When you think of yourself as managing a ‘small’ business, this thinking can create an illusion that fosters ‘smallness’ and a dangerous ‘lazy’ attitude. Because there is the tendency to count only the 5 or so customers who come in the front door or call on a daily basis as your customer base, a large part of what really makes up the business is not taken into consideration.
Every one of your customer’s customers has the potential to become part of your extended business. Once you add these customers to the picture, your business quickly expands into potentially hundreds of customers whom you serve.
Now, you are a mid-size corporation! How will you think about and do business differently? You can no longer think ‘small’ because you are not small if you consider yourself as part of your customer’s business.
How much more valuable would your business be to your customer if you found a way to extend your customer care in some way that affected your customer’s bottom line (and yours, of course)? This might not be practical or possible in all cases but it certainly is worth exploring.
Let’s look at a real case study. Frank owns a car repair shop. When his customers come to him for oil changes, tire rotation, etc., he makes sure to build relationships so that he is familiar with their business. One of his customers owns an insurance company that specializes in auto insurance. Frank offers special consideration to the insurance company’s clients. The insurance broker likes the idea of caring for his clients’ vehicles and he and Frank work up a special service offer. Here is a win/ win/ win!
Think bigger. Be willing to play a bigger game. Thinking small will keep everything about your business small.
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