Saturday, September 12, 2009

Small Business Advantage!






When a large organization has to change direction, all the standardized processes and procedures, bureaucracies, and structure, make it difficult for the organization to change direction quickly.

Employees who have been taught to comply with complex corporate rules are often not encouraged to invent new ways of providing greater value and benefit. Getting approval from above can take more time and patience than the employee has available. Getting approval from above may require more time than is reasonable.

This is why the small organization has an advantage. When the large organization wants to change direction, the memorandum announcing the change may take three weeks to get approved and several more weeks to distribute and communicated to TEAM members. When the small organization wants to change, the owner calls a meeting and the change is implemented immediately. The speed with which the small organization can react is an important advantage over the larger organization.

Where an owner does not maintain current competitive intelligence data, then the benefit of speed and maneuverability is diminished. Look for opportunities to change quickly, putting the larger competitor at a disadvantage. Here is an example of how to use a new service you are introducing to your advantage.

For example:

"Well, Tom, I realize that our competitor has some nice programs and that their offering is different from ours. However, yesterday we launched a new program utilizing the Internet. Our high speed Internet service is available to you for three months at no charge. If at the end of three months you want to terminate that service, there is no penalty to you. By the way, we also have an Internet consulting firm that is willing to spend two hours with you, at no charge, to help you learn new ways to use the Internet more effectively."

When the competitor's sales executive gets wise to this tactic, they may go back to corporate to get approval for a similar program. It may take days or weeks to get it approved. It may take months for the larger and slower competitor to get it implemented. While they are dealing with the issue, you introduce another innovative program and put them once again at a disadvantage. Use smallness and speed of innovation and change to your advantage, putting the “Big Boy” at a disadvantage.


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Sonny Moyers
Office: 972-464-4100
http://www.blogger.com/sonny@sonnymoyers.com



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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Competing Against the "Big Boys"! One-on-One Customer Relationships!





One of the advantages of size is the availability of resources. More resources, (especially people) give the larger operator some advantages. More people can also mean more management, process, structure, and organization. Some larger operators can become large without having these processes, structures, and organizations in place. Money can buy size more easily than it can buy competence. If an objective was made to treat the development of competence equally with the development of size, we have a real threat. Many companies lag behind in the development of systems and procedures to accompany their increase in size and during their expansion; you have an opportunity to win.

While larger organizations have the advantage of size, they may lose the advantage of direct involvement by the owner. In my studies of organizational development, I have concluded that when an organization develops multiple layers of management between the owner and the sales organization, communications impact at the top management level is significantly reduced. Owners cannot effectively communicate their vision of the company or their commitment to quality when there are multiple levels of management involved. The message gets modified at each level. When the owners are directly involved in the day-to-day communications with clientele, the message is clearly presented to the clients.

For example, we might tell a prospect:

"Well, Tom, one thing that I really like about being on the firing line is that I can stay in touch with my clients. I can't imagine trying to live up to promises through a number of levels of management. I believe it takes time to manage a company like ours, and I do not want to wonder daily whether or not we are meeting your expectations. Big companies may have more resources, but I have more direct control to assure that you are being taken care of in a professional manner. I like the idea that you can call me or we can meet for lunch and talk about how we can improve. Sometimes I think I would like to have more people, but then I would probably spend a great deal more time on management and people development, than on delivering direct benefit and value to you."

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Sonny Moyers
sonny@sonnymoyers.com
972-733-9663

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Sunday, September 6, 2009

20 Ways to Beat the “Big Boys”




Branding and standardization are a popular buzz phrase for the ““Big Boys.” Their branding usually focuses on largeness. Standardization is so important to the “Big Boys” because it is difficult to manage a large organization without standardization. One of the favorite expressions among “Big Boys” is that each location or operating entity looks and feels like every other one. They often comment that employees can move from one location to another without the disruption of service. This may appear to be a positive to the “Big Boys”, but in reality, it could be presented as a negative. Certainly, the clientele are different and the individual likes and dislikes of the clientele is the most important aspect of delivering superior service. When organizations standardize, they often makes services less specific to the client.

Having to live with a Brand is where we may have an advantage. Once our larger competitor is branded as big, autocratic, bureaucratic, insensitive, or non-client centered, it will be difficult for them to change their Brand. We must think carefully about the Brand we want to create. The branding of your business should be consistent with your vision of the level of service you want to provide to your clientele. Branding should always be approached in light of target markets rather than in light of competition. What will your clients think of bigness versus service orientation? Is bigness consistent with good service in the executive suite industry? The jury is still out on whether big is good in our industry. In the meantime, we should build the case that small is better.

For Example:

"You know Tom; we have built a company that is focused on client care. Our most important objective is your objective. We focus on quality, professionalism, and building client relationships through mutual success. We see ourselves as an extension of your business."


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