I was reminded in a conversation recently about the importance of finding some of your best collaborating partners with your competition. And I’ve seen this quite a bit this week watching the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I was especially struck by the close friendship between America’s Lindsey Vonn and Germany’s Maria Riesch, two skiers who won gold in the Women’s Downhill and Women’s Nordic Combined, respectively.
You see a lot of camaraderie and fellowship at the Olympics. These athletes aren’t just rivals and competitors, they’re friends. They see each other at the different international competitions, they spend time together in the different cities, and sometimes they even train together. American speed skater Shani Davis used to train with Canada’s Denny Morrison. Another 2010 speedster, Chad Hedrick, used to train with 2002 gold medalist and current US speed skating coach, Derek Parra.
Even in sports where you may be competing against your best friend for a few minutes, the fact is when you’re finished, that person is still your best friend.
So why can’t we do it in business? What rules are in place that say you can’t be friends with your competition? I’ve been fortunate enough to have friends who just happened to work in companies that competed with mine, or so I thought.
I’ve received referrals from my competitors, and given them in return. I’ve given advice and ideas to my competitors, and gotten some great advice in return. In fact, I even helped write a book, Twitter Marketing For Dummies
(affiliate link), with one of my good friends, Kyle Lacy, who, at the time, also had the potential to be one of my biggest competitors.
We enjoyed it so much, we’re actually working on a second book together. Meanwhile, he changed the focus of his company and my company grew beyond just working in Indianapolis. But had we turned up our noses at the possibility of working together because we were “the competition,” we both would have missed out on some exciting opportunities.
What about you? Who are your competitors? Who do you eye suspiciously any time you’re within 30 feet of each other? I’ll bet you’ll even see some of them at an At The Top networking event. Let me challenge you: take a few minutes to talk to them.
Ask them what areas they truly focus on. “Everything” is not an area. What’s their sweet spot? What customer would they truly love to have more of, and who would they love to have fewer of? Maybe you’ll find that you love their worst customers, and dislike their best. Build a relationship that allows you to refer your favorite customers to each other and see what you can accomplish with their help, rather than with your reluctance.
I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results.
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