Big Business Needs to Think Smaller
Here’s a question for you. If you’re in business, how do you treat your clients?
Or, to look at it another way, how do your clients treat you?
Is it with respect and shared passion for doing the same work, or is it just having a need for each other and no more?
When dealing with a client, do you meet your deadlines or do you constantly offer excuses why their project isn’t ready? Do you work closely together, listen to/make suggestions for improving and strive for excellence on the fly, or do you simply turn in the work, take the money and walk?
I ask this simply because it seems many big businesses have forgotten the art of either being a client or providing for one. From having a maze of contact information to wade through to losing the personal touch that won them the following of the customers in the first place, larger businesses are forgetting how to communicate.
So here’s an idea.
Go back to basics. Remember when you first started your business and you had time for everyone (because everyone was important)? Find that business owner again.
Ask yourself how you’re communicating and how you can improve. Are you using the online space effectively? Look at your Internet strategy and see how your brand is viewed. There’s a billion voices waiting to answer you and offer you invaluable advice and insight into making your brand the authority in your niche.
The question is, will you be listening?
photo credit: fofurasfelinas
31 Responses to “Big Business Needs to Think Smaller”
Hey there Amelia,
Scaling effectively is a definite puzzle for many businesses to get right. As you say, once you start growing the network (customers, employees, clients, partners, etc) it can be hard to maintain that local feel.
Some methods I’ve used in the past include a Rolodex-type approach. Put the names of your people into Outlook (or similar) reminders, and contact them regularly just to ask how they’re doing. Or send them a little thank you note/gift occasionally. Or highlight them and their services on your site/blog/newsletter.
It’s tough for sure, but not impossible for those that want to. Which I know you do
So, I had to drop back in today to share an experience I just had on twitter that feels relevant to this. In a fit of frustration over my 1 year old boys ear infection (that he had for 2 weeks) I ask my mom friends on twitter to make any recommendations, solutions, ideas for how to get him over it. Out of no where @eardoc responds to my plea. He sends me a link to the product. My husband, the physician, reviews the product and feels it is a viable option for resolving the ear infection. So, I tweet back to @eardoc and ask, how quickly can you get one to AZ? To which he replies:
@momsdaily we would be happy to Send u a free one for a review.. Send us ur address to Agmon@eardoc.infoAlthough I do not do “product reviews” this product seemed worthwhile and if it helped our boy we were prepared to endorse it in our medical clinic- so I sent him my information as he asked and let him know we operate a medical clinic and would be happy to endorse it if it was in fact effective. A week goes by and today I receive an email from him that said:
“we normally do not send eardocs to blogs of your size but we would be happy to help.”
WOW! I get it that my blog is small- and the return on investment on my blog may not be there- but hello! Really?! What does he mean by “blogs of your size” and why am I now left with the impression that I am a charity case?
Hardly seems like this guy understands how best to use social media/networking and where is the small business feel and customer service! Especially since he sought me out!
Ah well- I recommended that he read your blog
Thanks for letting me blow steam- a great take away for how I never want to conduct business, face to face or on the web.One of the biggest mistakes any business makes is assumption based on traffic or readers. When I carry out a blogger outreach program, sure, I check out the readership – but that’s a very small part of it. I also look at influence, conversation, who’s reading and commenting and where external conversations are taking place.
You get the best blogs for your client’s needs – not the best blogs number-wise or traffic-wise. Relevance, influence, community trust – that’s what businesses need to look at.
Shame to hear about @eardoc’s view – whose to say your blog isn’t read by some of the most influential practitioners around? Blinkered eyes are the biggest cause of missed opportunities, period.
You can blow steam here anytime, Amelia
Thank you my friend- several of my moms friends on twitter, struggling with the same issues with their kids, who had witnessed the conversation followed up with me through DM and email and ask if I would give them feedback- which illustrates your point exactly.
Ah well- lessons to be learned
hi thanks for the mention and for explaining the full story. i am sorry if i offended you in any way, we wrote you in the same email that we like your blog and we would send you a free eardoc for a review because this is what we understood you requested from your email.
but in any case i am sorry and would be happy to help you or answer any question you might have about eardoc
Hi Agmon,
Thank you for your follow up- I really do appreciate that you have demonstrated an interest in following up on this and not just shrugging it off, I think that really says something about you.
