small talk w/ competitors

[huggytree]

do any of you talk with your competiton when you run into them?

i run into them all the time at networking meetings, get togethers,etc

today i ran into one at the park...our kids know each other...

we bid against each other recently...i didnt say the customer, but he knew..we discussed it....

i have another which i just bid today (i didnt tell him)....but we talked about business strategies...gave advice back and forth a bit...i definately gained knowledge and a feel for him.....

i dont know if this is strange to be friends w/ the competition or not...but i even call some for code questions or advice...they always give it...

most are in the union, so they are 'brothers'....maybe this makes a difference

[SteveC]

I often talk with other designers, I share information and I've even mentored one or two of them... however I am carefeul with whom I share information and what information I share... you have to remember, a competitor is always a competitor and given the choice they would pinch every one of your clients... however friendly they might be.

[Dan Furman]

I'm friendly with a few of my competitors. I even link to one on my site (and she to me). We've discussed rates, clients, etc (I don't do this with everyone, mind you, but there are a few that I am friendly enough to do this with.) I think competition is very healthy - it's a foolish businessperson who spurns competitors.

To be honest, I feel there's enough work for us all.

[vangogh]

I'm friendly with my competitors. Technically a few people on this forum are my competition, but I have no problem talking to them and even helping them. Web design is a rather large profession and I think there's plenty of room for many of us in the industry. I also think my success has a lot more to do with me than it does with competing designers.

Still there are some people I know might be direct competitors and I'm not going to share certain information that I think would hurt me. But overall it's hard to replicate someone else's design work.

[Vivid Color Zack]

I'm better than everybody so I just spit on my competition when I see them.


No I'm totally kidding. My "competition" and my clients are sometimes the same. We're trying to focus more on the trade printing side of things (resellers) instead of going direct to the public. We are weighing the benefits of processing 200 orders a day @ 10 dollars profit vs. 10 orders a day @ 50-400 profit a day + lots of extra client interaction and back and fourth emails... calls... details...

My current direct competition I am cordial with and try to be respectful, but honestly the ones most local to me have pulled some shady stuff with us in the past and I have no obligation to share anything with them. I only hope to be able to squash them into the ground once we are big enough.

[vangogh]

My "competition" and my clients are sometimes the same

That's an interesting point. It's all too easy to see anyone in your industry as a competitor when in some cases you can easily work out a win-win for both companies. Another thought is how you can partner with some competitors. Maybe you pass overflow work to each other of each of you has a speciality within your industry.

In some ways partnering is a way where you can have the advantages of a small business while still being able to service larger businesses.

[nealrm]

The local market for my services is limited so compentition tends to be cut-throat. There have been several other companies that have tried to duplicate our services. In most cases we were personnel friendly but professionally closed. (We talk about non-work activities)

Our main compention is a local paper. They have stated pubicly they want to run us out of business. They have used every legal and illegal method short of physical violence to get this done. We are not friendly either personnely or professionally with them.

Dan - FYI never discus rate with your compention. This can be interpeted as collusion or price setting.

[huggytree]

I worked with one of my main competitors today...same market, same pricing

they were doing the heating while i was doing the plumbing...i asked tons of questions while b/s'ing with them....asked about which products they like to use, how their guys are trained...got lots of good info w/o giving anything from me...they were just general workers, so they didnt care how or what i did.....i compete against them a few times a year..ive stolen a few customers from them..i usually win the bids, but barely.

[jimdegerstrom]

I'm friendly with my competitors... Still there are some people I know might be direct competitors and I'm not going to share certain information that I think would hurt me. But overall it's hard to replicate someone else's design work. Agree 100%.

As far as not sharing "certain information", I'm happy to share technical information and resources related to web design, yet marketing strategy and client relationships are strictly private.

As an example, I have no problem spending a half hour in Skype with another web designer debugging xhtml or css code problems they may be having. One long time (competitor) friend from Australia happens to be graphically challenged, so I've done work for him and he in turn referred others for similar work including a client for a logo design.

[vangogh]

I think we see it the same way. I'd do the same and help with the technical problem, but I wouldn't share marketing strategy or client info.

Thinking about it now I could restate it as I'll gladly help my competition get to #2 as long as I'm #1 and way out in the lead. My competition can fight out being a distant #2.