Yes, knock it off! Stop doing it! Quit sucking each other’s exhaust.
What I’m getting at is how every company wants to benchmark themselves against their peers. Worse yet, the only ideas they’re open to are things they see their peers doing.
No wonder stupid keeps on becoming even more stupid!
We see it all the time how companies within an industry will benchmark their performance against other companies, and then give themselves kudos for being the best of the village idiots.
When all we do is look at others in our peer set or our circle of influence, we’re doomed to be no better than anyone else.
Take three industries that are notorious for lousy customer service: Airlines, Cellular and Cable. Nobody would jump up and down to say any company in those three industries is doing a great job.
Yet what do companies in these industries do? They compare themselves to other idiots in their village.
Think about this for a moment. Is this any way to really get ahead? No! The best you can be is something akin to being the best of the worst. Wow. That’s is something to get excited about, isn’t it?
If you want to vault ahead, quit sucking the exhaust of your peers and look outside your industry. When everyone is yinging, you should be yanging.
A key reason I’m writing this is because I see far too many company leaders willing to accept the idea they can’t look outside their industry. Look around and notice how when an industry is disrupted, there is rarely a company that can break free and set its own course.
The reason is simple. They all operate around a very similar DNA that has been inbred by the exhaust of each other.
Who can you look to that is far outside your industry to gain insights?
What companies and industries can you learn from?
They’re out there, and if you’re not allowing yourself enough time to actively seek out new perspectives, then you’ll be doomed to continue inhaling each other’s exhaust.
Isn’t it about time to breath some clean air?
Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
