Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Strategies for Independent Bookstores
Stick to Your Grand Strategy
Part 14 of the 36-part “Book Wars” series of articles
by David A. Rozansky, Publisher, Flying Pen Press
Readers, Writers & Royalties columnist
June 10, 2009
Copyright 2009 David A. Rozansky
(Note: This is the 14th article in the “Book Wars” series of articles, wherein the author interprets the strategies taught in The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene, and applies them to the business of the independent bookseller, in the arena of the difficult book trade. The first article in this series can be read at http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977657920.)
Previously: Internal Strategies and Defensive Strategies
I have been discussing ways that war strategies—as gleaned from Robert Greene’s The 33 Strategies of War—can be interpreted for independent booksellers to use in their own competitive strategies, especially in competition against much larger retailers such as bookstore chains, big-box stores and online booksellers. If you have been following this series of articles, you will recall that we have looked at internal strategies for motivation, organization and management. To review, the internal strategies are the following:
· Crusade.
Then we looked at defensive strategies meant to deter competitors from getting too aggressive or having them overcommit their resources, in order to protect one’s marketshare. These are the defensive strategies previously discussed:
On to Offensive Strategies
Now we have come to the offensive strategies, those strategies booksellers can use to put the pressure on their competition and actively take their competitor’s customers. Those Book Warriors who have been exercising their Warrior Spirit as described early in this series will know that the offensive strategies are the fun part of competition, where they can begin to outwit their competitor with creativity and gumption.
And the most important of all offensive strategies is the Grand Strategy.
The Grand Strategy Explained
Grand Strategy is much like having a plan. Independent booksellers are familiar with the three important plans often discussed in business books: a business plan, a marketing plan, and a merchandising plan (sometimes called a floor plan or store plan).
The Grand Strategy is a war plan, or rather, a competition plan.
The Grand Strategy is the focus on concrete goals. Every general needs to know why he is fighting, and what they expect to win in the end. In war, this can be a definite region of land or coastline, or it could be the expulsion of invaders, or it could be the crown itself.
A Book Warrior should also know what they intend to achieve by beating their competition. Is it to be the biggest bookstore in town? Is it to earn enough to stretch her retirement savings to old age? Is it to serve specific needs of the community?
With a specific goal in mind, clearly stated, it is then possible for the Book Warrior to focus on it and not spend valuable resources fighting its competitors. The Book Warrior instantly understands what can be sacrificed and what must be fought for to the last dollar.
Look at the Enemy’s Goal, Too
Of course, goals are important, but the Grand Strategy also considers the enemy’s primary goal. It is important to note that conflict only happens when these two primary goals are not able to coexist.
If one side’s goals did not obstruct or negate the other side’s goals, there is no reason to draw up a war plan, because the simple solution would be for both parties to ignore each other. The Hardware Depot store down the street is not likely to cause any pain for the independent bookseller, and it would be foolish for the two to go to war.
By identifying the goals of all participating competitors, it becomes easier to know the enemy. If the competition is trying to dominate the local market, any attack on that market will cause the competitor to respond, perhaps in predictable ways. A competitor whose primary goal is “Not be underpriced” can be manipulated, perhaps to expend resources against a shallow profit margin while you prepare the “impeccable service” policy.
The Grand Strategy also calls for losing battles. Only winning the war counts, not winning all the battles. In fact, the one who wins early—who becomes drunk on success and feels invincible—often falls to emotions and pride.
Grand Strategies must also employ deception, obfuscation and indirect advances. It is important that the competition not know what is going to happen next, and by keeping the goal hidden, it is very hard for one’s opponent to figure this out.
The Four Principles of Grand Strategy
Greene offers four main principles that apply to Grand Strategy.
· Focus on the grater goal, on your destiny. Circumstances, friends and enemies will all dangle glittery prizes, which will only serve to distract you and waste resources. Also focus on what is likely to happen once you reach your goal, as some goals are like Midas’s golden touch—they can be ultimately detrimental.
· Widen Your Perspective. You must look farther and further in space and time than your opponent. This isn’t easy. The process of running a retail business often forces shopkeers to look mostly at the present local conditions: Is the store clean? Is the customer being served? Is the cash register secure? Is the night’s drop short any cash? Have the new titles been ordered? Taking a break and looking ahead is critical. It is also critical to use various points of view other than your own: the customer’s, the staff’s, the competition’s. Especially the competition’s. And it is important to be as objective as possible—there is no room for emotional rationalization or irrational fear when hunting out threats.
· Sever the Enemy’s Roots. Greene’s meaning is that you should know what the enemy’s goals are. The enemy will try to hide his objectives, so it is important to look hard past all appearances. When the competition seems ready to make an advance on your business, strike fast and hard in a preemptive manner beforehand. This is why “Buy Local” programs work best while the chain store facility is still seeking construction permits. Don’t let the enemy take root in your garden, because once the enemy has a foothold or a beachhead, it becomes quite costly to stop the advance.
· Take the Indirect Route to your Goal. In strategizing, it is imperative not to lose the initiative. Since the competition is also trying to seize the initiative, it is important to keep the enemy chasing after phantoms. Prevent the competition from seeing the purpose to your actions, your important goal. Instead, let the opening move in your fight be a setup designed to extract a response, to force your competition to reveal his own strategy and goals. This first move should be subtle, indirect, and soft…and then watch what happens. Pay attention, though, because how this first battle opens up will often dictate the nature of the war. A strong swift counterattack will indicate that the enemy will tend to strong and swift actions; a slow, methodical response means a thoughtful, patient opponent. This first exchange of marketing strategies will dictate the direction of the competitive battles to come, so be certain not to allow the competitor to take the fight into a direction you are not prepared to go.
Finally, a Grand Strategy must be flexible enough to handle changes. When something goes wrong, rather than trying to place blame with a person, try to find the flaw in the Grand Strategy, and correct it. There will be setbacks, but if the Book Warrior stays above emotions and looks at the plan logically, failures and setbacks become instructional and serve to strengthen the plan in the long run.
Book Warriors, as an exercise, let me know what you think are the Grand Strategies of your competitors, especially the large chain stores, online retailers and big box stores that the independent booksellers face.
I would also like to hear from Gather members if there are any Gather Groups that would be appropriate for this series of articles that I may have missed, and to everyone reading, are there any blogs or websites that would be appropriate to post a link?
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This is just one article in David A. Rozansky’s column, Readers, Writers & Royalties, a blog column about the book trade, from writing and publishing, to selling and reading. This series of articles—“Book Wars”—is an interpretation of the strategies listed in Robert Greene’s The 33 Strategies of War, as they apply to the independent bookseller. The next installment of this column will investigate the complex strategy of Intelligence.
Readers may find archived articles or subscribe to Readers, Writers & Royalties at www.ReadWriteRoyalty.Gather.com. Subscribe to all of Mr. Rozansky’s articles at www.FlyingPenPress.Gather.com.
David A. Rozansky is the publisher of Flying Pen Press. He has been in publishing since 1987, and has more than one million published words under his byline. Flying Pen Press is at http://www.FlyingPenPress.com. He is available for speaking on the subject of writing magazine articles, public relations, marketing and book-length material. His email is Publisher@FlyingPenPress.com and he tweets at @DavidRozansky.
The book mentioned in this article is The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene (Penguin Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-14-311278-5, trade ppb, $18.00).
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