I also appreciate your follow up email and your generous offer to send the Eardoc. Growing a business is part skill/knowledge and part learning from our experiences-well, this is how it has been for us anyway.
We look forward to receiving your product and writing a review. Our medical clinic attempts to steer our patients first in the direction of the least invasive form of treatment first- and your product would certainly fall into the least invasive category and consequently has my husbands full interest.
Thanks again Agmon,
Amelia
Well said, Danny. I’ve been preaching the “back to basics” approach at my 9-5 of late (a big business). It’s a tough sell to many precisely because it is simple.
It seems the larger you get (I worked for Wal-Mart for four years, so I know a little about big business), the further you tend to get away from the very principles that got you so large and successful in the first place. Once a digression begins, it seems very difficult to reverse the trend.
There seems to come a point with many businesses (it’s in the leadership IMO) where customers become about the numbers. It’s about the dollar signs than actually providing a quality experience for the customer. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule with some larger companies – but it seems they are few and far between.
.-= Andrew Weaver´s most recent blog post …24 Ways to Improve Employee Morale =-.That’s the problem right there, mate, that people become numbers. Yet without the people – employees, customers, stakeholders – you won’t get any numbers full-stop. Something all business leaders need to keep in mind.
I read this from Seth Godin’s post today and thought about this discussion here. I think it fits perfectly. It’s a quote from Andrew Carnegie – “Take away my people, but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the factory floors……Take away my factories, but leave my people and soon we will have a new and better factory.”
.-= Andrew Weaver´s most recent blog post …24 Ways to Improve Employee Morale =-.I love Andrew Carnegie – one of the smartest and most human business guys around. Seth’s not too bad, either
Danny, even for a little business who is growing that is great advice! I am working on tracking systems to make sure that the ball doesn’t get dropped. I know my limits but I don’t always listen to them. I can handle a certain number of clients at at time and deliver but when there are more on the books, I need to be checking to see where I am and also keeping everything else moving.
You are very right about big business and I try to remember what frustrates me as a customer as I respond to my client’s needs.
.-= Julie Walraven | Resume Services´s most recent blog post …And the Thank you goes to Kim! =-.The very fact that you’re tracking is a huge step in keeping it personal, Julie, something I’m sure your clients appreciate.
Great post Danny,
“Back to basics” is such a reoccurring cycle in business – and a needed one. If companies could keep their eye on the ball of providing superior customer service and interaction, the “basics” would become the norm.
I’m wondering Danny – which Big Businesses do you see out there that are focused on the “basics”?
Jet Blue?
Enterprise? (good St. Louis based company)
Who do you see?
.-= Frank Dickinson´s most recent blog post …Are You a Social Media Evangelist? =-.JetBlue is definitely a great example, as is Zappos, and probably why they’re held up as case studies in most examples of great CSR.
Funnily enough, Microsoft are beginning to be the company that cares, especially when it comes to their gaming division. They’re obviously a huge company, but I’ve seen examples of keeping it personal from the Big M that makes me hopeful of other corporates taking the same approach.
Time and time again I have seen firsthand how this attitude has hurt big businesses. When i worked for one of the largest specialty contractors in the country, I could see it coming from a mile away. Some of my colleagues forgot that it is all about being there for your clients; being a real problem solver for them. Once you disengage and just collect their money it’s over. Great food for thought Dan and I am so glad you brought this up as a reminder to all of us. Keep your finger on their pulse or run the risk of finding the client relationship dead.
That’s the gravy right there, Jeff: “Being a real problem solver for them.” You solve a client’s problems, you have them for life, no matter how tempting a competitor might be. And you don’t get to solve problems without knowing the culture and people of a company, and that only comes with one-to-one knowledge and real partnerships.
Cheers for stopping by fella, much appreciated.
Great reminder – drop the email and the tweets, go take a client to lunch.
Looking at a new phone system? Get the one that requires a real person to answer your call and direct your call to the right person.
On some days, it’s as if we prefer to hide behind technology instead of meet, shake hands and get to know each other.
