You can get very big by staying small.
In a previous post, I talked about turning around a company with my desire to stay local. Here’s how we did it:
Every new product line… every new service line… each new industry and geographic area we served… we maintained a highly personal touch, and we connected on a very local level.
We knew our customers, and we let them know us… even the weaknesses. We were genuine.
Yes, I wanted to stay local… and we did. In fact, we ended up staying local in about twenty different states.
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Everyone marketing anything knows that they must find their customers’ true needs; and further, understand how their product or service can fill them.
Fewer will go to the next level… to take whatever time necessary to learn their clients’ strategic business goals, and then actively find a way to play a big part in achieving them.
But there is something beyond even that… we not only figured out how to get a seat at their table as a trusted advisor when they were doing their planning, we invited them in as well.
We let our customers know how important they were to our business… let them know our goals on a local level. We let them know we couldn’t do it without them, and made sure they knew that they were part of something good.
Yes, we wanted to be proud of our customers. We also wanted them to be proud of doing business with us.
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Inadvertently, at this point I will get some manager that disagrees…
“Oh, we’re not going to let them know we need them! We’re not going to let them know how important they are… why…, that would give them negotiating power to use against us!”
Here’s a flash… they already know how important they are to the success of your business.
“Oh, we don’t NEED them… we can REPLACE them!”
Right.
Do this exercise… take out a sheet of paper, and write down the names of your three biggest customers. Now, imagine life on Monday if you can never do business with them again.
How’s it going?
There’s an old saying that says that the very best time to tell your wife you love her, is before someone else does…
Unless you’re into one-night stands, that seems like good advice to grow a long term business relationship as well.
Takeaways:
You can get very big by not losing sight of the little things.
Monday morning is probably a good time to let someone know you love them.
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