How to Be #1

The man who was widely regarded as the best CEO of the last 50 years, Jack Welch, set a goal when he took over General Electric…

…to be #1 or #2 in any category GE was in. If they couldn’t be #1 or #2, he wanted to get out of that business.

Now obviously, we’re not dealing with corporate giants…but I think the same mindset still applies.

You need to be #1 or #2 in your market for what you do…and if you aren’t you either need to get better or redefine what it is that you do.

So how do you get to that 1st or 2nd spot:

Be First – If you are the first person in a market that does or offers a particular thing…you have a big advantage. My friend John Spencer Ellis founded Adventure Bootcamp years ago and a lot of his licensees had incredible success right out of the gate, in part because they were the first bootcamp in their market.

If you think about people who make a lot of money in small towns…it’s often people who take business concepts they see in bigger cities and transplant them to the smaller towns. The first person who brought a popular fast food restaurant to a small town usually did pretty well for themselves.

Be Better – There is always room at the top. If you’re great at what you do – you can succeed…as long as people know about it.  The goal is for you to never be referred to as a ‘hidden gem’.

If you have the best service, deliver the best results and create the best experience…you can thrive no matter if you’re first or last to market…as long as you expose people to it.

Be Different – This is my favorite way to capture that #1 spot…Be Different.

See, being different means that you have built on some market awareness…so there is already a demand for something that is generally in your market.

But but by putting a new twist on it, by doing some things differently, being perceived differently, by blending in some new elements, you’ve actually become first in a new category and are the best in that category (because you’re now basically one of a kind.)

What’s great about these 3 ways to compete and win is that they work for your business as a whole…but they work for components of your business too.

So if you are first to use a new marketing channel or if you market differently than everyone else…the same benefits apply.

So here’s a simple exercise for you to use this information:

Think about you and your competition…then answer the following:

Were you first to market? If not, who was?

Are you better than them? If so, how…be specific. Are you better in marketing? Service? Experience? How? If not…how can you get there?

Are you different? Different in the public’s eye…not just your opinion? How?

Put your business under the microscope.

Make sure you’re setting yourself up to be in that #1 or #2 position and to enjoy long term success.