Competitive Advantage & Spry Street Smarts

In homebuilding we beehive cluster among companies most similar to ourselves and wrongly expect to magically outperform the group. It is far too easy to loose when we follow behind the more pioneering companies in a single segment, and should look for opportunities to step out, pass, and move in front the pack with aggressive courteousness.

Answer this… have you ever been behind a slower car on the freeway and passed on the right instead of the left? Surely you know it is not very safe, and the driving handbook says you should always pass on the left, BUT someone was probably in the left lane, and the right lane was wide open. Congratulations, you understand competitive advantage, and aggressive courteousness, better than you thought.

First, competitive advantage is not merely doing what you are best suited for; rather it is being better at spotting gaps in traffic (so to speak) so you can get from point A to point B faster than the beehive cluster. If you can do so without endangering yourself, or breaking laws, then you are on the right track.

Secondly, stop thinking size equates to advantage – be proud that you drive a car instead of a semi-truck. You would only loose in a head-on collision, but traveling side by side is a different story where the spry, decisive and nimble will win. Be confident in your potential for success, dig deep and look at where your organization has been able to spot opportunities and act on them quickly in the past, and keep going in that direction.

When changing lanes have you ever put your blinker on only to watch the gap you were moving into get closed tighter? It almost tempts us to ignore safety and jump lanes without using the blinker at all. Actually, there is an exact length of time that perfectly warns the other lane you are coming over that doesn’t allow them time to accelerate and close the gap. That sounds horrible, but 93% of those in Marketing have figured out how to be aggressively courteous in this way. We even conclude with a polite courtesy wave at the end of our lane jump.

This aggressive and courteous attitude is how we should run our homebuilder marketing and sales programs. Plan on changing lanes, so to speak, with each new community you build. There is no need to reinvent the entire wheel, but changing just one significant thing about how you market and sell will keep your competition on their toes. The more they watch what you are doing the more they will question what they are doing. When doubt creeps in it adds a tone of desperation to their program, and decreases the value perception with the prospect.

Being spry can be one of your greatest assets when up against bureaucratic Goliath companies with a corporate office three states away. To pass on the right lane they would need to hold meetings, create a process plan, find budget allocation, and receive final approval from multiple levels of managements etc., but for a David company you can move on opportunity gaps as soon as they present themselves – take them!