When Vendors Become Competitors 

A few years ago, I had heard that an agency I had worked for had lost a very large piece of business. It was because the printer that the agency was using had gone direct to the client and sold them design services to secure the printing business. The move by the printer appropriately ended both a 20-year friendship with the agency owner and a business relationship overnight.

Stupidity and greed can do that.

Over the years, I've heard of similar stories involving video production companies, writers, photographers and other service providers who are approached by agency clients (and vice versa) about direct relationships. No wonder we're all paranoid.

We had a vendor go around us. A very well-known Houston photographer. The client approached him and he accepted. He should have turned down the business. A penny wise and pound foolish because we won't bring him in on new business. Ever.

But despite the actions of a few vendors, most of the vendors -- from photographers, printers, video production, etc. -- we work with are good people. But, unethical actions aside, what happens when a vendor starts offering the same things you're offering? What if a production company decides that it can do everything an agency can do? Are they a competitor now?

I think so. I understand how a business must survive. I get that. But when you make the decision to do what my company does, with the same types of clients I serve, you and I are now competing. It doesn't mean we get nasty. I'll play nicely with other agencies/design firms and I will respect your work. We can even hang out and be friends. But, you can't have it both ways. If we're going to compete for business, then you're no longer on my vendor list. It's that simple.

This is a discussion about honesty and disclosure. Don't tell me you're a printer or in the video production business, when you start offering print design and marketing strategy. Yet, you want me to introduce you to my clients? * that's me laughing*

When the economy began to tank, I heard more and more stories of vendors we did business with "diversifying." Don't act like the dog who, holding a bone in his mouth, looks into the water and sees another dog with another bone. As soon as he opens his mouth to grab the other dog's bone, he loses both. It's a great fable. Even better lesson.