The Law of Leadership – #1 Law under the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
leadership concept“It is better to be First than it is to be Better”. ‘It’s much easier to get into the mind first than try to convince someone that you have a better product’.
‘Necessity is the mother of all inventions’ used to be one of the most popular phrase for entrepreneurs so far. In today’s economy ‘If you can’t find a job, make one’ has been found to be more relevant with most of the modern entrepreneurs. Starting a business these days is easy compared to the olden days. See the number of new start ups for example. According to an article in Business Week, the startups rate as gone up by over 25%. As per the CNN report the startup rate is at a 15 year high.
Thanks to Globalization and the Internet, anyone with an innovative idea can start a business with a minimum budget and compete with anyone from wherever in the globe. This is not just limited to IT companies but also applicable to all sectors of industries be it Manufacturing, FMCG, BFSI, etc. Internet has fuelled the aspiration of entrepreneurs like never before by providing access to unlimited knowledge and information to everyone. An added advantage today is the thriving growth in the number of investors. Many individuals have got into the business of investing in startups only, calling themselves as ‘Angel Investors’. Being an angel investor gives them the opportunity to cash in other’s innovative ideas and getting a sizable stake in the company. Each angel investor today has a minimum 6 to 10 startups under them with an average stake being somewhere between 35% to 60% in some cases.
Starting your own company and becoming a first in a category is not a challenge anymore if you are thinking right and most importantly, timing your decision right. Coz, there are millions out there who might be thinking just on the same lines as you are and might also become the first to go to the market before you since all it takes is a good website with good content to go live and to be heard.
One other area that needs attention in the current market is to think ahead, well ahead. Once you identify or create a category for yourself where you can be the first and lead the rest, you have to start thinking as to how far you can lead and increase the gap between you and your immediate follower. The gap is not just on the market acquisition but also on the market know how and being identified as unique among the rest. We need to understand that getting customers to try or buy your product or service is relatively easier today due to the electronic payment options growing like wild fire and it is also a lot more easier to lose a customer to the competition as switching over is just a few clicks away. A larger gap will also allow you sufficient lead time to recover in case of a mishap and not allow your competition to take advantage of the situation.
