Being small doesn’t mean you are at a disadvantage.
It’s easy to fall into the mental spiral of all the reasons why you can’t do it:
- We have never closed a project this size before
- We don’t know how to manage clients like this
- We don’t have the talent to compete
- We lack the industry know-how
- The client’s team members have been doing this longer than we’ve been in business
But guess what? You are at the table and there is a reason you are there.
At the end of the day, your company doesn’t matter as much as the experiences of the humans in the room trying to find a solution.
“But as a small by design company, you can’t rely on client volume to sell your name. You need each project to serve a larger story. One of who you are and who you are becoming. A story of the crises you confront for your clients. Of the struggles that test your strength. A story of the value you deliver and the visions you make real.”
David Feldman
In the last two years, I have had two clients tell me they wanted to go with our crew because we showed we could be nimble. They knew they couldn’t get that from a larger agency.
I believe we won these two cornerstone clients for a few reasons:
- We elevated individual team members, and their experience, and got them in the room
- We crafted stories around adjacent wins we’ve gotten for similar clients (I will say, none of the stories lined up 1:1 with the problem they were trying to solve)
- We were personal. We met face-to-face. During the process, we stayed in touch with messages that added value and moved the story along.
Do keep in mind that being nimble does not mean being a doormat to be walked over for every request that comes in. Know your boundaries, and when possible, set them up front.
How can you be more confident in your business than you were yesterday?
📚 I have copies of Small By Design – let me know your mailing address and I’ll send you one. If you’d rather buy it, grab it on Amazon.
