{"id":1004,"date":"2023-08-25T12:42:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T12:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.incentivesmart.com\/blog\/\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T09:43:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T09:43:48","slug":"is-competing-for-customers-an-outdated-metaphor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.incentivesmart.com\/blog\/is-competing-for-customers-an-outdated-metaphor\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Competing for Customers an Outdated Metaphor?"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the space race to the rat race, competitive metaphors have been a mainstay for driving engagement and interest for many years. That\u2019s not to say these metaphors aren\u2019t warranted or motivating, and they certainly tell a compelling story to onlookers. But, in the world of business, we\u2019ve been getting by on the notion of competition with the faceless\u00a0other<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 or maybe the very familiar\u00a0other<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 for a long time now.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. That little itch of competitiveness is what compels businesses to aim for continued improvement, and a tendency to\u00a0feel<\/em>\u00a0the itch is what makes great salespeople great in the first place. Win\/loss analysis, battle cards, competitive intelligence \u2013 it all feeds into that primitive drive toward the top of whatever league table you\u2019re a part of. In fact, of the many traits shared by Fortune 500 Companies, competitive intelligence is right up there – more than 90% of those companies use competitive intelligence. If you\u2019re looking to motivate a crowd, tell them another crowd \u2013 just on the other side of that wall \u2013 is working on the same task.<\/p>\n

In short, the\u00a0right\u00a0<\/em>kind of competition thrown into the mix can boost employee performance, help you get the most out of your channel, and boost engagement with your\u00a0trade incentive<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>strategy.<\/p>\n

Then again, competition can be distracting. It can place too much of an emphasis on lead acquisition \u2013 a sort of \u2018at all costs\u2019 approach to generating new business, which doesn\u2019t look great for your bottom line \u2013 and pull the focus away from longer-term, scalable strategies for retention and higher engagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the space race to the rat race, competitive metaphors have been a mainstay for driving engagement and interest for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","topics-customer-loyalty"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs Competing for Customers an Outdated Metaphor?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Competition has been something of a boardroom buzzword for generations. 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