Originally published on Inman.com – by Mary-Anne Gillespie
It’s natural to have feelings of scarcity in business and to see your competition as a threat to your success. However, if you open yourself up to collaboration, you’ll see it’s quite the opposite. Here’s why.
Some might say the real estate industry is a dog eat dog world; if you don’t close the deal, someone else will. That type of thinking isn’t necessarily accurate. The truth is realtors who embrace collaboration see more abundance, prosperity, and growth in their businesses than those who subscribe to a scarcity mindset. It benefits not just the realtors in collaboration, but both parties’ clients as well. Here’s why
1. Collaboration Breeds Innovation
Collaborating with other brilliant minds is like firing on all cylinders. When new ideas are born and shared, they inspire more ideas and more sharing. Everyone in the industry benefits from innovation because it makes all of our jobs easier, more effective, more efficient, or simply more fun. There really is nowhere to go but up when great collaboration happens.
Take the COVID-19 pandemic, for example. When traditional open houses were no longer an option, we relied on innovation and collaboration to find new options. Realtors and teams were open with how they were adapting their businesses which allowed others to also adapt. Through that innovation, we now have more options for our clients to view homes than before the pandemic.
2. Collaboration Brings New Opportunities
By not being scared of sharing what you know and your ideas, other realtors will do the same for you. This can ignite a multitude of new opportunities for everyone. If you’re a buyer agent and you team up with a seller agent, your collaboration can be explosive. Not only do you each get to close the deal, but you’re exposed to the other’s work ethic and can form an ongoing, collaborative and beneficial relationship.
It’s a similar situation when a new realtor reaches out to a seasoned realtor. The experienced realtor could choose to hoard their knowledge and view the new realtor as their competition. Or, they could be open to collaborating and then benefit from the new and creative ideas they learn. Collaboration brings you new opportunities and open doors.
3. Collaboration Nurtures Your Community
When the tides rise, all boats are lifted.
That saying couldn’t be more true in the real estate industry. Your community of fellow realtors and teams are the other boats at the harbour. When one of you benefits from a new idea or connection, everyone benefits. In fact, these benefits multiply as they get compounded with new ideas and new contributing networks.
While your first instinct may be to be stingy with your expertise, when you collaborate you receive the benefits tenfold. You may have lofty database goals; perhaps you’re trying to reach 1000 before the end of the year. By building a relationship with your competition, they’re more likely to refer the leads they can’t take to you. By attending their events, you’re exposed to more people you didn’t know before. It all boils down to being open to collaborate.
It’s natural to have feelings of scarcity in business and to see your competition as a threat to your success. However, if you can open yourself up to collaboration, you’ll see it’s quite the opposite. Collaboration unlocks a world of potential growth, wealth, and success for everyone.