The day a phone tree dies, and one takes its place that directs you to your destination and remembers you from previous calls, can’t come soon enough Pat. I’d buy it the minute it comes out and maybe even some shares in the company
Good post once again. I think businesses are especially forgetting the basics because of the digital tools available. Instead of reaching clients the old fashion way, they would rather set up a Facebook page and spew off announcements about new product offerings. This is a good way to get feedback and interest clients but it doesn’t mean they should stop the old things they use to do that allowed them to get to a point where they could also use internet tools as a compliment to their preexisting methods.
.-= Jason P McGee´s most recent blog post …Hello, Social Entrepreneurship =-.Feedback can only be effective if it’s interacted with and then taken to the next stage – face-to-face problem solving. Otherwise you may as well just be an ad for your business and nothing more.
Cheers, Jason.
It’s funny I was just thinking about a dear friend of mine who died last year. We had worked together in pretty high-stress sales jobs for a Fortune 100 company and he was the best salesperson I ever knew. He always contended that his business success stemmed from paying attention to the little things like returning a phone call quickly or providing an update on a problem even when there was not much to add. So it was nice to read the same sentiments in your post … obviously i agree. Thanks so much for sharing.
.-= Mark W Schaefer´s most recent blog post …The End of The Trust Agent? =-.Hey there bud,
Your friend sounds like he would’ve gotten on famously with Andrew Carnegie, and someone a lot of business owners could have learned a lot from.
Your comments apply to small business as much as large business. I never cease to be amazed by the poor client/customer care being offered by both large and small operators. People often overlook the link between great client care/relationships and business success.
In my corporate days I worked for Coca-Cola and learnt a lot from them about customer care. They practised real collaboration and partnership arrangements with both major and smaller customers. Customer care is very important to successful companies. And thereby lies the key – the word “care”. Many businesses of all sizes don’t care and it shows. Yet more of the right sort of “caring” can improve business results!
Really enjoyed the post. Thanks.For sure, Ali. I guess my take was the scaling side – how does a large business continue to make that personal commitment to their people?
But yes, you’re right – bad service and care is bad service and care, regardless the size.
Hi Danny. Another great “reminder” post about going back to basics. It’s a passion of mine. Business is about people – first and foremost. It is not about tools, processes or indeed “internal politics”. It is about delivering to our customers – end of story.
Communication is the most important element of any engagement – especially vital for when things start going wrong (which inevitably will happen on an engagement of any level). If you have rapport and open communications, problems tend to sort themselves out. If you don’t it can be very messy!
Amen, Barry. You can have a multi-billion dollar sale or company, but you still need that person-to-person handshake to make things happen.
The web, blogs, social media, etc. are great tools, but connecting with others in a meaningful way hasn’t really ever changed. Thanks for the reminder!
It always good to return to our roots — how it all started, how did we handle all the networks, clients before the success. It’s important we don’t get a big head and listen more. I always prefer the clients to tell me what they need/want instead of straight away jumping to ‘what do you think I should do?’. QC control can best be monitored if we understand how to serve clients according to ‘their’ needs, not ours. Communication counts.
Brilliant post, as always.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
.-= Ching Ya´s most recent blog post …16 Facebook Applications to Boost Popularity of Facebook Fan Page =-.Business Marketing 101 right there, Ching – ask, listen, brainstorm, strategize. Not too hard, is it?
Hi Danny,Cool thoughts as always. I think listening is the core of anything from marketing to management, as that is what tells you what’s going right or wrong, positive or negative for you or your customers, So big brands should make it a point to embrace these social tools to recollect all the forgotten values.
This is good food for thought- we are finding ourselves in a situation of feeling blessed by the growth of our business and concerned because it is beginning to feel as though the growth is greater than what we can handle, both from a systems stand point and from a customer service standpoint. We have made investment of time and money to bring our system up to the most current technology to stream line our processes simply because we never want to lose our personal feel. Our goal is for there to always be a sense of community and first name basis around here, and this is honestly requiring that we turn some work down to avoid it becoming too big. The problem with being too big is the loss of personal touch- and where do you go once you reach that size? Besides bigger and bigger, you get further and further away from what why you started to begin with- oh but it is a balance and the temptation for the immediate profit gain is there- but, we have to keep the focus on long term growth and stability. Great thoughts- good stuff!