The term “co-opetition” relates to the opportunity for professionals in the same market or industry to leverage their relationships and networks for the betterment of an entire industry. Real estate agents and brokers who nurture their connections with agents, brokers and other industry partners outside their own offices not only give the industry an image boost but create new channels for first-degree leads.

 

 

Cooperation turns competition into successful partnerships

High-paid life coaches and professional coaches are known for their soundbites preaching the best ways to improve a business person’s impact, sales, reputation and referrals. If, like most in the industry, you are a real estate professional balancing a busy personal life alongside real estate production, time and resources for weekly coaching sessions may be scarce. That’s okay. All you have to do is remember that most business advice draws largely from common sense. Take the necessary task of working productively and efficiently with other agents, for instance. In real estate, competition can be a motivator. But agents’ and clients’ success depends on how well competitive agents can work with each other.

 

 

 

Competition and Cooperation

Notice the “and” between the words above, as opposed to “versus.” The most successful real estate professionals don’t view these two realities as separate. In fact, many believe in the value of so-called “coopetition.” They even find that coopetition – cooperating in partnership with the competition – comes more naturally to them than the worry and stress around one side needing to “win” over the other. That’s because everyone, ultimately, wants to feel as if they won. Fortunately, everyone can win. And the first steps toward a mutual win involve the amicable, cooperative teamwork between agents and other business partners who want to create a positive and successful experience for everyone involved.

 

 

A few questions to help you start measuring your coopetition quotient: Do you think of yourself as a happiness ambassador? Is it your genuine goal is that everyone comes out feeling better than they did at the start of an engagement? How do you gauge clients’ happiness? Do your clients consider you a positive individual? How confident are they that your goal is to bringing them happiness via the most reasonable and honorable means?

 

And, an even more important question: How would agents from other offices describe working with you?

 

 

Coopetition = Teamwork = Referrals

Remember, people talk. Keeping in mind that the client who is buying your listing may one day be a future seller can give you a whole new perspective. No one can afford to discount how tuned-in people are to the way agents engage on both sides of a transaction. 

 

 

Imagine this: Isn’t it grand when you sell a client’s house and, five years later, the people who bought from your client call you asking you to represent them in their resale? The agent most likely to earn repeat and referral business is not only the one who closes deals quickly and for the most desired dollar amount. His or her success also depends on how everyone involved in a transaction regards them as a professional. 

 

Buyers and sellers notice the “soft skills” of both agents or brokerages. For example, if paying a few hundred bucks out-of-pocket for a buyer’s second-opinion inspection is what gives them – and your sellers – the confidence to close escrow, then that effort will pay for itself soon enough. Both the buyer and the seller are going to tell that story to others when they’re asked for referrals.

 

That’s just one small example. 

 

Most agents, of course, have experienced how conflicting personalities and tension during a transaction can heat up even the most cordial relations. But in practice, it’s more productive to let down your guard and work with others as a team than to allow stress and competition to prevail. When you confidently can say that you worked toward a mutual goal and that everyone walked away with what they needed, you’ll know you’ve mastered coopetition.  

 

You don’t need to pay a former military hostage negotiator several thousand dollars a month to tell you that being nice is good for business. You already know that.