We have in mind a certain mail order house that up to 1894 had things its own way. Then it sold two to three million dollars worth of merchandise annually. A competitor came into the field, stirred things up, and now the old mail order house is doing eight to ten times as much business per annum as they did before they had the competition.
In the matter of competition we must early learn not to worry over competition, but to derive as much good from it as possible.
If a competitor does something better than you do, do not kick or protest, but jump into the band wagon and do the thing as well or better than he does it.
Price cutting is the simplest and most common phase of competition, but a better way to get advantage over your competitor is to improve your business by cutting off wastes and leaks, and reducing fixed and fancy charges so you can give your customers more quality and more quantity for the money.
In proportion as you increase the value you give for a dollar, just so you will find it easier to get the dollar.
Do not regard competition as hurtful to your business, but rather look upon it as a pace-maker for you.
If you had ten experts working for you studying how to improve your business you would certainly get benefit from it, but probably not enough benefit to offset the great cost of hiring these ten experts.
On the other hand, if you have ten competitors who are sitting up nights studying how to improve their businesses, you can get the benefit of their experience without it costing you anything.
The world is big and there is room for all, but old compensation says the prizes are given to the fittest.
If you are a laggard, if you are on the defensive instead of on the aggressive, get busy, wake up, do it now.