Rising with your competitors

In selling, we face two types of competition: internal (peer competition) and external (market competition). In both cases, we learn and practice competition as a war where one must lose for the other to win. In other words, a zero-sum game.

I always try to avoid zero-sum games and transform them into positive-sum games, meaning that both competing parties can be better off in the end. But how can this be possible when selling in a competitive environment? The short answer is through learning… and you will need to read a little more for the long answer. (And if you want to go deeper, you can check my article on “intentional learners”)

I believe (and experienced) that we have a lot to learn from our internal and external competitors. Additionally, we have a lot to share. Here is a non-exhaustive list of what you can learn from your competitors:

• Being a good loser
• Owning our mistakes
• Not quitting
• Recovering after defeats
• Being honest to ourselves
• Winning with humility
• Sharing
• Growing
• Pushing the limits
• Having difficult talks
• Self-confidence
• …

The key here is, to put your ego and pride aside and look for the learning opportunities in your everyday interactions and experiences, regardless of who closed the deal. That will transform learning into a competitive advantage for you. The faster you learn, the less you hesitate to share your knowledge. Because you will know that by the time your competitors get there, you will be far ahead with new learning experiences. And in case they catch you, it will encourage you to learn even faster.

To put it into practice, you simply need to talk to your competitors every occasion. Use every opportunity to establish regular contact and discuss the deals you lost or won. I know that sometimes it will not be possible because of their attitude. But it is OK. Just keep the communication channels open and share information (Well, you don’t have to give your company secrets). In the worst case, you will have a bitter relationship, which is always better than no relationship. This way, you will force each other to get better after each deal. The better you will get, the more new business you will find. Therefore, you will expand the pie rather than fighting to increase your share only.  

Did you find this approach too optimistic? You still want to kick your competitor’s butt. Check out two of the top men’s tennis players…Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Even in a highly competitive sport like tennis (there is no draw, you win, or you lose), it is possible to have your biggest competitor as your close friend and rise together without pushing the other one to the bottom.

Why would that not work in selling?