It’s not often you hear a story of a small, family-owned business winning out against a big box retailer. But we have one that is doing just fine here in Boulder, CO, where MDM is headquartered.

McGuckin Hardware, founded in 1955, is a fixture in this city, despite the arrival of The Home Depot, which landed about five minutes away a few years ago. I saw McGuckin’s latest round of advertising on a bus today, and it made me think about how local businesses can compete effectively with their national competitors.

Each ad shows an employee of McGuckin and what they are good at. Rather than saying, “Great customer service,” which doesn’t make anyone stick out from the competition, McGuckin makes it personal and gets specific about its knowledge and service levels.

They show Bob, in the Garden Department since 1980, with the text: The most feared man in the dandelion kingdom since 1980. He’s wearing his green McGuckin vest and smiling.

Another shows Jim, in the Tool Department since 2006, with the text: We have over half a million screws. And a guy who knows how to remove the one you just stripped. (See a screenshot from the website below.)

One more example: Luke, in the Automotive Department since 2007: If Luke can’t fix it, you don’t need an Automotive Department. You need a mechanic.

I don’t know how successful the campaign is. But it along with the store’s long-term success does tell me that there is a way to stand out despite the presence of larger competitors. You just have to approach the market with the right perspective. (Note that McGuckin does not mention price in its ads.)

Inkling Media’s blog looked at a similar question recently and outlined a few ways small businesses can compete more effectively:

1. Focus on strengths and highlight them. You can’t compete on everything. As Jonathan Byrnes tells distributors, “Don’t be everything to everyone.”
2. Then, position your strengths against their weaknesses. It seems like this is what McGuckin is doing, positioning their long-standing employees and their knowledge against the perceived knowledge of the larger competitor in town.
3. Position your perceived weakness as a strength. As the blogger writes, bigger isn’t always better to all customers.
4. Remember, David doesn’t have to kill Goliath.The blogger reminds us: “We’ve been conditioned that we need to beat the competition, but that’s not always the case.” He recommends doing what you do, and doing it the best.

These are great tips for competing more effectively against any competitors. If you’d like to read more about how to home in on your value proposition, read more from Jonathan Byrnes on providing the right value to the right customers at the right time. 

Byrnes also did a four-part series of MDM Webcasts on leading, operating, selling and managing for profit that is available on DVD for just $39.