Some of my favorite people to hang out with work in the same profession I do. In other words, I’m friends with a lot of my competitors. It makes sense if you think about it. People who compete with each other have many of the same interests.
But friendships with professionals from competing companies can be touchy. This is an especially relevant topic for commercial real estate brokers, because your very success depends on your competitors – there’s almost always a broker from a different firm on the other side of each deal.
It is in your best interest to have positive relationships with your competitors, but you have to be careful. On one hand, such relationships keep career possibilities open for you, and if you’re in a leadership position, these relationships form a candidate pool from which you can hire.
On the other hand, it’s easy to let your guard down when you befriend competitors, thus compromising your competitive position.
Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind when it comes to befriending people who want to beat you in the brokerage arena:
1. Even if you have the heart of a cut-throat competitor, be cordial when you run into the competition. You never know when you actually might need them. And not just because they’re representing the other side of a deal. You might need them for something else too.
2. A wily competitor might be gathering intel during casual conversations, so stick to pleasantries and “sanitized” talk. Don’t divulge your secrets.
3. If your real estate practice is on the small side, you may be able to grow quite wealthy living off the big guy’s table scraps. Befriend people from much larger companies and higher-producing brokers. They just might refer business to you that is not big enough for them.
4. If you engage in one-upmanship and gamesmanship with competitors, make sure you do it for valuable reasons and not simply to boost your ego or satisfy a constant craving for attention. If you engage in one-upmanship just for the fun of it, be careful – make sure the other person has a thick skin and/or good sense of humor. Friendships among competitors can be fragile.
5. Sometimes you must get between your client and your competitor. That’s not just figuratively “in between” them; it might be a good idea to show up if you know your client is going to encounter a competitor. In highly competitive sales efforts, your personal, physical presence may be necessary to ward off competitors looking to steal your client at the last minute.
6. As appropriate, find ways to “hide” your prospects from your competitors. If you find a “diamond-in-the-rough” client, don’t let the world know about him or her. Do what you can to keep them under the radar at least at first.
7. All is fair in love, war and real estate. Because business can be so brutally competitive, some managing brokers/company owners look for ways not only to beat the competition but to weaken it preemptively. Many of Sun Tzu’s ancient Chinese theories on military strategy apply to the game of real estate. In brokerage, you sometimes need to outflank the competition, employ the element of surprise and weaken your competitors before you even begin the battle. A dramatic way to strike a blow to a competitor is to hire away one of their agents. I guess if you can’t beat ’em, steal their best broker.
