….is your obsession with them.

Yes, we live in a giant digital goldfish bowl. This makes it possible to get stuck watching and worrying about what our competitors are doing. Almost every move they make, every accolade, acquisition and award is there for the world to see.

It’s far more productive and more profitable to obsess about what your customers are doing, then to work out how you could help them to do it with more ease.

While taxi firms worried about the impact of fare hikes associated with rising fuel prices, the founders of the Uber app found ways to add value to the experience of hiring a car instead. Uber created a premium service for customers who were happy to pay extra and they built a company with a $3.4 billion valuation in four years without owning a fleet of cars.

Becoming the competition doesn’t always mean using the same old rules to beat others at their own game. Focusing on the tiniest gap in your customers’ desires might be a better strategy.

Image by Aftab.