Why you should think of your competitor as a collaborator.
I teach a program called Referral Dynamic, it is an amazing class, and I love the results that our participants achieve as a result of this program. One of the topics that we have a very spirited conversation around is competitors. You see it’s my belief that there are no competitors, just opportunities for collaboration.
Here is a note that one of our students sent us about his experience with competitors after our discussion:
“When I was taking the Referral Dynamics class Denise, our instructor, suggested that I consider working with a company whom I considered a major competitor. I told her that would be crazy since they were paid to do what I do. One afternoon I called an old friend of mine who happens to be this company’s top sales person. I explained to her what I wanted, and asked her if there was any opportunity for us to work together on this. To my total surprise, she went on to tell me that there was more than just an opportunity, there was in fact every reason for us to work together. It turns out, when her company sold a program, they then turned it over to an advisor to manage. Today, this has become a very profitable relationship for my company. What I once considered a competitor is now one of my top referring partners.
The moral of the story, “Don’t assume that you know everything that your competitor does or how they do it.”
- Do you know who your competitors are?
- How do you compete?
- Who is their target market?
- How are you alike?
- How are you different?
- What is their strength?
- What is their weakness?
- Do you know their price points?
- Who are their top sales people?
- Where might there be an opportunity for collaboration?
You might find that whom you thought was a competitor is truly an opportunity. Spend the time to do the work, you may be very happy that you did.
