I often find my clients are limiting their business options at the outset by telling themselves and everyone else “we’re only a small company” with the implication “we can’t do that…because we are only a small company.”
Ask the alternative question “what would a world class company do?” followed by “how can we do that?” and you may well be surprised by the results. Size is not everything!
There will be times when you are limited because you don’t have the resources, but more often than not it is a question of mindset, not resourcing.
Every giant corporation and every industry leader was once a small company, but they didn’t let themselves be bound by their size, so why should you?
It is not just about copying from world-class if you really want to stand out. It is about best meeting or exceeding the needs of your customers – and if it is important to your customer, it should be the most important thing to you.
In several sectors a handful of companies have completely disrupted existing markets by applying technology to change the way things have always been done. You could choose Uber for disrupting the travel industry, or AirBnB for the hospitality sector.
Both companies identified a that the incumbent providers (even those that were world class) fell short of customer needs and built businesses around meeting those needs.
They didn’t copy what the existing world-class providers were doing and they didn’t limit themselves by their size.
The fundamental question that you should be always asking is
“What do my customers want, and how can we best meet that need?”
Not every business can be an AirBnB or an Uber, but every business can do a better job meeting its customers’ needs.