At our last quarterly national sales meeting each ASM was asked to do a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats) analysis on his or her territory. It was very interesting to listen to the recording of each of these presentations. One of the most mentioned threats was copycat products.
That was a bit bothersome to me, so I did a lot of research and thinking about that, and here is the journey I went on to get more comfortable with what I guess should have made me feel … happy.
- Copycats are the norm.
- Copycats do not imitate products that aren’t selling.
- Copycats are rarely successful in the end.
- Copycats are parasitic brands.
- If you create great things, people will mimic, steal and copy them.
Understand that copycats are a fan of what you do, and you should take comfort in the tribute they are paying to you by copying your work. So, relax and say thank you. Accept the compliment (by calling them out publicly) and get back to work!
You can also ignore the copycats! They don’t add any value to your life so don’t spend your time and energy worrying about them.
If people are stealing your ideas, content, or approach – that’s okay. What really matters is that people can’t copy your unique experiences. They can’t copy your personality.
At this point in this copycat journey, I thought I’d ask myself some fair questions:
What is BioZyme’s personality?
I would say the traits of BioZyme’s personality are drive, excitement, transparency, competence and faith/belief in the future.
Within that personality, stay focused on your own growth, customers and the new experiences you are having and forget about rest who are following behind and stealing your moves. Think of it this way, the more copycats you have, the bigger your fan base.
To fight off the copycats, are we staying focused?
Focus is tough in business and even more so in these times of unknown costs, insecure timing and not really being able to count on anything. I find staying focused is constantly being challenged with the statement, “since the pandemic ____.” I hate that statement. The impacts of the pandemic are so far out of my control that it just feels like a pathetic excuse.
Focus is about being able to count on one hand the most critical things you must deliver this year and then doing it, no matter what. We work on this at BioZyme by color coding our 1-page plan in green (must happen), white (would be nice to get it done) and red (ok to let it go). I am going to be honest we are not perfect at staying focused on these priorities, but we work, talk and challenge each other on it in almost every meeting.
No matter your personality or focus, we humans learn through stories. Stories sell. You can tell your story. Copycats can’t! Which is why you must share stories and open up so widely and so exhaustively since your customers identify with you, your struggles and your success.
So, Lisa, in this copycat battle, what’s the story?
For me at this point in the journey of life when I very unexpectedly lost my partner, my favorite friend and my husband I can easily share struggle, but success is also in everything I see almost (just being honest) every day. That success at BioZyme starts in 1951, with a man with so much passion for agriculture that he cold called farm after farm in a motorhome full of VitaFerm steaks which he cooked to prove and share the story of Amaferm. The story continues for over 70 years with a focus on research-driven products that impact the animal exactly as we say. The story takes a turn in 2018 when a crazy woman shows up and convinces the “boss” that big growth is possible. Lots of people work very hard and big growth happens. That growth leads to lots of firsts, including the building of a fermentation plant in 2014 that allows us to invent, make and bring technologies to both animals and humans that will significantly improve their well-being and the future of their food. The story has a theme of staying focused on these opportunities even when the world around us wants to focus on all the negativities. This has never been hard for BioZyme because we believe care that comes full circle never lets you down, may disappoint you now and then, but will never let you down.
Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but those copycats don’t have what we have: quite a story, huge amounts of passion and a drive that very few companies can keep up with! What’s your response to your copycats?