Tuesday, June 26, 2007
When small companies act big
Since when was it out of fashion to be small? I, for one, enjoy the niche side of life and find it much more liberating to have, you know, actual conversations with clients and customers, rather than treating them like a number. Granted, I don't expect this sort of treatment from a company like General Motors.
But small companies should not look at this impersonal service as the hallmark of being large. Rather, it's an unfortunate side effect of being too large to personally get to know and manage your clients and/or prospects. Trust me, if they could do it, GM and other large organizations would kill or die to have a quality one-to-one relationship. But because it's so cost prohibitive for them, they have to fake it.
Some small companies, when trying to portray themselves as a large company, adopt this same posture. It's unfortunate, and just makes them look desperate for attention. Plus, it pisses me off and changes the way I think about the organization.
So stop with the chest puffing and give some personal touch. Especially in such a small market as podcasting, OK? You know who you are.
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ReplyDeleteYou know, it's funny when I describe my consulting firm and say I'm the President I often say right afterwards that I'm also the janitor or my office is in my dinning room, so no one thinks I'm running a multi-million dollar empire. I want people to know that they will have one on one contact with me, that I will be doing the work and there isn't a team of 500 programmers in Asia involved. It gets me the contracts with the small firms and scares off the large ones. Unfortunately, the charm of The Olsen's General Store has been lost in America having been replaced by Walmart and Target. You either need to emulate them or not be taken seriously.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think that's one of the problems with Big Companies, like GM. They no longer WANT to provide a one-on-one relationship, or they would innovate a new way or fabricate a Better way to simulate one. Now they are no so far removed from personal relationships that they don't want to go back.
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