Sleeping with the Enemy?

I recently met for coffee with several felow web designers. The meeting lasted about two hours while we got to know each other a little better and discussed new techniques. The plan is to meet like this about once a month, and I hope our busy schedules will allow us to do so.

Okay, so some of you are wondering why I would agree to meet with my competition on a regular basis. Business should be ruthless, right? They might after all steal away some valuable clients.

It seems there is a fundamental, almost universally accepted idea that competing for customers is the best way to do business. But the web design industry is different and other businesses should take note.

More Spices Make a Better Stew

If all you added to your stew was a bit of salt and pepper your stew would be pretty bland. The same can be said for business, if the only thing you can add to the pot is salt and pepper then it stands to reason you need to find more spice. That spice may be a different skill set, or a different approach to an idea. Working together with a different company gives you that ability. At the meeting I found out that one of the local design firms specializes in flash development. It stands to reason then that if I have a client that must have Flash in their project, I don’t have to pass on the project because it is a skill set that I don’t excel at, but I now have an alliance with another firm that does. I can either pass the project their way, or work together with them to give my client a perfect finished project. I also found out that one of my “Competitors” does not take on small projects., but they are happy to pass on projects to a smaller firm they trust. Well I am a very trust worthy smaller firm, so more work for me from a client that may have never even considered me if they had not been referred to me.

Sure, most people would find that scenario reasonable, but would it ever come about if I had not chosen to attend that coffee meeting in the first place?

Learning from Experience

Each of us brings to the table different experiences and abilities.As I mentioned before some of us have different skill sets, and this is also true of business experience. How we handle problem clients, better coding and standards, bookkeeping, and using new applications.

Protecting Trade Secrets is one thing, hoarding Secrets of the Trade is another

I wouldn’t expect Coke to give up their formula to Pepsi, that’s a trade secret. New website coding techniques on the other hand are secrets of the trade, available for anyone to learn and apply. In a field like website design, there is no real competitive advantage to knowing or not knowing some of these techniques. The only advantage I may have lies in the creative process, and that’s a trade secret that simply cannot be taken away.

I realize that there are many industries that survive on competition. But there are many more that can benefit from collaboration.