Strategic Marketing: Go After Your Competitor’s Strengths

Editor’s Note: This is the fourth installment in our continuing series about Scotty, a fictional business development manager. In the continuing story, business development and marketing issues are examined in the context of a typical design/build construction company.

“So, how do we compete?” said Hugh. We were standing at the edge of one of our job sites looking across the street at another construction site that was a competitor. I was the new business developer for Design/Build Management. Hugh, the president and owner, had been taking me around to different job sites. “What do you mean?”

“We’re running into a lot of competition right now. It seems that more-and-more contractors are getting into design/build. It’s real competitive out there. That means we need to address the issue as to how to compete.”

I liked it that my new boss, Hugh, shared his problems with me. If only more managers did that with their management team, things would go a lot smoother. “Well, I have a thought.”

“Go.”

“There are many strategies that can be used to implement the strategic planning process. Many of these are simply different ways of looking at the same problem to gain an advantage. For example, many companies look at the competition and make an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses in the same manner as they would evaluate their own company. Then, using conventional thought, they zero in on a competitor’s weakness, and focus on using that as leverage to gain a prospect’s confidence in their firm, as opposed to the competition.”

“Sounds good.”

“That’s not what I’m recommending.”

“Really? That’s interesting as it’s relatively easy to go after a company’s weaknesses. Just look at our competitor’s construction site. The signage is terrible and the site is a mess.”

“Yes, it is easy to go after their weaknesses. But, if you really want to gain a competitive advantage, focus on the competitor’s strengths. I’m not saying to ignore the weaknesses of the competition, as this certainly can give you a positioning advantage, but I am saying that attacking a competitor’s strengths can lead to significant competitive gains. This does take time, and it does take planning, but that’s what strategic planning is all about-looking at a problem from a number of different angles to determine the best possible strategy.”

“In all my years in construction I have never even once thought about focusing on the competitor’s strengths. Can you give me an example?”

“Sure. Say for example, we develop a SWOT analysis of our competitors, you know, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and determine that several of them have very good websites. In fact, we determine the competitors are using their sites aggressively to develop more relationships and public awareness of their respective companies.”

“Actually, that’s not far after the mark. I’ve been concerned about our web presence after reviewing our competitors, and have been looking for some ideas. But now you’re suggesting that this is really a strategic move.”

“Yes. We have a company website, and like so many companies that have launched an effort to have a presence on the web, we have roughly thirty pages that look just like thirty pages that could be from any contractor.”

“True. Keep going.”

“So you determine in a company strategy meeting, that we will have the very best construction website on the Internet. And let’s say, as a measure of that goal, we target winning an award that will bring attention to our site and to our company.”

“So, we focus on what our competitor’s strengths are, and the go after them and blow them out of the water.”

“Absolutely. This is particularly effective in the general contracting market where everyone looks the same.”

“I think this can work in several areas.”

“Well, here’s another example. We might find out in a debriefing of a prospect that selected another contractor, that what impressed them the most was the experience level of the on-site superintendents. This might point you in the direction of increasing the experience level of the field superintendents when you are in the hiring mode for a new project. Or, you might learn that a particular competitor has a higher level of bonding capacity. That might suggest some financial changes to increase the bonding capacity.”

“This actually opens up a lot of doors that I had not thought about. I mean everyone is told to go after the competition’s weaknesses. But why not make their strengths a weakness?”

“Right. The whole point here is to seriously look at the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors as a way to assist us in developing corporate strategy. Strategic marketing is all about thinking through problems with an eye toward developing creative problem solving solutions.

Scotty, I’m so glad I hired you. And, oh, by the way, I have this project I want you to work on!”

“It happens every time.” Scotty laughed.

With the exception of an occasional guest appearance by the author, any similarity to actual events or to actual people, living or dead, is purely coincidental in this work of fiction.

Construction Business Owner, October 2005