4

Choose Collaboration,
Not Competition

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Great partnerships are

characterized by generosity—

an abundance mentality

and a giving attitude that

willingly, even eagerly,

go beyond the basic

requirements.

Chip R. Bell and Heather Shea
Dance Lessons

THE BASIC assumptions upon which traditional marketing approaches are built are ready for updating. For example, if we asked whether businesses actually have to compete for customers, the answer would certainly be “Of course, they do!” But there is an alternative perspective, an approach that can create a dramatic shift, not just in the way business is done but in how we treat our customers and each other.

This is the perspective of collaboration, which carries the implication that each of us is unique, that no two people are exactly alike. If no two people are exactly the same, then it stands to reason that no two businesses are exactly alike. It is simply not possible for two businesses to serve the same client’s needs equally. One will be a better fit than another; the best fit produces a perfect client or customer working with the perfect provider.

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The Idea of Perfect Fit

Each of us, and the businesses we’ve joined or created, exists for a specific purpose or mission. Our businesses have developed as a result of our own experiences and needs and are simply tools for fulfilling our missions. Each business has its own mission to serve a particular group of customers in a particular way. That is why businesses have no need to compete with each other in the way we’ve traditionally thought of competition. Instead, business owners and managers could collaborate in ways that truly serve their customers’ and their own interests. If this sounds heretical, then it shows how deeply the concept of competition—“survival of the fittest”—colors our views of the way we do business.

Consider the memorable scene in the classic movie Miracle on 34th Street when Kris Kringle, as Santa Claus at Macy’s, refers a customer to Gimbels, a rival department store, because he knows that the customer will find the exact item she is looking for there. Kringle recognizes that it is in Macy’s best interests to serve the needs of the customer—even if it means losing a sale to another retailer. He knows that he is helping to build a reputation among customers that Macy’s is the first place to shop for superior service.

Today, when consumers have an abundance of choices in products and distribution outlets, businesses can shine even brighter— and be of greatest service to themselves, their clients, and their communities—when they are knowledgeable about the products and services offered by other businesses in their own and related industries. Consumers value services that save them time, money, and headaches. By becoming this type of resource through collaborating with others in your industry, you increase the overall abundance of products and services and will ultimately bring the greatest success to everyone. When you put your focus on a broad-based vision, then the odds of success for your own business increase dramatically.

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How do you know when a customer is a perfect fit for you and your business? You recognize a perfect customer the moment you meet one. An immediate spark of attraction and connection between this person and you quickly leads to mutual admiration. Almost instantly, you find yourself freely sharing information with this customer because you feel needed, appreciated, respected, and understood. You find that your opinions, values, and outlooks on life are similar. After just one conversation, you feel as if you have known each other for a long time.

Over the course of time, your social interactions with this perfect customer may increase, as well as the quality of your business relationship. Your relationship may expand and deepen into a true friendship. Take a moment to consider what friendships you have developed over the years that began as business relationships either with customers or coworkers.

Conversely, it stands to reason that when you choose to follow another path, one that better suits another business, you find that the customers who come your way are not intended for you. They are less-than-perfect customers for you. Usually, this lack of fit becomes apparent immediately. Interactions with these customers tend to be confusing and unfulfilling. They want you to provide a product or service that you do not normally offer. Or they have no idea what they need and they want you to figure it out for them. They want you to make exceptions to your policies, to provide discounts, to provide credit terms beyond your standard agreements. Rather than adding to your business, they seem to take your time, your energy, and your resources. They take up space.

What they are actually looking for is another business to serve their needs. However, since you attracted them in the first place, this is a clue that some area of your business needs greater clarity. You may need to review your advertisements; perhaps you tried to compete by copying the strategy of another business instead of holding true to your unique mission. Or maybe you have been making exceptions to your policies for other clients and now you are getting a reputation that you don’t want.

