Working together is one approach, but joining forces with your rivals?
“Rather than engaging in fierce competition, explore opportunities to collaborate,” advises Josh Linkner, a four-time tech entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and keynote speaker. “There are numerous chances to team up with individuals or businesses you once viewed as competitors.”
Linkner facilitates a mastermind group for keynote speakers who assist each other by sharing best practices and referrals. “The insights I provide to these fellow speakers could lead to losing opportunities to [them],” he shares. “However, I prefer that we progress alongside one another as competitors, uplifting each other and our profession, rather than succumbing to rivals in the market.”
To brainstorm methods of collaborating with competitors, consider implementing these tactics:
- Exchange resources. It can be beneficial to share technology for enhanced overall market performance. For example, Dell, HP, and Emerson agreed to incorporate Intel processors into their laptops and tablets. This collaboration helped establish an industry standard, bolster online security, and collectively enhance market share against Apple’s iOS. In the early ’90s, KLM and Northwest Airlines pioneered route sharing and joint-operated flights, filling more seats and enhancing profitability, a model others in the industry adopted.
- Unite to challenge larger businesses. Smaller businesses can form alliances to compete against larger competitors. Consider pooling resources to purchase inventory or vendor services in bulk. For instance, Blue Moon Fair Trade collaborates with three other fair-trade retailers to merge trans-Pacific shipments, enabling all of them to save up to 40% on shipping and paperwork costs.
- Collaborate to draw in larger clients. You can attract significant clients by working together with rivals. Joseph Marshall, president of Signal 88 Security, teamed up with similar local competitors to present a collaborative proposal for security services at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
- Enhance visibility. Consider trade shows that promote multiple competing brands. The New York International Auto Show showcases vehicles from numerous manufacturers, all of which view the event as a valuable opportunity to present their latest models to a broader media and potential clientele than they could achieve independently.
- Advance best practices. Collaborating with other successful entrepreneurs you admire enables you to set industry benchmarks and establish your position as thought leaders. This could involve forming a trade association, organizing a conference, or sponsoring an independent industry research report, which collectively generate positive media attention and recognition among customers and colleagues for those at the forefront.
- Cross-refer. This is routine among physicians. A specialist may refer patients needing specific treatment to a partner provider and vice versa. Identify a service your clients frequently need and a similar business that specializes in that complementary product or service. Approach them with a proposal outlining how you can support one another, ensuring you clarify why this partnership benefits both parties. “Be clear about the rationale behind your proposal to create a sense of trust,” advises Linkner. “Focus on the bigger picture rather than just tactical discussions.”
Julie Kearns
Founder and proprietor
Business: Junket: Tossed & Found, an online vintage boutique
Alliance: Kearns collaborated with other vintage sellers in a unified commercial area, ultimately drawing in city backing, media focus, and foot traffic.
Outcomes: By 2018, there were 11 retailers within the designated Minnehaha Mile.
In 2013, I launched my retail store in a struggling commercial area. There was one other vintage shop nearby, open only two weekends each month. I reached out and proposed that we coordinate our hours. They were receptive to the idea of collaboration.
Not long after, two additional resale shops opened in the same vicinity, and they joined our scheduling efforts. Given that the stores are located several blocks apart, we made an effort to verbally direct our customers to the other shops. Six months later, we held a meeting and decided to formally organize ourselves as a shopping district, which we named Minnehaha Mile.
The antique and resale business is often perceived as excessively competitive. I didn’t want my venture to embody that trait. Resale shops inherently offer unique products; our offerings aren’t mere commodities. While there are other vintage stores scattered around Minneapolis, by uniting, the Minnehaha Mile retailers created a legitimate shopping district, attracting more customers than we could manage individually.
