Malcolm X once said, "Anytime you find someone more successful than you are, especially when you're both engaged in the same business - you know they're doing something that you aren't." Some say if you can't outcompete your competition just dress better. However, Alexander Osterwalder author of Value Proposition Designer, thinks that competition doesn't belong in the discussion of the business model building block. Don't obsess looking over your shoulder to see what your competition is doing..

This is a unique perspective since most commercial appraisal firms often look to their competition as a litmus test to their own success or failure. It seems like common sense to see how other firms are doing and if it's commensurate with your business activity, typically no change occurs. However, if your competition is doing much better than you are, you take notice. This typically results in reactionary mode, which can be tiring and lead to haphazard planning.

Mr. Osterwalder feels that most business people are too obsessed with their competition, though he recognizes it's naïve to not take them into account.  Instead he suggests focusing on his nine business model building blocks, which provide elements you have control over.

1. You decide which customers to target
2. What you offer them
3. How you reach them
4. How you get new ones
5. How you keep them
6. How you grow them
7. How you intend to make money
8. Key resources and partners
9. What the foregoing costs you

To be fair, the business model design environment does consider the competitor's business model (which has its own strengths and  weaknesses.) However, the more important factors include technology trends, legal trends, changing customer needs and operating in a good or bad economy. These all have some impact on your business. Competitors are usually a threat, technology might be an opportunity or threat and legal trends are definitely a constraint. Changing customer needs and the performance of the economy can be fluid, so the better you understand the business model design environment, the better you will design your business model. This is a continual exchange and requires a never-ending tweaking of your business model to be consistently successful.

 

 

The goal is to go after big bold ideas without breaking your wallet with new processes to shape new ideas to complement your existing process to help you run your appraisal business. Discussions might include new services: evaluations, external reviews, tax appeal, appraisal management services, corporate valuations or litigation support.

 

I can't control my competition or the economy. So I guess I have a choice. I can be pessimistic, not try new things, not give energy to my business, not change how I create appraisals and not invest in any technology. [I apologize to my Jesuit high school English teacher for the foregoing quadruple negatives.] Or I could be more optimistic, productive, and take the long view to success. Every business solution I implement will not be a home run.  Some ideas will turn out to be a total waste of time and money. However, I'm happy with singles. It gets me on base and in the game.

 

If you absolutely can't deny your competition fetish, then at least determine if your appraisal firm outperforms the competition substantially in at least one dimension. Also, realize that your business is a game so don't take yourself all that seriously. Life is short, so enjoy the fruits of your labor. Like the Italians say, "once the chess game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box."