It’s natural to view competitors with disdain, but there’s plenty to learn from them? You may be able to notice what they’re good at and use it to your advantage. Who knows? Maybe your competitors are doing the same thing to you. The idea of borrowing from competitors and improving your business has always been around. Whether it’s Microsoft and Apple or Adidas and Nike, many big time businesses have borrowed ideas and implemented them into their own strategies. Here’s how you – the local insurance agency or brokerage – can do the same:

Examine their strengths: What does your competition do well? What don’t they do well? If you admire the way they perform some of their operations whether it be in insurance digital marketing or advertising, consider adapting some of their practices. By doing this, you’re effectively putting your own agency through a critique and you may improve in other areas even when the initial intent was not there.

Hire the competition: It’s common for employees to leave a company and begin working for the competitor. Marissa Meyer, former executive of Google, made big news this summer when she left the company to become the head of Yahoo! This type of stuff happens more often than you think, so why can’t it in the independent insurance space? If you have time, see if you can get any information on talented employees or executives at one of your competitors and talk to them about potential opportunities at your agency.

Too much confidence: Sometimes, confidence can turn into arrogance, which is not a good thing in business. If you’re the market leader, you want to avoid complacency at all times because just when you think the company in your rear view mirror is out of sight, it’s suddenly passing you by. Microsoft famously looked down upon Apple for many years. Now? Apple is the second most valuable company in the world, seeing record revenues every quarter and has surpassed Microsoft in many ways. You want to respect the work your competition does so it motivates you to work harder so you can stay a step ahead instead of taking a step back.

Your agency should avoid letting its guard down when it comes to the competition. You can always learn something from a company operating in your market. It’s not stealing, it’s just business.