Grabbing Share Is Not a Cakewalk

In all of the preceding cases, the organizations that acquired more market share took the process very seriously and approached it very deliberately. Each one started with a financial target and identified specific competitors. They knew the realistic size of the opportunity. They designed a timeline, a strategy, and a set of variable tactics to take some of that business away from their competitors.

However, it's equally critical to understand that even the best-executed plans don't automatically win market share. No matter what the strategy, they have to earn the business. In order to do so, the winners had to do a better job than their competitors with regard to customers, team members, products, services, marketing—and keep themselves open to course corrections when new information became available.

Chapter 2 offers a more surgical approach. You'll learn exactly who and what you need to study in order to get more market share. But for now, let's build a foundation.