Thanking and Beating Your Retail Competition
Tip #370 - Lesson from the Lunar Landing
Dear Tip of the Weeker,
There's been a lot of buzz this week (a tip of the hat to Col. Buzz Aldrin) about the upcoming 40th anniversary of the first humans to land on the moon - July 20, 2009. And it's got me thinking...
It took only eight short years from Kennedy's famous 1961 speech challenging Americans to reach the moon by the end of the decade for the United States to plant the Stars and Stripes on lunar soil. The achievement required massive, explosive growth in engineering and technology.
How did we manage it so fast?
COMPETITION.
The truth of the matter is that getting to the moon wasn't as important as getting there before the Soviet Union. If it hadn't been for our Cold War competitor, we might still be dragging our heels, trying to get around to walking on the moon.
The same thing probably happens to you in your business. Something changes in your competitive landscape - a new store opens, new government regulations affect your business, a new technology emerges - and you have to kick it up a notch. Fast.
Your competition causes you to take action. To get better.To do more. To learn a new skill. And if you're really honest, you know you wouldn't do all this growing and improving if your competitors weren't pushing you.
So next time you start to feel grouchy and grumbly about your competition in the marketplace, stop and say, "Thank you!" instead. They have helped you become the amazing merchant that you are.
But when you are done with your moment of silent gratitude, get going and give them a good old-fashioned thumpin'!
Wishing you great sales and lots of fun,
