David vs Goliath: How To Overcome Your Giant Competitors Using Your Limited Budget

The story of David and Goliath is one of the biblical stories i love so much since the days of my childhood

. For those of you who might not be familiar with the story, it is simply a story of how a little shepherd boy defeated a fully armed giant warrior. An inspiring story of how a boy rose from nothingness to become one of the greatest king and warrior. Though not a religious fanatic, i often use this story as a source of inspiration whenever i am faced with a giant obstacle.

Now how does this apply to the business world? As an entrepreneur, i believe you know that the business world is full of giant companies with billions of dollars to spend on advertising. These giants have all it takes to crush any small business that crosses their path. But over time, we have seen few small cap companies with limited budget outperform and overtook these giant competitors. So how were these small cap companies able to overcome the giant competitors using their limited budget? How were companies like Microsoft, AOL, Dell, Amazon, Google and Yahoo able to outperform established billion dollar companies like Barnes and Noble, IBM, J.C Penny, Wal-Mart and so on? This article is going to provide you with the answer.

After digging deep, i finally found the answer to these questions in the story of David and Goliath. I also found out that the lessons of this story are very applicable to the business world. Asking the questions above is just like asking "how did David defeat Goliath? In this article, i am going to reveal to you how to overcome your giant competitors with your limited budget using the story of David and Goliath as a benchmark. All you need is to keep an open mind and be willing to apply the principles.

How to overcome your giant competitors using your limited budget: Before i proceed, i will like you to assume your business as a David and your competitors as Goliath.

The Power of a Niche:

In the battle against the Philistine army, David was able to spot a niche. All Israelite soldiers were waiting for a confrontation with the Philistine army but nobody wanted to face Goliath. David was able to spot the niche that nobody wanted to fight Goliath. Instead of focusing on the army of the enemies, he focused on Goliath. Goliath was his niche to victory.

Also in the business world, big companies with billions of dollars to spend on advertising are often after large mass markets, thereby paying less attention to the smaller niche. Now for you with limited budget, you can match these bigger competitors by focusing your efforts on these overlooked niches. Sometimes, big companies feel too big to serve these smaller niches. All you have to do is take advantage of their ego, serve these small niches with the little budget you have and see your business sales skyrocket. I think you will understand more with these illustrations:

How was Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic able to break through the monopoly of British Airways? The answer is; Virgin Atlantic focused on providing first class services at cheaper rate to an ignored niche, "Business class and Students."

How was Henry Ford able to become one of the richest men in his time? Henry Ford became a billionaire in his lifetime because he focused on providing quality automobile at a cheaper rate to an overlooked niche, "the masses or low income earners."

All these illustration boils down to one point; there is often an abandoned or overlooked niche in any industry. To overcome your competitors, all you have to do is find this niche and serve it.

The Power of Faith:

In his confrontation with Goliath, David had faith that Goliath can be defeated. Now as human beings, we are bound to have some atom of doubt or fear. David may have experienced a little fear but the difference is this; his faith was stronger than his fear. Faith is simply the ability to act despite tremendous doubt.

As an entrepreneur, you must never see your competitors as infallible. You must see a possibility in your mission to outperform your competitors. Just obey the Adidas slogan that says: "Impossible is nothing." If you execute your business plan with this mindset, success will be yours. One thing i want you to know about faith is this; faith attracts supernatural assistance. At this stage i leave you with this quote:

"Without faith, it is impossible to please God and with faith, you can move mountains." - The Holy Bible

The Power of Self Belief:

That brings us to the next key to overcoming competition. Some people intertwine self belief and faith but i stand to say they are not the same. Faith is not self belief. While faith says "it can be done, self belief says "i can do it." While faith says "there is possibility, Self belief says "i am the possibility."

Let's take some lessons from our biblical story. While other Israelites had faith that Goliath will someday be defeated, none had self belief. The soldiers said in their hearts "one day, Goliath will be defeated" but they avoided the word "i can kill Goliath." David not only had faith that Goliath can be defeated; he had the self belief that he is the one to do it.

Many entrepreneurs lack self belief. They see an opportunity disguised as a problem. They know a solution can be found but they don't see themselves as being the one to provide the required solution. Many entrepreneurs don't believe in their God given abilities. Some can't picture their business competing favorably with big companies. As an entrepreneur, you must have faith that your competitor can be defeated and you must believe your business can do it.

Now how can you develop self belief? The first step is to access your strength and weakness. I added weakness here because a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. You must also access that of your competitor's. Though Goliath was fully armed and heavily armored, he was defeated because his opponent (David) spotted and exploited his weakness. You can outperform your competitors if you can spot their weakness and exploit it.

Another way to strengthen your self belief is by drawing courage and inspiration from your past achievements and track record. David drew courage from his past achievement of killing a bear and a lion. He believed Goliath will also end up like the lion and bear.

You can also boost your self belief by discovering your competitive advantage in business? That reminds me of a quote from my mentor:

"If you do not have a competitive advantage, don't compete." - Robert Kiyosaki

The Power of Presentation:

Though he had the faith, self belief and a good track record, David would never have confronted Goliath if he had not been able to convince and sell himself to King Saul.

This same scene is also applicable to the business world. I have seen entrepreneurs with strong business plans but seem not to be making headway because they lack the ability to convince investors. I have seen businesses with great product and services remain stagnant because they cannot sell.

You may have a strong competitive advantage, a great product or service and a proven track record but if you cannot sell yourself, you will remain where you are. A mentor of mine says it all:

"Your ability to sell is your number one skill in business." - Robert Kiyosaki

The Power Of Leverage:

Leverage is one of the most powerful words in the world of business and investing. Leverage is simply the ability to do more with less. Leverage is simply asking; how can i position my business to compete favorably with less?

