In talking with many of the entrepreneurs , sole-proprietors and smaller business firms out here in La-La-Land it seems professional jealousy is what produces negative opinions on nearly everything. Is it worth it? And what damage does being jealousy of other’s in your market do to your business?
Getting started in business is very tough. Actually, it is probably the toughest thing a business founder will ever do. Naturally, seeing someone else out in the market promoting themselves as doing exactly what you are doing is not something many of the business people now days are taking very positively. Especially, if what the other business is doing gets under the skin of consumers in their market and the consumers start falling for competitors tactics. Compound this with business owners have problems dealing with a very frail economy and the comments made about competitors can get a little edgy.
When I am asked to look into a person’s business’s operations to find their strengths and weakness I find I get involved in asking them a large number of questions concerning their missions and goals. Over the past three years about 80% of the clients I have contracted with have a tremendous fear of their direct competitors. Most of them list as their goal or mission ‘to look less like’ their competitor…’want to do a better job than they are’…or ‘want to blow their competitor out of the market’. Naturally, this makes finding solutions to their business issues hard to match up to their missions. So, I will usually have a little chat with them about how ‘Professional Jealousy’ can drive them crazy just before it drives themselves out of business.
Root Causes
Dealing with failure or the waning success of a business is not easy. Painting on a smiley face each day is very hard for business owners who are faced with the dark side of doing business in a failed economy. As a result many business people will look to what their competitors are doing in the market as what is causing them to go out of business. They then make public out lashes about their competitors that really are not flattering. They do this thinking it is going to turn the consumers away from their competitors.
Granted, in a few cases I reviewed the competitors were looking pretty ridiculous in how they were doing their promotions online. Taking a pot-shot at businesses who muddy up a market with deceptive actions or deals is sometimes needed to keep consumers advised. However, making potshot comments about a competitor just because they are a competitor could cause a consumer backlash or shines a bad light on the commenter. Taking this kind of action is what is called displaying Professionally Jealousy.
Maybe you have not noticed but these unjustified out lashes at competitors happens all of the time, especially out here in La-La-Land. All of the cases of professional jealousy I have dealt with recently have been from someone failing in their business. They have fallen to feeling that if they are not going to make it or if their business fails in a market they are going to make sure nobody else succeeds in that market. Everyone one of incidences you will see will prove the bouts of professional jealousy is what is causing their business to fail..not their competitors.
Letting Go Is Hard
These businesses who campaign against their competitors generally do not realize what they are doing until someone like me sits across the meeting table to point it out.
The online version of professional jealousy (JP) comes in all kinds of wrappers. Many examples of JP come in the form of people trying to demean a competitor by placing a comment on their blog sighting all the spelling and grammar errors made. Who really does the bad light shine on when someone takes that kind of action?
Letting go of the feeling of being threatened is not easy to do. Actually, lashing out is a defensive reaction when someone has their back against the wall. Still, in the business world it might be best to lash inward instead of outward. Doing so usually highlights the reason they feel they are up against the wall. There usually is a solution centered around fining something the business can offer of value the competitor does not. Once that is found then the energy should be spent announcing to the market the offer..and let go of the tendency to get emotion over something that would trigger another display of Professional Jealousy.
Get over the negative by searching for the positive. If positive can not be found then there should be no jealousy towards what others do. Instead, deal with removing what is keeping the positive down or from offering something others do not. That will remove any reason to be jealous about anything.
Let me know how I can help.