Through this collaboration, we applied for and secured a $3,000 grant from a local business association, which we allocated towards our branding efforts. This generated media interest and increased visibility, bringing other retailers into the fold. Together, we developed a map of our district highlighting all participating retailers. We convene bi-monthly to organize events. For instance, we partnered with a nearby animal shelter to showcase senior—“vintage”—dogs available for adoption, aligning with our mission to promote vintage goods. We have also synchronized our plans with upcoming road construction affecting our district, and a café in the area graciously offers its room for our meetings.
If we hadn’t collaborated in this manner, none of us would have achieved such success. Working together is what propelled us forward.
Daniel DiGriz
Principal
Business: MadPipe, a digital marketing strategy firm in Brooklyn, New York
Alliance: MadPipe and Think Work Media refer clients to one another and co-developed a marketing course designed to inform potential customers and foster thought leadership within their field.
Results: Produced a course for prospective clients and discovered opportunities for mutual referrals.
I met Shayne Spencer, head of Think Work Media, at a networking event, and we quickly recognized our shared goal of elevating our industry standards. In the digital marketing sector, many vendors label themselves as “strategists,” which often results in them controlling an organization’s marketing budget and funneling those resources towards their own services. Such a dynamic leads to an industry full of competitors, and unfortunately, many use complex jargon to persuade businesses to invest significantly without providing substantial value, which ultimately harms everyone involved.
Shayne and I have an entirely different foundational ethos. Think Work Media operates as a full-service marketing agency, handling everything from strategy to web design, social media, email, and online advertising marketing. In contrast, I serve solely as a strategist, providing clients with my expertise without offering additional services. Occasionally, I advise clients to either in-source their marketing tasks or delegate them externally. My counsel is objective, akin to a fee-only financial adviser who refrains from selling investment options.
Realizing our mutual values, we decided to partner to position ourselves as thought leaders while educating businesses on maximizing value from marketing vendors.
Together, we launched an eight-week marketing course for small business owners, priced at $650, and limited enrolment to 12 participants. By leveraging each other’s strengths—my focus was on social media strategy, while Shayne handled web design and analytics—we aimed to gain clients but did not present an aggressive sales pitch. The true benefit was that we genuinely aimed to educate the client base to make informed purchasing decisions within our industry, which in turn raises the standard for everyone.
The process of creating the coursework was invaluable. It compelled us to sharpen our ideas and refine our messaging, clarifying who our actual competitors were. Setting aside our egos allowed us to see collaborative opportunities. Shayne includes me in projects as a strategist where my input would be most beneficial, and when it’s practical for my clients to outsource, I confidently refer them to Think Work Media.
Melody Healy
Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy and Integration Officer
Business: VSP, a vision care insurance provider
Alliance: VSP expanded its insurance offerings to encompass Pearle Optical.
Outcomes: Increased accessibility to vision care for more individuals, benefiting both partnering entities.
VSP and Luxottica, the parent entity of Pearle, operate in competition throughout the supply chain—both provide vision insurance and manufacture eyewear. However, our perspective on competition has evolved significantly compared to a few years prior. Presently, our true competitor is the marketplace—targeting a generation of customers desiring easier access to vision care options, particularly given the plethora of low-cost eyewear available online.
Ultimately, both organizations share a unified mission: to enhance people’s vision. Traditionally, VSP has engaged with local independent practitioners, but we recognized a need for modernization in response to millennial demand for more accessible eye care services and diverse choices. Employers are also seeking greater eye care options for their staff.
We concluded that entering a partnership could boost each other’s market presence, leading us to extend our insurance coverage to Pearle Vision EyeCare Centers.
Pearle emerged as an ideal partner due to its established online retail framework, and since each location is independently owned, this aligns with VSP’s long-standing commitment to supporting 30,000 independent eye care professionals and promises to attract more customers to Pearle.
The partnership began to unfold in November 2014, with both parties experiencing success. Pearle tracked an influx of new patients who hadn’t previously received vision care. In one particularly telling instance, a VSP member was urgently referred to the emergency room by a Pearle Vision eye doctor upon identifying a detached retina. This singular event highlights the partnership’s success in making vision care more accessible.
