The famous book “The Art of War” is often the foundation for business strategy development and sales planning. Like all myths there is “partially true evidence” in this timeless book we use for business strategy.
With myths there is more that is not true than is true. It is the “not true” from the book that launches followers into unnecessary, expensive, risk and damaging battles. It launches organizations and people into battles, and battles have winners and losers. The result from these battles is a “winner” who does not realize they lost.
Let’s put “The Art of War” aside for a minute and think about golf.
Golf is the intimate relationship between the golfer (think seller) and the golf course (think the customer). Since golf is about the relationship between the player and the course, neither ever really wins or loses because they are working together to do their best possible.
Some players and some courses create magic and some players and some courses are hard work with a rough and exhausting outcome but working together they will get better tomorrow.
Every one of us gets to decide if we want to commit to “The Art of War” to compete with other businesses or play rounds of golf as partner with the course (the customer).
The idea that “The Art of War” is a battle for the customer is a myth that is occasionally true. Put your customer hat on and imagine there are two organizations fighting over you and your business. Those two at war somehow got the idea you are the prize.
What company or person thinks of themselves as a prize, with nothing to say about where they place their business or what they will value? The opposite is true. The buyer knows what and who they value, and are proactively creating outcomes that support their goal achievement.
Sometimes a buyer must put up with poor value products and purchase “good enough” from the best of the bad sellers (hopefully at a low price), even when they are trying to eliminate a serious problem or reach a critical goal. In no situation does the buyer think they are a prize for warring companies to claim.
The accomplished golfer (the seller) spends their time and energy not in battle but in understanding the fundamentals, conditions, personalities, and options presented by the course (the buyer). The accomplished golfer has their best results when aligning with the realities of the course and giving their best to the course and getting the best in return.
The accomplished golfer realizes things change and the golfer should change with them. The time of day, the short-term weather, the ability of the course to invest and those cycles of season and regional economics impact the partnership between the golfer and the course.
On the golfer’s part practice, trap racking, divot repair and repairing damage to the green improves the course and the golfer’s success.
The golfer and the course can have a beautiful long-term relationship with both getting value equal to or greater than what they put in today and into the future.
Don’t spend your resources on a war with another army who believes the customer is a profitable prize – no good customer is a prize you win from focusing on another vendor.
Get clear about what you (the golfer) bring to the buyer (the course) and work together as a team to create the greatest outcome possible from each joint experience. In this case 100% of both parties to the partnership are focused on a single great outcome, where both get more value than possible without their partnership.
Good business is not a war with the customer as a prize. Good business is an aligned partnership where both the buyer and seller get the best possible outcomes from being aligned.
Get in your cart and head to the first tee with your golf clubs – not your war clubs.
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