Colleagues or Competitors: How Do You View Others in Your Industry?

Toward the end of her class for small business owners “Social Media Made Simple”, our teacher Kelly Mirabella was asked if we should connect on LinkedIn with our competitors.

Kelly responded that whether or not to do that depended on your industry. In some industries, it would not be wise to have your director competitors have access to those connections you have cultivated so carefully. In other industries, there really isn’t an issue with a “competitor” having this access.

She went on to say that in the social media industry, there is so much business and so much need for service that she never thinks of anyone as a competitor. To her, what some may call “competitors” she considers to be “colleagues”, people to whom she can refer clients who aren’t a fit for her. They could even be people with whom she could brainstorm for better ways to serve her own clients.

Just yesterday I had coffee with a woman who has a marketing business. It was clear from the start of our conversation that we will be great power partners for each other.

She is the kind of person I could refer my business clients to when they need help from a marketing professional. I am the person she could refer her clients to when they need some one-on-one social media tutoring.

One thing she mentioned during our visit surprised me. She shared that she is very open to referring business to others in the marketing field, being she knows there are clients she isn’t equipped to serve. Or maybe the chemistry between them isn’t right. Or she just isn’t interested in working with folks in a particular industry.

She told me that some people she has met with don’t have this philosophy. They don’t see the point of two marketing professionals having a mutually supportive referral relationship with each other.

To me, this is scarcity thinking, not abundance thinking.

I agree with Kelly and with my new marketing power partner. I believe that there is plenty of business to go around, and it makes far more sense to work collaboratively then competitively.

How do you view others in your industry – as colleagues or as competitors?

Joyce Feustel, Founder of Boomers’ Social Media Tutor, helps people relatively new to social media to become more effective and comfortable in their use of this medium.  Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com