you super-successful if you just let them solve your website problems — sometimes fall into this trap.

And that negligence opens a huge hole for others (perhaps you?) to come in and skim the cream from those inattentive business owners and milk them dry, sometimes without even getting caught!

How to Milk Your Competition

Don't underestimate your ability to compete — even against bigger competitors. By practicing Jiu Jitsu or some other marketing martial art, you can use their own posture, position, and momentum to your own advantage — especially if they're caught in the typical passivity I encounter among many website owners who don't understand the importance of web marketing and don't seem to want to learn.

And that applies to some pretty big companies, as well as smaller ones.

Getting Good at Competing

For example, you can't compete on price for a product selling in high volume at a major retailer such as Kmart or Walmart. If you try to sell the same make and model, you can't match their high-volume buying power.

But you can market a heavier duty model from another manufacturer or one with other features that isn't sold in a big-box outlet.

Do What the "Big Boys" Can't

I have a friend who owns a lumber yard. He was asked by a customer if he could match the prices from a big-box home-improvement retailer on a list of materials the customer provided. My friend told the man he'd be thrilled to match the big-box price, but he'd have to add considerably to his regular prices in order to do it.

That same big-box store, for example sold rain gutter for homes in 10-foot lengths for about $6 or $7 a few years ago. But the little clips — not even two inches long — that connected two pieces together so they wouldn't leak were selling for nearly $5 each!

On another occasion, I needed some framing lumber for floor joists on a home I was rebuilding. My friend's regular price was 30% cheaper than the big-box. Why? Because he buys lumber, several train-carloads at a time, and transports it less than a half-mile from the rail cars to his own storage and sales yard.

The big box company has to mix various sizes of lumber from a large yard onto a truck, then haul that lumber more than 50 miles to a store. Then they have to separate each bundle at the destination, take the lumber inside, and place it on display racks.

The customer then loads his or her lumber onto a cart, takes it through checkout, then loads it onto their own car or truck. Or the customer can rent a company truck to haul it home or pay the big box a delivery fee of about $50.

My friend moves the lumber from the bundle sitting in his yard directly onto his delivery truck or onto the customer's vehicle, and doesn't even charge for delivery, unlike the big box people. Also, the customer doesn't even have to load what he or she just bought. My friend's employees do it all for the customer — with a smile.

Big retailers buy in large quantities, but they also have high overhead caused by massive, expensive, nation-wide advertising campaigns. They also carry a lot of corporate overhead that smaller businesses don't have.

So, to cover those costs, the big stores resort to all sorts of price manipulations to hide what they're really doing from customers who see cheap prices on popular big pieces ... but don't notice the disproportionately high prices on accessories and small items.

Use Their Perceived Advantage Against Them

So find a creative way to get around their apparent advantage, and use their liabilities (cumbersome company policies, sometimes slow-moving customer problem resolution, bureaucratic methods, and other handicaps) to your own advantage.

You'll have to learn to become very effective in getting your message out — perhaps resorting to some powerful guerilla marketing methods. And you'll have to back it with solid personal service to your clientele. But it can be done if you're working in the right market segment.

But don't worry too much about them squelching you if they awaken. With advertising being managed at Corporate Headquarters hundreds of miles away, and much of that done by advertising agencies, they'll probably just keep on doing what they've always done, or even less if their advertising budgets get trimmed in tough economic times.

Just be aware that, despite their handicaps, if you're not working in the right market segment yourself, you're not going to make it anyway. So you better figure out where you belong in the market, then get to work on it — Pronto!

Just remember: Any time you catch your competition not at the top of their game ... that means you have a golden opportunity if you're at the top of yours.

In Tough Times ... Get Smart!

When times get tough and the economy softens, smart companies get a lot more aggressive in a lot smarter way. But most big, publicly owned corporations try to improve profit by cutting costs ... and two favorite areas to cut are new product development and marketing.

When they do that, they open a great big hole for you to sneak through and milk some of their business into your own bucket instead.

Why Not Exploit
The Law of the Jungle?...

Imagine the scene:

Two fierce lions are locked in mortal combat over a smaller animal just killed by one of them.

It started when the second lion decided he wanted a piece of the action, but the first lion vehemently objected.

So there they are — gnarling and clawing at each other, totally oblivious to any other aspect of their surroundings — neither them aware of an outsider ...quietly ... encroaching ... on their turf ...

A scrawny, hungry, hyena quietly sneaks up, grabs the kill, and escapes into the nearby trees.

By the time the lions discover they've been relieved of the carcass they thought was so important, the hyena has sufficient nourishment from the coveted remains to endure another day, leaving the lions to deal with the loss brought on by their greed.

Your Business Jungle

A similar battle goes on every day between Internet rivals. Fighting over market share and battling it out in PPC ads, they hardly notice when an unknown outsider who's been spying on their public behaviors sees an opportunity to grab some market away from them and put it in his or her own pocket.

Big retailers do it too. Big Box Company A against Big Box Company B. Franchise restaurant C against franchises restaurant D.

I'm sure you won't see two lions fighting like that over food on a real Nature show on television, because lions probably don't behave that way.

But people, businesses, and Big Corporations do it all the time!

Become A Hyena

So why not be the hyena playing on their turf?

And when you see two big competitors going at each other for all they're worth, sneak in and steal some of their customers with some creative marketing or other enticements.

Sure — I already know you have expenses and overhead. But where yours is measured in hundreds ... or sometimes thousands of dollars ... theirs may be eating up $million$. And they have stockholders screaming about cutting costs.

Find A Lemonade Recipe

If your life is filled with lemons, figure out a good recipe for lemonade, and set up your own lemonade stand in their front yard.

Well ... maybe you'd be wiser setting up behind their backyard ... where you can get noticed by their customers ... but not by them.

Then learn how to become the most cunning marketing hyena in your market.

Feast On the Right Crumbs

You could find yourself making a nice living on what the "big boys" think are just crumbs from their table as they look at the big corporate sales reports and comany-wide market results.