I’ve heard a number of great speakers over the years and I always try to take something away from each speech, presentation or seminar that I attend. I’ve found that once in a while though, there are things that seem to land at precisely the right time and stick with me for many years to come. About eight years ago, during my monthly Vistage meeting, I vividly remember one of those moments. I was taking detailed notes of a session on sales tactics and the presenter said; “You have to focus on the customer, not the competition.” To that point in my career, I had taken my love of sports and applied it directly to work, believing that the objective was to win, and that meant beating the competition at the game of business.

Many leaders hold this belief and I think it ultimately holds them back from reaching their true potential. If you are constantly focused on what the competition is doing, then you will only push until you get a little bit better than them. Once you overtake them, it’s only a matter of time before they leap frog over you as they try to do the same thing. Yes, this is beneficial in that both companies continue to improve, however during this back and forth, companies lose sight of what their true purpose is and why they exist. I don’t think there are many companies that start out simply to “beat” an existing player in the industry. They start out with a desire to serve customers in a new way, to make people’s lives easier, or to delight people by doing something that they enjoy and that they are good at.

Since that presentation eight years ago, instead of focusing on what the competition is doing, I’ve pushed our team to focus on how we can improve what we are already doing (MIBE), to think about what we can do to better serve our customers, and create a better work environment for our team. We don’t secret shop or question vendors on what our competition is doing, we spend time getting crystal clear on who our high value clients are and what is important to them. Then we are disciplined with a willingness to do the little things that may not seem important, but make a big difference because they are exactly what the client is looking for. We are open with our competition about what we do and present nationally about our company and ideas. This has led to competitors copying us, but by the time that happens, we’ve already improved whatever it was they tried to knock off. We also believe it’s not necessarily about a “secret sauce” but rather about the ability to execute consistently over a long period of time.

A mentor of mine, Mike Roman, once told me; “Anthony, you’re not in the catering business, you’re in the non-embarrassment business.” Yes we have to serve great food, but at the end of the day our customers hire us to make them look good. Whether it’s a wedding, a corporate party, or a non-profit fundraiser, we are there to make our clients shine and help them achieve their vision for that event and that goes well beyond just serving great food. As a leader, I ask you: Are you clear on what is important to the customers of your company? Or, are you spending too much time trying to replicate, or out-do, what your competition is doing? It might just be time for you to focus on your customer, not the competition.