Collaboration Beats Competition

I believe in cooperation rather than competition. I think it serves customers better when they have a choice. And let's face it, not every product or service suits every customer. So if someone doesn't like my style of coaching, I'll happily refer them to someone else who might be a better fit. That's cooperation rather than competition.

As proof that cooperation can work, look at some other examples from ‘big business'. Three cinema chains: AMC, Regal and Cinemark formed an alliance to share the development and production costs of converting around 14,000 movie theaters from 35mm film to superior and more reliable digital technology. All three companies benefit as a result.

Yahoo News, the most visited online English language news site in the world, has collaborated with newspapers such as AP, Reuters, USA Today and others to provide video content for the online versions of these print publications. Rather than fiercely protecting this original content, they share it (for a fee) which in turn allows print publications to offer their customers high quality video content.

Bringing this around to eBay, what can you do to work with, rather than against your competitors in that marketplace? What can you do to be nice?

Knowing that you can't be all things to all people, what can you offer your competitors customers that they can't offer, and what can you gain from your competitors that you can't currently offer to your own customers?

As an example, you may or may not know that my background was in the video production industry. I was a video producer with a lot of experience with high definition video, especially in the early days of that format.

When I came out with my book, ‘How to Shoot, Edit & Distribute HDV', I contacted other eBay sellers that sell to similar customers, and offered them the book at a discounted rate to sell to their own customers as an add-on sale. Note that we both sold to the same customers, and we could have been protective of that. In truth, some sellers rejected my offer, but others looked beyond the competitive aspect to realize that there are an abundance of customers, plenty to go around. Besides, they were selling to these people already, and this was an opportunity to increase the profit on each sale.

“How Can You Collaborate Rather than Compete?”

There really are plenty of customers to go around, and you'll succeed faster by leveraging the power of joint ventures in your business.

So actively seek out businesses that you previously viewed as your competitors. Look for their strengths and weaknesses and offer to fill the voids that you're able to.

If you're concerned about how to approach a potential joint venture partner (notice I'm not using the word competitor), how can you do that, especially if they're not known to you? Simple. Buy something from them, and then use that transaction as your introduction, e.g.:

“Hi Bob,

I recently purchased a bed from you on eBay and I'm very happy with the quality, thank you. Also, the service I received from your company was excellent and I wanted you to know how much I appreciated that.

The other reason I'm writing is to let you know that I've produced a widget that can help your customers…”

You get the idea. Flatter the person first, then make your proposal. You won't win ‘em all, but you'll get enough people saying ‘yes' to make it worthwhile. Let me know if you have a product or service that would be of value to readers - I'll gladly hear your proposal, and I might even say ‘yes'.

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