If you're an in-the-trenches marketer like me, consider picking up a copy of the unofficial battle plan...Mao In The Boardroom, by Garbiel Stricker. This gem is chock full of rules for would-be revolutionaries and case studies that bring them to life. My copy is dog-eared on rules such as: Their Rules: Whoever shouts the loudest gets heard. Our Rules: Whoever reaches the most people most intelligently gets heard. And on chapters with titles like, "Speed Kills. He who hesitates is dead."
Although it is great fun to read (and the pictures are hilarious), the book is very practical. For example, we employed this tactic from Chapter 6 of the book to win out over two competitors more than twice our size:
When we fight the competition on their terrain, we must play by their rules--rules that make victory unlikely for us. We must use the strategy that lures the competition to our territory--a place unfamiliar to them, where we can use all of our guerrilla tools to surprise and wound them.
By creating our own playing field, we forced our much larger and wealthier competitors to talk our language when approaching prospects. And the language was skewed to our strengths, their weaknesses.
I hope you find it to be as useful and fun as I have.
Comments