(The following post is excerpted from Seal the Deal.)
Think about competition for a minute. In a personal services business such as consulting or coaching in organizations, even though you and all your would-be competitors offer similar or even the same services (assessments, 360-degree assessments, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, individual coaching, team coaching, situational leadership, presentation skills, etc.), so much of what you do is unique to you as an individual. When you think about it that way, do you truly have competitors in your market?
Here’s a mindset that better serves coaches to expand their offering into organizations and be able to provide larger-scale interventions than individual coaches: I’ve heard it referred to as coopetition, an amalgam of cooperation and competition. The idea is one of collaboration with competitors, or turning competitors into partners, by building alliances and joint ventures as a business development strategy. If you struggle with staying competitive in the market, identify those you perceive to be your biggest competitors and approach them to create coopetition arrangements that serve everyone and the greater good of the client organization. It is the old win-win concept that we facilitate our clients to attain, now applied to your own business growth strategy.
If you want to know more, get the book!
Think about competition for a minute. In a personal services business such as consulting or coaching in organizations, even though you and all your would-be competitors offer similar or even the same services (assessments, 360-degree assessments, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, individual coaching, team coaching, situational leadership, presentation skills, etc.), so much of what you do is unique to you as an individual. When you think about it that way, do you truly have competitors in your market?
Here’s a mindset that better serves coaches to expand their offering into organizations and be able to provide larger-scale interventions than individual coaches: I’ve heard it referred to as coopetition, an amalgam of cooperation and competition. The idea is one of collaboration with competitors, or turning competitors into partners, by building alliances and joint ventures as a business development strategy. If you struggle with staying competitive in the market, identify those you perceive to be your biggest competitors and approach them to create coopetition arrangements that serve everyone and the greater good of the client organization. It is the old win-win concept that we facilitate our clients to attain, now applied to your own business growth strategy.
If you want to know more, get the book!