How to make competition irrelevant

Author and business strategist Renée Mauborgne discusses the Blue Ocean Strategy

Are you ready to move from downward pricing pressure to upward pricing possibility? Are you ready to start having customers seek you out rather than having to chase them down? Do you want to know the secret to making the competition irrelevant? Or how to transition from a red ocean of bloody competition to a blue ocean of uncontested market space?

Listen on iTunes

In this episode of the Tony Robbins Podcast, you will hear from Renée Mauborgne – professor at INSEAD, co-director of the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute and author of the best-selling book Blue Ocean Strategy, which has sold over four million copies across five continents. Learn how any business can break away from the competition, build a strong brand and get the world of social media to start talking.

What is Blue Ocean Strategy?

Ultimately, Blue Ocean Strategy is a way to make competition irrelevant. Think of it this way: The “red ocean” is where all your competition is fighting each other for market share, customer loyalty and revenue. The “blue ocean” is where you have uncontested market space. It’s where you’re so different, you provide so much value, that your competition is irrelevant.

According to the Blue Ocean framework, traditional strategy focuses too much on the competition. We benchmark them, think about them and strive to outperform them. But this ends up letting them set your agenda. As Renée puts it, “The more you look to the competition, the more you end up looking like the competition.” To truly gain an edge on the competition, you want to stop thinking about them entirely. You want to create a space where you have no competition. That’s Blue Ocean Strategy. 

Asking the right questions

Blue Ocean Strategy empowers people with straightforward tools and frameworks that anyone can use to think differently. The framework encourages you to ask the right questions: What are the pain points of your industry, the things that your competition takes for granted, but that you can change? And how do you create a business map to address those pain points? Renée puts it this way: “We never knew how many things our industry does that turn off buyers.” Once you discover that, you’ll have a whole space to yourself.

Another important question is: Are you innovating in a way that provides value to your customers? Strategic innovation means nothing if it doesn’t create raving fan customers. Many companies make the mistake of adding bells and whistles, but often Blue Oceans are actually created by streamlining. Take Drybar. They hyperfocused the hair salon experience into one profitable service: blowdrying. They were acquired in 2019 for $255 million.

Implementing a strategy like the Blue Ocean framework isn’t always easy. You’ll also hear from Renée on the four major hurdles you’ll encounter, as well as tips for hiring, challenging your team to improve and more. Listen to the podcast and get inspired to be different – and start making competition irrelevant, today. 

podcast-headshot-renee_mauborgne

Renée Mauborgne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHOW NOTES

[6:20] What is Blue Ocean Strategy? Defining the key differentiators
[9:08] How are new businesses using Blue Ocean Strategy
[11:01] Creating slack to allow small and medium businesses to grow
[12:06] How social media is expanding the opportunity to stand apart as a small/medium business
[15:19] How to make your product or service worthy of a 5 star rating
[18:02] Does a business need to hire new talent to implement new strategies?
[19:30] How to begin implementing the Blue Ocean Strategy
[20:50] Who are your ideal customers?
[22:00] A challenge for your team
[26:15] Value innovation: Is your innovation compelling to your customers?
[27:00] Tools and frameworks
[29:55] The four major hurdles that companies face
[32:00] What’s coming next from Blue Ocean Strategy

Team Tony

Team Tony cultivates, curates and shares Tony Robbins’ stories and core principles, to help others achieve an extraordinary life.

related posts
The Tony Robbins Podcast

Are you a giver or a taker?

Read More
The Tony Robbins Podcast

Airbnb & the art of resilience

Read More
The Tony Robbins Podcast

The ultimate customer experience

Read More

Get Tony Robbins' articles, podcasts and videos in your inbox, biweekly.