All-out competition is a basic creed of a Sales business. You often compete for the same customers, revenue, and profits.
However, there is times when co-opetition, not competition, is a smart move.
I work with my direct competitors often – many clients will confirm this. I work with them because in the end, and by doing so, I have created a silent win-win, for all.
Here is how I work.
In order for you and your business to succeed, you need your industry as a whole to succeed, too. By supporting your competitors, you are growing the environment in which you both need to thrive, attracting more potential customers, and in turn creating more opportunities for the both of you.
Now I’m NOT talking about conjunctionally listing business, we thrive off competing and all manage and sell differently, but just like Canon supplies photocopiers to Kodak and just like Formula 1 Red Bull team is sponsored by Aston Martin but use Honda power motors and Mercedes supply engines to McLaren & Ferrari to Alpha Romeo – too many F1 references – but you see they need to outsource to sharpen the output. For some part, our competitors have the listings and we have the clients – or vice versa.
Take pride in the fact that people come to you when the product or stock is with a competitor. Work with your competitors and by doing this your offerings naturally expand which allows you to better service your customer. Perhaps the competitor is not providing the service or doesn’t have the parts the client trustingly needs to accelerate to the finish line… and whilst that may sound like I‘m disarming my competition, I’m not, I work with them because the foundations of providing a transaction can be very different.
Short version. Sometimes your competition benefits from an incremental sales growth and you hand them a sale or leasing, but you get the client.
Now for those thinking it seems counterintuitive in any walk of life to help a competitor close a sale, in the entrepreneurial world and not the mainstream world, however, the priority of helping others can end up putting more money in your clients pocket, your pocket and generate better practices for your business.
The best kind of business is when you do not just try to win business away from the competition. The best kind of business if when they naturally attract to you. Work with your competitors if your clients come to you, especially if doing so results in helping to grow a market for both of you.
Collaboration is competition in a different form.
And it’s good for the industry as a whole.
Have a great weekend, I’ll see you around.
