When a big boy moves into your territory, you have an ace up your sleeves -
your size! Being a small business offers some distinct and impressive
advantages.
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Learn how to get the most powerful benefits from your inherent advantage
in size.
Faster response
time to customer needs.
In a small company, it is less likely that difficult customer problems will
fester because the owner will know sooner and take action. Big businesses
often take an extended period to react to customer complaints. With no
lengthy chain of command, complex bureaucracies filled with all sorts of
policies and procedures common to big businesses, you can respond much
quicker to your customers' concerns.
You can handle clients' questions and concerns immediately. You can be
there when all the big boys can offer is a ringing phone and a voicemail;
you can be available nights, weekends and holidays. Customers know that they
can get in touch easily with you - the owner - to help them solve their
problems about your product or service. That is a big plus!
Ability to
offer personal ongoing service to customers.
An extremely important advantage to being small is that you are in a better
position to provide a more personal service to your customers. Customers
trust businesses that offer them sincere personal attention, and they
respond well to businesses that know their names and remember details about
former transactions. You put greater pride in customers who say, "I've
been doing business with this company since 1995;" whereas a mass
marketing giant may less likely to care.
Can send the
experts for a lesser cost.
Many small business owners are experts in their fields before branching out
and starting a business: a small advertising business may be run by a former
creative director of a large ad agency; or the owner of a video production
house may formerly be a director of independent films.
You need to harness quality work, combined with reasonable fees - two
important aspects that creates value and could form the basis for
establishing a growing base of loyal customers. By niche marketing your
services and specialty skills, your clients should see you as a specialist
despite your size.
Lower overhead
costs.
By being small, your business requires fewer resources to operate and
maintain. Your lower overhead costs can allow you to offer a cheaper price,
and even undercut a big competitor. You can outsell the big corporations by
getting a higher percentage of business from within a very narrow niche. You
can pinpoint your focus; and do well on a smaller profit margin.
More nimble and
flexible. Small businesses
are more flexible and less bound with policies and procedures. When a
customer complains to a Best Buy saleslady, for example, the customer will
most likely hear the statement, "Our policies state that
so-and-so." The employees are unable to extend better customer service
as their hands are tied by company policies. As a result, unsatisfied
customers who perceive that their needs are not important to the company
leave.
You, on the other hand, can easily provide concessions to complaining
customers. To keep the customers happy and satisfied, you can adjust easily
a policy; no need to go through the board or the legal department to approve
any change in policies of the business. This flexibility fosters confidence
and loyalty among customers.
Quick to react
to changing market conditions.
Being flexible also relates to the ability to react quickly to changing
market conditions. Because of their small size, most small companies are
forced to be innovative if they want to compete. Your small business lacks
the resources of larger companies, and so the only way you can compete is to
come up with something creative, new, and different.
Most mass marketers cannot react as quickly to changing market
conditions, but you can. You can make changes in your inventory, billing,
new product or other procedures more easily in response to changing customer
needs. More importantly, you can make decisions NOW!
Can work more
closely with customers to correct the company's shortcomings.
In large companies, there is often a wide gulf between customers and policy
makers. Small business owners are often on the front line, and policies can
be changed as needed immediately. To keep ahead of the game, you can monitor
customer feedback, especially those who have switched from larger companies
to your small business, and respond to them immediately.
The key to excel against the big boys is to do the things that they don't
do. Your small size has its advantages - way more than listed above - use
them to outmaneuver and out service them every time and win the game!
-- Lyve Alexis Pleshette is a writer for PowerHomebiz.com.
F
January 28, 2003
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