How to avoid potential conflicts when working with competitors
A guest post written by Cassie Jene
Hardly anything is original anymore. Whatever you are selling in business, whether it is a product or a service, in real life or online, there is someone else (actually quite a number of others) doing the same. We naturally view these other similar businesses as our competitors. We keep tabs on what they do. We stalk follow them on all the popular social media platforms. Some business owners may even go as far as purchasing from their competitor (anonymously or not) just to compare the differences (or similarities) between the products.
As entrepreneurs, we are creative beings and we love to compete. There is nothing like an active match between rival businesses. These rivalries don’t need to end in a bloodbath. Being an entrepreneur with a small startup, you don’t have to enter into the industry with a mindset that there is not enough to go around or that if you don’t move quicker, someone else will take the bigger piece of the cake. All of us live in an abundant Universe. I will like you to keep your mind and heart open that there is plenty to go around. No one will miss out even if everybody expended the same time, effort and energy into doing the same things.
Let us try to shift our mindsets for a change. Instead of viewing our competitors as someone that we have to beat, perhaps we can come up with ways on becoming partners within the industry. There are several ways that you can do this
- Joint ventures
- Strategic alliances
- Collaborative research
- Synergistic partnerships
Each of the above requires you to ‘make friends with the enemy’ even if it is only for a period of time. It brings changes to the scenery. You get to sit down as civilised people and combine your resources with theirs to create something amazing that will bring bigger benefits to the customers.
So life is not a Disney movie. Not all partnerships ended with happily ever after and everyone goes home to bed with deers and bunnies scattering scented rose petals in front of them. In order to keep the partnership going strong and avoid potential conflicts, keep these following tips close to you :
Write everything down
Have a written agreement that lays out the terms, conditions, purpose and outcomes of working together. What are the benefits to be gained from this? Are all parties getting equal share of the workload and incentives? Not everything has to be 50/50 as long as there is clarity on all sides.
Relationship
Since you are going to work closely with this particular person (or group of people) for a certain period of time, I highly recommend that you choose those whom you do get along with outside the business arena or the ones whom you admire and favour their style. It is definitely easier when you start a relationship based on mutual trust and respect rather than trying to combine fire with ice.
Confidentiality
Working together can cause sensitivity and confidentiality issues to come up. All parties will learn how the other person works and may also be privy to ‘in-house secrets’. It is no doubt an uncomfortable feeling to have. Hence the previous 2 tips are important – have a written agreement and only work with those who have integrity built into their vision. With any opportunities, there will be risks. Being prepared can help you minimise those risks and unpleasant surprises.
Open up and stay away
As humans, we are the same and yet different. We can love and hate the same people just as we can accept working with our competitors. Open up your mind to learning about each other and stay away from passing on negative remarks directed to the other party. Regardless of whether you are further ahead of the game or lagging behind, there is always new knowledge to gain from all partnerships.
Nothing is forever
When you and your competitor decide to be allies instead of being opponents never assume that this is ongoing throughout the lifetime of your businesses. There are limits as to how much and how long you can work together. It is perfectly alright to step away when either party feels that the benefits of the alliance are waning. Lay out everything clearly from the start including how long the partnership will go for and the reasons for breaking up. This will give all parties the mutual comfort to walk away with no hard feelings.
The next time you feel stagnant in your business or if you are seeking for additional resources on a new project, how about looking over the fence and asking a competitor for a hand?
Have you ever had a successful partnership with a competitor? What did you learn from working together?
Don’t miss Cassie’s Fearless Trailblazer tele summit on right now!
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