The Art of Deception, Start-Ups & Other Go-To-Market Shenanigans

I saw another LinkedIn user reference this book about something completely unrelated to my career, but it amazed me how many people still reference The Art of War. I was told to read this book by my first VP of Sales because he was always pushing me to expand my thinking Mario Tota .

The quote referenced by the other LinkedIn user was, "All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive;?when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”

How did this quote impact me, personally, and the sales and expansion strategy of multiple start-up teams I supported? In the early days, before these companies went public, we had to be fast and aggressive, with limited resources, and we knew we could be swatted like flies by the larger competitors head-to-head.

We also knew the things we possessed (speed, flexibility, quick decision making, a flat organization, clear communication) were things these older companies had lost - And, in several instances, we used "The Art of Deception" to be "Everything, Everywhere, All At Once." For example...

1. One of our direct competitors had offices nationwide and our name started to creep into their meetings, even in markets where we had NO PLANS for immediate expansion. I would, personally, call into those markets, announce we were opening a new office, and invite their top salespeople to interview. A simple phone conversation would send people into a frenzy as if "The British were coming," and we would hear from people (we actually did want to hire when we eventually got there) about how their managers were having meetings about us and, in some cases 18 months in advance, talking to their customers about why they were better. OUTCOME: We had some early insight into whom we wanted before moving in, we disrupted their daily operations, and we did not need to advertise, calling new targets in the market saying, "I am calling from XYZ. I am pretty sure you've heard of us by now..."
2. I sent trusted team members to interview our competitors. They would ask, "Why should we work for you?" Or, "What do you have coming that could be better than what we already offer?" If we were competing against some old media company (trying to become "digital") we would learn what they were planning to do in six months, and we would use our speed to launch in six weeks. We learned about their pricing, and compensation, or would ask who their top people in the office were for recruiting purposes.
3. A legacy media company (in a new city) called our brand new "ANCHOR" client with an offer that gave everything they had the prior year FOR FREE if they would cancel with us - They thought they would shut us down and teach us a lesson in "their city." The beauty in this? The client canceled around $5,000/month in traditional media and was only spending $2,000/month in digital with my company. We printed hundreds of copies of that very offer and handed them out to every major advertiser in the market - WE TOLD CLIENTS NOT TO WORK WITH US! It was so fun to ask, "Did you know XYZ company, where you spend $100K per year, is willing to give you that for free if you don't work with us? My guess is they are either dumb or terrified we can do a better job, but if I were you, I would go get that deal and demand them to cancel your current deal and give it to you for free. Can you believe they gave all of that away to XYZ Plumbing? You guys spend more than they do and I would be pissed!" The phone lines lit up like a Christmas Tree...
4. We knew when competitors were training on the products and services to directly compete with us - They would train their teams for a day or two at some offsite, and we would go around and hand out a list of questions, "Ask your representative from XYZ these questions and if they can't answer them, give us a call..." We knew they were not trained properly. It wasn't their fault, they were forced to try and sell their best clients something they knew little about. Eroding our competitor's confidence, by training their clients better than they had been trained by their company, was enough to open a door.
5. In some instances and cities, our competitors would launch a marketing campaign specifically about our company and publicly attack us (This happened often) - In one scenario, we recorded dozens of video clips of people who had used or just viewed their products and asked them if they could, "Name and advertiser you just saw in the movie theater," as they were walking out, or "Name a company you saw on the last twelve billboards you just drove by," at an intersection - We would send those clips to the advertisers with a simple note, "Want to chat about this?"

The lessons or ideas came directly from this book - We appeared weak when we were actually strong. When we were far away, we looked close. When we could move, we waited. When someone thought they had won, we attacked. When we knew we would get crushed, we made them think we were invincible - This was a great read, and these types of books (Books like Art of War, The Mongol Conquests, The Endurance, or even a sci-fi story like The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy) can offer a new way to look at go-to-market strategies or offer a new idea on how to approach your business.