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When a Perfect Fit Isn’t So Perfect Anymore

The best time to collaborate with other businesses is when a previously perfect customer becomes a less-than-perfect customer for your business. How can this happen? Consider this example. Let’s say that you are a hair stylist who owns a salon, and your specialty is cutting and styling hair. You don’t do hair coloring because you are not good at it. You have a perfect client who, for years, has been coming to you to get her hair cut, and she is always happy with your service. Then she decides that she wants to color her hair. She has now become a less-than-perfect client, one you cannot satisfy with what you offer.

To pursue any less-than-perfect relationship would prove to be frustrating for both the client and for you. She doesn’t want to be disloyal, but she wants her hair colored—and she wants it done right. You don’t want to turn her down, but you don’t have the level of training and skill required to do the kind of work she wants. So what do you and your client do? If you followed the common practice of businesses that will do anything to avoid having a customer go to the competition, you would try to continue to serve this client anyway, usually with disastrous results. However, the more strategic decision would be to consider it your responsibility to direct this less-than-perfect customer to a vendor who can provide a more perfect solution to your client’s need.

This is also the most mutually satisfying way to be of service. In the case of the client who wants to color her hair, the most strategic solution is to create an alliance with another hair stylist, preferably one in the same salon for the convenience of your client, whose specialty is hair coloring. Together, you can both serve this client’s needs so that she does not go to another salon.

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In situations where it is not possible to serve all of a customer’s needs within your own business, it’s important to form alliances with others in your industry. For example, Sandi, a manager at an international car rental company, credits her success to referring her customers to other car rental companies whenever her inventory does not specifically meet her customers’ needs. She recalls a time when a customer arrived at her counter with his family of five and their six suitcases. She immediately recognized that the full-size car they had reserved would not meet their needs for a stress-free vacation, but she didn’t have any larger vehicles available for them to rent. Faced with this dilemma, Sandi arranged for the family to rent a minivan from another company. She recognized that what she was losing was only the sale that day—not the customer. And the goodwill she gained with this customer and with the other car rental company came back to her many times in additional reservations and referrals.

The Power of Two—or More

Over the years, we have developed working relationships with a large network of coaches, consultants, facilitators, trainers, and marketers in order to learn more about their most perfect clients. Knowing more about their missions and how they approach their work, we can better refer customers and clients to them. Although it may appear on the surface that we all do similar work for similar types of clients, we always find that our work is complementary, not competitive. That’s because we see ourselves, our businesses, and our missions differently from other consultants. And our clients do, too.

Consider the following scenario that led to our business partnership. From clients and other consultants, we repeatedly heard about each other. It appeared that we were doing similar work. After first meeting through a mutual client, we agreed to meet again to discuss our personal missions and our services. At the conclusion of our meeting, we realized that most of our processes were separate and distinct. Jan’s work was more focused on corporate strategic planning and sales team development, while Stacey worked in marketing and promotion. However, in a few areas our work overlapped: Stacey’s clients would occasionally require corporate strategic planning, and Jan’s clients would occasionally require marketing assistance. We had provided these occasional services ourselves because we didn’t have any contacts we knew and trusted who did that type of work. By the end of our meeting, we knew that our personal and business missions were aligned. We decided to create a strategic alliance. Stacey referred her clients who needed the services where Jan was most effective, while Jan referred her clients to Stacey for her special skills. Through the success of these first attempts at collaboration, we saw that our work was most effective when packaged together, which is how we came to form our partnership.

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The synchronicity of our missions quickly attracted the attention of a key executive of one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. Interestingly enough, before our collaboration, each of us had wanted to work with this particular company and yet knew that individually we did not have all the resources required to meet the company’s expectations. We had met this executive at a networking meeting. He was intrigued by the combination of skills that we had to offer and set an appointment to meet with us again. That one meeting developed into a perfect client-consultant relationship that would not have happened for either of us without our strategic alliance.

In some cases, creating strategic alliances allows businesses to serve different needs for the same clients. For example, if you are a divorce attorney, you may want to form alliances with attorneys in other specialties, such as estate planning or even criminal law, so that you can serve a larger number of potential clients together. You may also want to create alliances with accountants and family counselors, both of whom would know of marriages in trouble that may need your services.

