Love Your Competition

A safe assumption I’m willing to put out there is that most people in business are competitive on some level.  Competition is what fuels us.  As a lifelong athlete, I know that I want to win! It’s the competition that keeps my blood flowing.  When looking at it from that perspective, it’s good to have competition.  Competition should be healthy.  It should keep you moving in the direction that you want to be moving towards.  Competition should motivate you and push you into greater strengths.  Right now, the Olympics are taking place, this is 100% competition focused.  Identifying who has the best skill sets out of all the competitors.  The only reason these athletes practice is because of the competition.

 

If it wasn’t for competition, you would have little reason to strive to improve yourself, your product or service offering.  This is why you should love your competitors.  Appreciate the fact that your competition makes you better.  

Have you heard of Co-opetition?

Co-opetition is taking the appreciation for your competitors to the next level.  Co-opetition is the act of cooperation between competing companies; businesses that engage in both competition and cooperation are said to be in coopetition. – Source: Investopedia.com

 

The more that companies can work together to elevate each other’s level of service or product offering, the better we, as society, will be.  The concept is that it is ultimately better if you work together with your competition.

 

As the owner of a marketing agency, I am constantly connecting with other agency owners. Not only am I connecting with them, I am understanding their strengths in order to be able to deliver opportunities to them.  At the same time, I am able to assist in areas that are not their strengths.  I participate in agency owner groups to be a resource and support, but also to learn and discover.  We may consider ourselves competitors, but we have connected on a level beyond business, we genuinely care for each other as people.

Consider taking some time to get to know your competitors and identify ways you can work together!  You might find the outcome to be more positive than you’d ever think!