As a small business it’s easy to compare yourself with big brands and feel disheartened. However, there are plenty of benefits to being a small business and ways you can compete with the big shots in the market. Here’s how:
The personal touch
Bigger businesses will always struggle to offer the same personal touch to every one of their customers because of their sheer size.
The good thing about having fewer clients is you can give more of them the time and attention they’ll love and come back for.
Human face of the company
With big corporations it’s sometimes hard to put a name to a face unless you’re talking about the likes Google or Facebook. Big faceless companies are something that a lot of customers are turning away from these days.
People prefer the personal touch to customer service and to put a name to a face. This is much easier to do on a smaller level, especially if you’re trying to make a mark in your community.
Growing preference for independent businesses
With the likes of Small Business Saturday in December, people are now more aware of the positive effect smaller businesses can have on the local community. This is something that big businesses can often threaten, leaving high streets with a lot of boarded up shops in between big brand businesses.
In it together
The benefit of having an active business community is that you can help each other out. While this can happen on a larger scale too, a lot of money is usually involved at this level.
On a smaller level, with smaller budgets, more fruitful business relationships can involve with an ‘in it together’ attitude. Businesses in the same industry can strike up partnerships and referral schemes which is better for everyone.
Easier to mix things up
It’s much harder to change things like policy, business focus or product/service offerings if you’re a multinational company with dozens of offices. Any changes in big businesses have got to go through and be approved by dozens of people at different levels.
For smaller businesses, it’s easier to implement new changes without massive disruption or miscommunication. This allows you to be more flexible to changing needs or trends in your market.
What other positives do you experience as a SME owner? How do you compete with the big names? Let us know your thoughts.