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Another form of collaboration occurs when you pay a referral fee to another professional who refers you a client who is not perfect for her but is perfect for you. And, of course, you can also receive a finder’s fee when you refer a less-than-perfect client (for you) to another industry professional. In order for these types of referrals to be successful, it is essential that you take the time to determine the clients’ needs so you can be sure you are matching them with the right collaborators.

Developing Collaborations That Work

Many of us have probably collaborated in the past and didn’t realize it, perhaps because it is so easy to incorporate collaboration into our business practices. Yet collaborating intentionally is even more powerful.

How do you attract collaborators with whom you feel confident, trusting, and aligned? First, just as you create a Strategic Attraction Plan for your most perfect clients, you also create one for your most perfect collaborators. A good place to start is by listing the qualities that you want your collaborators to demonstrate. You might include qualities such as “an openness to collaborating,” as well as “credible skills and knowledge,” “integrity,” “honesty,” “commitment,” and “focus,” just to name a few.

The next step is to create alliances with those people who match your perfect collaborator profile. Begin by looking at your existing network of associates and the products or services they provide. In what ways can you mutually assist each other in serving your clients?

For example, if you are a software trainer and consultant, then you probably have relationships with computer hardware representatives, installers, networkers, and other software trainers and consultants. Take the time to learn what additional services each of these people offers that your clients might also need either now or in the future. Work together with these collaborative businesses to offer a free seminar for your most perfect customers on the latest technological developments. Your customers will appreciate the time and headaches that you save them by bringing solutions directly to them.

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Beyond your existing contacts, many others in your industry are also potential collaborators. You can meet them by getting actively involved in industry associations and community activities that will increase your visibility, making it easier for like-minded people to find you. Contributing articles to trade publications serving your industry, accepting invitations to speak at industry forums, and taking the initiative to call on the owners of other businesses in your industry will also move this process along.

Once you have identified potentially perfect collaborators, it is important that all of you share openly with each other your definitions of a “perfect client.” In this manner, you can clearly determine where your businesses overlap and where they are complementary. By including these professionals in your business growth plans, you are working to expand the pool of potential customers and potential revenue for all.

Pause for Reflection

Take a moment now to contemplate the following questions and write down your answers. These questions are designed to help you consider what might be possible for you and your business if you had at least one collaborator in your industry.

1.Who in your industry do you consider to be your main competition?

452.If you were not serving your customers, what other companies would be serving them?

3.What services do these companies offer that are the same as yours? Different from yours?

4.Have you ever referred one of your less-than-perfect customers to one of your competitors?

5.What would stop you from referring a less-than-perfect customer to one of your competitors?

6.Under what conditions would you refer a less-than-perfect customer to one of your competitors?

7.Do you belong to an association or organization dedicated solely to your industry?

8.If so, what benefits have you received as a result of your membership in that organization?

9.Who else do you know in your industry who belongs to this organization?

10.Can you name a less-than-perfect customer whom you would consider referring to a collaborator after reading this chapter?

If you want to make a dramatically impressive difference in your business, we invite you to meet or speak with a new potential collaborator every day for the next twenty-one days. You will create quite a stir within your industry, you will have a greater breadth of knowledge about your industry than other people providing similar services, and your reputation for being open and collaborative will spread very quickly, resulting in increased positive awareness and referrals. You may even have an experience similar to the one reported by George F. Phares, owner of Strategic Direction Resources:

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My mission is to make lots of money and distribute it. . . . Recently, I received a call from a law firm I’ve worked with over the years. They had a client with a need for immediate help. Given my current client load, I would not have been able to give them the immediate attention they needed without reducing the level of services to existing clients. I provided the name of another consultant who might be in a better position to serve them. That was on Tuesday. As of Wednesday, I had appointments lined up for two new prospective clients whose time demands are not as immediate, making them more perfect clients than the one I gave up. When we distribute wealth (i.e., opportunities), it always comes back. Giving is receiving.”

Now we ask you,Whom will you call first?