Rob and I have talked a lot about “power partners” - those strategic alliances that we all need in order to build our business. We were talking with Kevin about it this afternoon (over lasagna and pizza!), and thought it was worth mentioning again. Most recently, Rob talked about this concept here when he mentions that a good alliance could actually be with a competitor.
Do you think that you could team up with a competitor and build a good “power partner” relationship? Do you go along with this concept? Keep in mind that the basis for the relationship must be how you can help each other. Ask yourself how you can serve them and then take it from there.
By allowing yourself to have the abundance mindset, you will discover that teaming up with a competitor could open up doors for you. Perhaps you are located in different parts of town. Perhaps there is a “sweet spot” of your businesses that differ enough that it provides an easy referral. Yes, reciprocal relationships can take place even with competitors. I’ve seen many instances where several parties each gave up a small piece of the pie in order to be able to refer clients to someone in a business that overlapped with theirs. Guess what happened when they referred that business to a competitor (who was also a strategic alliance)? That business came back to them ten-fold. By dissolving the scarcity mindset, they were allowed access to clients they would not have otherwise gotten.
On the other hand, with the scarcity mindset you could be closing the door on meeting people who would potentially buy from you. Say one of your competitors has a client who needs a product or service that they don’t offer. Wouldn’t you like for them to send them to you? I would. And I guarantee that if you did that for them, they would return the favor. And as a consumer, I can say firsthand that by sending me to a competitor who can better serve my needs, it will actually make me WANT to give you more business. While it’s sometimes difficult to give up that piece of the pie, it really does have its rewards.
We challenge you to give it a try. There truly is enough business out there for all of us. Helping enough people and effectively teaming up with them will enable us to grab our piece of that pie.
So, stop and think … which mindset do you have? And which do you think is more effective?