The 9 Best Real-World Strategies Every Entrepreneur Should Know

I sometimes troll popular business websites.
Don’t ask me why I do it to myself. It drives me
nuts to see all the mind-numbingly generic fluff
that passes for business advice these days.
It’s as if some evil genius sat down at the
drawing board and said, “How do I get half the
population to think they’re experts and the other
half to read everything they write?” So he made
cheap computers, smartphones, Web 2.0,
WordPress, blogs and social media. Voila. Here
we are.
Let's try something different. Let me show you
what real-world business strategies look like. You
know, ideas that get you thinking in new ways
that actually help you differentiate and beat the
competition. That’s right: if you want to be
successful you have to think. You have to
differentiate. And you have to beat the
competition.
Now let’s get down to business.
Create a cult-like culture of religious zealots.
Letting people bring dogs to the office is not a
corporate culture. Neither is a waterslide on the
premises or Friday beer blasts. The Green Bay
Packers. Harley-Davidson. Apple. Trader Joe’s.
Zappos. They’re all like religious cults. Getting
your people to believe they can accomplish
something insanely great and create an amazing
customer experience, that’s corporate culture.
Study what works and doesn’t work. We learn
from experience. We also learn from the
experience of others. That’s how all successful
executives and business leaders got that way. If
you have to read anything, read about real
successes and failures in the real business
world. Try Organizing Genius by Warren Bennis
or Business Adventures by John Brooks. It’s
Warren Buffett’s and Bill Gates’s favorite
business book for a reason.
Related: Learning to Adapt Is the Key to Success
Go where your competitors aren’t. How did
China-based Huawei take 7% market share from
Samsung in the hypercompetitive smartphone
market? By focusing on Africa, Latin America and
the Middle East. Apple in retail. Amazon, eBay and
Alibaba online. The Uber app. They all used new
sales channels or existing ones in innovative
ways.
Plan for success and develop competitive
barriers. Come up with a plan, put all you’ve got
behind it, then figure out what can go wrong,
including coming up with a strategy to keep bigger
and better funded competitors from beating you at
your own game. If you’re successful, that’s
exactly what will happen. If you’re not, it doesn’t
really matter, now does it? That’s why you
always plan for success.
Create a larger-than-life buzz. There once was a
startup that made microprocessors. Yawn. Then
they painted a bulls-eye on industry giant Intel.
They actually had a tombstone in the lobby with
“RIP” beneath the trademark Intel Inside swirl.
Now that was news. Everyone loves a David
versus Goliath story. If you’re creative you can
generate buzz on a shoestring budget, but it does
help to deliver a competitive product.

STEVE TOBAK
MANAGING PARTNER, INVISOR
CONSULTING