In many instances, big business no longer serves the best interests of its customers. However, real advantages built up over the years through leveraging historical value propositions, lower costs, and higher efficiency gave big business time to build distribution barriers that have made it difficult for small businesses to win back market share despite reduced customer satisfaction.

SALES DEVELOPMENT TACTICS

Combining some traditional and digital elements allows a small business to build a competitive advantage over a more significant company in local markets.

Small business operators now have access to technology at affordable costs that level the playing field and allow legacy distribution channels to be bypassed entirely while providing equivalent service levels to those offered by big businesses.

High-quality products at lower prices drop-shipped directly to customers with one to two-day lead times, combined with the capability for seamless online transactions, becomes a compelling value proposition and powerful components for small business marketing strategies.

Small businesses must leverage information technology to level the playing field and compete effectively with big companies. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a critical component of the technology platform, but small business operators often misunderstand its value. However, for those who understand how to effectively use CRM for small businesses and manage the sales pipeline, the fun part of sales development in the digital era can begin.

Although our philosophy is strongly behind the deployment of integrated information technology platforms as the foundation for effectively competing with much larger enterprises, these should not be implemented at the expense of trusted and proven sales development tactics.

These trusted and proven methods are relationships and face-to-face relationships. Small business owners must not ignore the power of face-to-face meetings and personal interaction. In establishing and deploying an integrated information technology platform, a small business gets itself on a level playing field alongside larger companies in its area. However, being on a level playing field is not enough, and owners need to leverage capabilities that larger organizations cannot provide.

Decision makers from large companies typically don't meet with anyone except their most significant customers, and call centers, chat lines, email, and other web-based messaging systems more commonly handle their interactions with smaller customers.

Large organizations don't usually engage one-on-one with anyone except their more significant customers because hiring, training, and maintaining the resources to do so is expensive. Consequently, initial efforts are to divert calls to web-based systems like chat or common Q&As at their web portal. To speak to a representative, a customer must remain determined and patient. Unfortunately, once connected to a live representative, it's increasingly common to find the connection is with an off-shore call center with poor language skills, an incompatible culture, and operating from ineffective scripts for its frustrated customers.

Because of the increasingly evident failure to manage relationships with all but their biggest customers, higher levels of customer dissatisfaction are occurring that can be exploited by smaller organizations. Small businesses can provide superior and personalized customer service and, when necessary, quick access to ownership and senior management with a vested interest in good negotiations and problem-solving.

When this personal touch is combined with all the service elements (routinely available from larger organizations) and is enabled by deploying an integrated technology platform, a powerful combination results in competitive advantages over more prominent, more inflexible organizations. The timing has never been better for small businesses to fight back and recapture market share from large organizations.