Outwit, Outplay, Outsmart

Outsmart competition by borrowing ideas from other industries

Flickr - waloshin2008

Sometimes the best way to outsmart your competitors is to completely reinvent your business. This is often done by taking ideas from outside your industry and applying it to your business.

This is what Rick Krieger and his partners Douglas Smith, M.D., Steve Pontius and Kevin Smith, RN, FNP did when they founded a company called QuickMedx (later renamed Minute Clinic in Minneapolis in May 2000). As the story goes, Krieger brought his son to the emergency room one  night to get a strep throat test. After waiting for two hours to see a doctor, he thought there had to be a better, more efficient and convenient way to receive treatment. From there, along with his partners, he founded, what was eventually renamed Minute Clinic.

Minute Clinic essentially uses sound retail concepts and applies them to health care services. The clinics are small kiosks, located inside other retail establishments and is staffed with a nurse practitioner and/or physician assistant who are licensed to diagnose and treat common illnesses, minor injuries and skin conditions. By taking a retail approach and providing convenience, efficiency and customer service at low cost, Minute Clinic revolutionized one small segment of the health care industry.

I’ve always been a firm believer that if you want to learn good ideas and business solutions, read trade magazines, attend industry trade shows and listen to industry speakers. However if you really want to learn great ideas and revolutionary solutions, then you have to look outside your industry. What might be common practice in another industry could transform your company in your segment of the market place.

As an example, our managing partners program, whereby my managers actually buy into their retail operation and own 10% of the company came from the Outback Steakhouse restaurant chain.

The next time you are faced with another common industry problem, instead of looking to others in your sector to find a solution, try looking outside your industry all together. Find an industry that does not have the same issue and find out why. They may just have the solution that could revolutionize your company.