There’s something wrong with helping your competitor, right? I used to think so until I read the Small Business Trends blog post “Build your business by promoting competitors.” In some situations and in certain crummy economic times, it makes sense to work with, rather than against competitors. Some of the better tips in the post are:
- Realize you’re more powerful in numbers. Numbers give you street cred and the ability to do more than you could on your own. Keeping friendly relationships with competitors means that when things get slow, you can rely on one another to come up with a plan to help things pick up.
- Create a targeted referral system. By creating a good relationship with your competitors, you devise the perfect referral system for the both of you. You’ll show your customers that you’re confident enough to send them away (knowing they’ll remember the action and come back) and you also create a lot of goodwill with a competing business that will surely be able to replicate the gesture and send business your way, as well.
Thank for information.