David acknowledged that Goliath was taller and heavily built than he was, so he asked the question; "how can i defeat Goliath without engaging in a hand to hand combat? That answer came in the form of leverage. That leverage was a "sling."

A simple truth is this; leverage is everywhere. There are many ways to surpass your competitors and leverage is one of such ways. I will not go into the details of leverage because i previously wrote an article titled "The Power of Leverage." So if you are interested, you can read it later. A last note i want to drop about leverage is this; leverage is a double edged sword, it can make or break your business.

The Power of Speed:

"Your greatest and most powerful business survival strategy is going to be the speed at which you handle the speed of change. That speed of change is trend." - Ajaero Tony Martins

When it comes to business, i have seen what the power of speed can do. But before i proceed, let me take you back to the story of David and Goliath. Goliath was armed with a shield, spear and a sword but David had only a sling and a stone. Now what's the difference?

The weapons of both David and Goliath had the potential to kill but the difference emerged in their speed. Though David's weapon was cheaper, lighter and smaller, it had the ability to reach its target faster. The sling and stone had the power of speed.

When the dot com era began, i saw the speed at which new small cap companies like Dell, Amazon and Google embraced the dot com trend. While older companies were contemplating joining the web trend, smaller companies jumped in. These smaller companies later surpassed their heavily capitalized older counterparts. That's the power of speed. The speed at which you make life changing decisions. My questions to you now are; how fast is your marketing weapon? How fast is your plan and how fast is your strategy?

The internet came with a new kind of speed and small cap companies speedily took advantage of this new speed. By taking advantage of this new speed, these new small cap companies were able to reach the customers faster than their giant counterparts. They can sell and deliver faster via web stores. They can speedily handle customer's complaints and orders via emails. This new speed gave these small cap companies like Amazon a new kind of power. The power to do more with less. This new power made the small cap companies surpass and eventually become more valuable than their giant competitors.

The business world is changing so rapidly. If you are not swift to take advantage of the latest innovation or trend, your business will become obsolete or out of date. Once again i ask; how fast is your plan and strategy? How fast can you handle the speed of change called trend? At this stage, i leave you with this quote:

"Business will change in the next ten years than it has in the last fifty years." - Bill W. Gates

The Power of Flexibility:

The problem most entrepreneurs have is the problem of "mental rigidity." These set of entrepreneurs may have a plan but the problem is; they think their plan is the best plan. When presented with a new and better plan, these entrepreneurs will close their mind saying; my plan is the best.

In most of my articles, you will observe i always recommend you keep an open mind. Instead of just reading the article title and drawing a conclusion, i always recommend you keep an open mind, read the article carefully and reflect on the lessons. Your criticism can come after this.

My reason for recommending you keep an open mind is because there are two sides to a coin. In every situation, opinion, fact, problem or opportunity, there is always two sides. The problem is that most people only see one side of the coin.

Let's go back to our story. David has never used a sword or armor before; all he could use was the sling. Though David was not used to wearing armor, he was willing to try it when King Saul suggested it to him. David ended up not using Saul's sword and armor but the point remains, he understood the power of flexibility.

Flexibility can be a key to overcoming your giant competitors. As an entrepreneur, you must constantly be on edge. You must always be open to new ideas and willing to expand your perspective.

The Power of Strategy:

In the game of competition, strategy is a very important world. In business, there are several strategies that can be employed by entrepreneurs and amongst these strategies are:

Business growth or expansion strategy

Business survival strategy

Marketing strategy

Now in the game of trying to overcome your competitors, the most important of these strategies is the marketing strategy. The aim of a marketing strategy is to concentrate your business interest to overall resource exploitation with the objective of increasing sales and overcoming competition.

Before David confronted Goliath, i bet he had a plan made up of different strategies. Below are the possible strategies David employed.

He picked five stones instead of one.

He avoided engaging Goliath in a hand to hand combat.

He exploited Goliath's ego and over confidence.

He aimed at achieving his goal with the first shot.

He took Goliath by surprise and caught him off guard.

These are the five strategies David employed in his fight against Goliath and it worked. Before going against your competitors, consider putting together a series of strategies which will also include contingency plans.

For those interested in developing their own result producing marketing strategies, i will recommend you get the book "Think Two Products Ahead" by Ben Mack. This book will expose you to a lot of marketing tools and strategies that the big advertising agencies don't want you to know and how you can use these tools to increase your business profit. This book is a must have for result driven entrepreneurs.

In conclusion, i want you to know that success in business does not come merely by reading but by implementing. Just as a popular saying goes; "the taste of a pudding is in its eating." Overcoming your giant competitors will not come just by planning but by strategically executing the plan.

At this stage, i thank you for reading. Till i come your way again, remain blessed.

David vs Goliath: How To Overcome Your Giant Competitors Using Your Limited Budget

By: ajaero tony martins

POST COMMENT

When You Talking About A Financial Plan?. What Is Pension Release?..pension Release, Sometimes Know As Pensions Unlocking, Is The Term Used Wh Full tilt review - Why you should choose Full tilt poker Short Sale Closing Incentive Ultimate Stretcher Review - just $149!!! Loan Modification Hardship Letter - Three Important Aspects To Include In Your Letter......... What Is An Online Credit Card Transaction According You? Loan Modification Is Better Than Filing For Bankruptcy .......-* Part Thirty Six Offers - Payment Into Court.... Personal Loans: Make Pace With Your Expenses... Taylormade R7 Limited Driver Review Wrinkle Cream Reviews – Princess Livia Bee Pollen Nectar Face Cream Secrets To Applying For Government Grants