I had a hilarious bit of gossip yesterday when I heard that the CEO of a major carrier had seen a video when I stated that I wanted to liberate British business from crappy couriers. He then declared war on little old Diamond Logistics. Bless him!
Please note Mr. You-know-exactly-who-you-are I said ‘couriers’ not carriers – and there is a difference! But secondly – BRING IT ON.
I liken it to the cheeky Richard Branson taking on BA and BA showered him with shite (allegedly) – fiercely fighting the underdog in ways which were actions of, well, bullies, to be frank.
But look at Branson now. Didn’t do him any harm, now did it? Now I know it was tough, and it could have been easier but any market worth having is going to be fiercely guarded by its current incumbents. What I am trying to say is that look what happened in the end – Richard Branson did good. He wooed the public with a cheeky PR campaign that out marketed BA, he established a cool in air travel that BA have failed to surpass, and he’s established a brand loyalty that means many people won’t travel anything other than Virgin where they can – myself being one of them.
But it’s scary, isn’t it. When a big competitor starts targeting your clients and eroding your market. After all they have the economic power to outspend you, possible the industry associates to out manoeuvre you, and frankly they go big for a reason – so how do you take on the Goliaths.
Do stuff that money can’t buy. Like have a personality.
The Virgin experience epitomizes their personality – their own unique brand of loveliness that established their own little niche of dedicated followers. I travel a lot and there truly is nothing like the Virgin experience. And I’ll tell you now – it is not the most lavish, not the most SPECTACULAR – BUT IT IS COOL. And this is something BA can’t compete with.
They told people about it – which portrayed BA as bullies and rightfully so. Now we love an underdog here in the UK so that massively eroded the face of BA and rightfully put into question their morals as a company. The ensuing BA strikes etc have really reinforced this but I warrant that the cracks started appearing when Virgin launched. BA allegedly bullied its competitors and its staff – not very good for business, now is it?
And business now is increasingly about the people. The charismatics leaders, the happy teams, the difference is in the PERSONALITY. As long as you have made your personality and the supporting client care unique to you – and made your clients loyal enough your competitors – whether big or small – can chase them all they like; because your clients are buying off of you for being YOU – something that can not be replicated for all the tea in China, then you stand a good chance of coming out on top.
So – don’t be afraid. Be aware, but amplify your personality, keep you clients really REALLY loyal loving YOUR way of doing YOUR THING and go get ’em David.
Have great week.