For many self-employed professionals and owners of small businesses, there is a natural impulse to view the competition as the enemy. After all, you’re competing for the same pool of clients, and their success could translate into your hardship. That’s why many businesses see the competition the way warring countries see each other—with suspicion, a little fear, and even some scorn. But in today’s hypersocial business climate, it’s time to move on from these old approaches and start seeing opportunity in competition.
Your competitors probably aren’t going away any time soon, so try to make the best of things. Here are a few tips for turning competition into a good thing.
- Always be positive: Privately, you may have negative things to say about your competition, and some of these things may be more or less true. But there’s no sense in airing these things publicly. Doing so can actually make you look bad. Always take the high road, and your clients and prospective clients will respect you for it. When asked for your opinion about a competitor or their services, always say something nice (or at least not negative).
- Be inspired: Competition breeds innovation. When you see a competitor doing something well, it should make you want to find ways to do it even better. Stay up to date on what your competitors are up to. For example, if you are in retail, you might visit your competitors’ stores regularly. If they have a strong online presence, check their websites often and follow their Facebook or Twitter feeds. And when you see something you like, don’t just copy what they’re doing. Use it as inspiration to provide a similar service that’s even better.
- Recognize competitors’ strengths: There may be a few areas where you just have to concede victory to the competition. On these points, don’t be afraid to recommend your competitors’ services when it would benefit your clients. Your clients will appreciate the help, which makes it more likely they will continue to work with you on other things. And if the competition hears you’re recommending them for some things, they may return the favor.
- Collaborate, when possible: There may not be many opportunities for you to reach out and work with your competition directly, but when the opportunities do arise, take advantage of them. For example, if both you and a competitor use blogs to create a buzz and bring in clients, consider exchanging blog posts that each link back to the author’s website. And if you’re on social networking, engage your competition in conversation when you have industry-relevant points of discussion that would interest your followers.