Don't Compete - Collaborate!

One of my mantra’s for the past 6 months or so has been ‘Don’t compete, collaborate’.  It is something that I ‘bang on about’ at various events that I go to and some poor souls have heard it more than once ;) But to me it is such an important thing to remember, not only in business but also in life.

I work in an extremely ‘busy’ field.  We have social media experts and SEO gurus popping up on a daily basis.  WordPress is so widely used that loads of designers and developers do it.  So why am I not shaking in my boots worrying about competition?   Because I would rather work with them than compete against them.

It’s also about knowing your business inside out and knowing exactly who your target audience is, and as much as this sounds a tad strange, knowing your place.  For example, I work for a competitor, in fact I work for a couple of  competitors.  Do I see them as such though? No.  Technically they are because we all work in the same field, but we have different target audiences and we do things a different way and I would have no hesitation in recommending clients to them.  If you read my #FollowFridays (or #FF’s) on Twitter regularly enough you will see that I recommend them because I really do believe that they are some of the best.

Many of you will be reading this and thinking I am completely bonkers (OK that’s a given…) but look at it this way:  if there is something that Media Labs cannot do, for whatever reason, I would rather pass work to someone I know who is really good and will get the job done.  That way I do not lose my clients confidence and I know I’m helping the ‘competitor’ too.

Healthy competition is what every business needs to thrive, but when the threat of competition makes you react in way that is not ‘healthy’ then you need to look at why.  Look at your business, just who are you aiming at?  Is it really a direct competitor (i.e. offering the same service or products as you, within your same target audience) or is it someone who just works in the same field but doing it a different way and who promotes to a different audience altogether?

The VA (Virtual Assistant) world here in the UK has this theory buttoned down.   They all are direct competitors of one another but they all help and support one another too.   They even have their own support group just for all the VA’s to ‘pile into’ and help each other out.

Work with people in your field whether that be social media, mechanical engineering or jam making, whatever your field is, work with businesses within it or at least get to know them.  Why not start a project or a collaborative blog? Help each other out, become a network of suppliers (for the want of a better word) to your industry that you know can help ANY type of client.  Some people like working with B2B, some only deal with B2C, some like start ups, others like large corporate clients.  

Don’t compete with the competition, collaborate with them.  It doesn’t mean you can’t stand out from the crowd or be the best in your field, nor does it mean that you can’t be (or your business can’t be) an individual, but it does mean that you will have a support network there if you need/want it, and that can only be a good thing.

p.s.  Keep an eye out for more news on the new ‘Don’t compete, collaborate’ book written by us ;) It’s all very exciting!

Sally Walker

http://SocialBusinessToday.net - The Best in Social Business