It may seem at times that we live in a world dominated by big companies. The conventional wisdom holds that they have too many resources, too much reach and too strong a reputation to mess with. But in fact, these larger firms are easy to compete with, as long as the small business owner shifts his or her thinking and takes these compelling factors into account:
1. Be faster. A big company is like an ocean liner. It can’t stop on a dime and it takes a lot of time and effort to change course. Your small business, on the other hand, is quick and nimble. You don’t have to jump through multiple bureaucratic hoops to move a decision forward.
2. Be more creative. Your small business wouldn’t be here today if you hadn’t leveraged your creative talents—and those of your trusted team—to break into the marketplace and make a name for yourself. You can harness those same creative energies for use against bigger competitors, who have done the same thing for eons and can’t imagine trying a different solution.
3. Be more flexible. As a $10 million business competing with a $100 million company, you know going in you can’t match their resources. But you’re not locked into one way of looking at the world. It’s easier for you to maneuver through ever-changing market forces. You know how to deliver more with less because you’ve been doing so since you started the business.
4. Be up-front with the client. Turn the “disadvantage” of being smaller, rather than bigger, into an advantage. Ask the potential client, how many of the big companies provide access to their CEO? As a small business owner, you can position yourself as a value-added resource—not to execute every detail (you’ve got a high-performing team to do that), but to lend your expertise and years of hard work toward providing the product or service the client is looking for.
A small business should never look like something it’s not and shouldn’t make claims to provide something when they know they can’t. Instead, use what you do have—speed, creativity and the ability to out-think and out-maneuver the competition. Another big plus: Your product/service isn’t going to cost as much as what the big businesses charge, certainly an attractive element in your campaign to be David versus the other guy’s Goliath.
Members of Catapult Groups always look for creative ways to out-think their competitors. Learn more about how you can benefit from being a Catapult Groups member.