Who are you in your industry? Prospector. Defender. Analyzer. Reactor.

Introduction: Welcome to the DAC Podcast! If you are listening, then I know you are an ambitious business owner who wants to grow her business and learn more about how business works. Thank you for joining me today!

DAC Happenings: If you are new around here, I wanted to let you know about a few things. First, if you aren’t following me on social media, please do! I mainly post on Instagram and on insta stories, so you can find me @dac_balance_llc. Also, please come and join our community! It is a group of female business owners who are looking to grow professionally and personally and are there to learn from each other. Feel free to join. You can join by going to my website at lydiagmiller.com and on the right hand side click ‘Join the DAC Community.’ We would love to have you!

Now let’s get into the content.

Content: In episode 7, we talked about different ways to create a strategy. Those ways were just the generic strategies and some were strategies that we don’t want to have. Today, we are going to answer the question ‘Who are you in your industry?’ I really do think that everyone has a place in their industry and a client to serve, but I think thbat people don’t know what lane they should be in or how to stay there. The comparison game is strong, and that only hurts you in business. I put on the dac Instagram the other day this quote which I think is so true ‘The fastest way to fail in business is to be just like someone else.’ Today we are going to look through 4 different types of business owners and business personalities, and then decide which one that your business is.

The four types are Prospector. Defender. Analyzer. Reactor.

First, the prospect. According to Google, the definition of a prospector is ‘the possibility or likelihood of some future event occurring.” So a prospector is someone who is always looking at the possibility or the likelihood of a future event happening. I’m sure you can think of a company like this. A company that is always changing, they are highly committed to researching and developing new ideas. They are at the cutting edge. You look to them to see where the industry is going. And they spend a whole lot of money on it. Some of the big companies in this industry are pharmeseutical companies. They’re trying to be on the cutting edge of medicine, creating new treatments and putting current technology out of date. You read about them in magazines and online about all the crazy things they are doing.

If you want your business to be a prospector, then hear me out, you don’t always win if this is the role you want to take on. A few of the down sides is that to be on the cutting edge, it takes money and time. Even in my industry, if I want to stay on top of or create new tool for bookkeepers to use, that is going to take time and resources. The payoff isn’t always there, which is the hard reality behind this.

Second, we have the Defender. This company has a mature product or they are in a mature industry. Like the name sounds, they are just trying to defend the market position that they have and their customers that are loyal to them. They will often do this through having a low cost or having something about them that’s different and that no one else can copy. If you are in a mature market or industry, don’t try to copy another company and think that you are going to take enough market share from them to sustain your company. It’s not going to happen, customers are going to see through that and will know if you copied someone else’s idea. Part of the defender strategy is that you might be consolidating other businesses. Bookkeeping would fall into this category. A good strategy for a bookkeeper who is looking for more clients, is to approach a business with an owner looking to retire and see if they are ready to give up any of their current clients. Most businesses won’t change bookkeepers on their own, but their bookkeeper might be ready to retire.

The third type is the Analyzer. This type of company is not going to be the industry leader like the prospector company is. This type of company is looking to differentiate itself by some way. Think about restaurants. You can get a burger at almost any restaurant you go to. It’s how they market and what position they take is the difference. You can go to a fast food place and get a burger, and even among those companies, you can have differences. Wendy’s serves fresh burgers, Mcdonald’s are super fast, Crystal’s has the sliders. Then you can go to a sit down restaurant. We have a place here in Pensacola called The Tin Cow and you can create your own burger, there’s another place we like called Union Public House and you can get a boar’s burger. All different restaurants, and none of them are going to be the industry leader in hamburgers. But, they are all analyzers and they have taken a different angle on creating a burger. They all have a market share because of that. If this is where your business is, think about the strengths and what people buy most from you. That’s your golden egg. Perfect that and you will have your ideal customer flocking to you.

Fourth, is the Reactor. This is just what it sounds like, a company that reacts to what the industry is doing instead of trying to be ahead or different. This company does not want to be number one in their industry, they just want to survive. This company will sit back, relax and let other companies do the research and watch and see what works and what doesn’t work. Then, once they find that out, they will also move into that industry. This would be like most cell phone companies are now. Apple and Samsung are leading the way, and now you can get off brand type phones because Apple and Samsung have already proven that the market wants it and that they can be profitable on it. Store brands typically start out this way and generic items do as well. If you own a retail store, this is a great position to hold. If you see new products coming through that you aren’t sure about, wait and see what the market does with it. If it picks up and sustains, that might be a great opportunity to create a similar product without imposing on their trademarks or patents.

 

Action Steps: So who are you in your industry? Have you been spending your time on one area that you shouldn’t be spending time on? Have you been spending time being a prospector instead of a defender? Or should you be a reactor and let other companies absorb the high costs of r&d?

If you are in the facebook group, I want to hear from you! Comment on the post and tell me about your business and what position you are taking.

Call to Action-DAC. If you are listening to this when it releases, I am about 3 weeks out from finishing another semester. I am taking economics and finance right now and am ready to move onto my summer classes and graduation in December.

I hope you heard something here today to help you focus in on what you should be doing in  your business and have heard something that will help you move forward in your business this week.

Don’t forget, that I would love to work with you. I offer strategy sessions for business owners who are looking to grow, but need a second set of eyes on their business to help them see the big picture. If you are interested, please email me at [email protected]

I hope you have a productive week.