Helping Customers Feel Good About Choosing Your Business Over the ’Big Guys’

When you’re a small frog in a big pond, it’s easy to feel invisible - or at least overlooked - in the marketplace. As an entrepreneur myself, I can totally relate to that steamrollered feeling. I recently had an experience in my own life, however, that brought a very important truth to light about why consumers should consider hiring a “little guy” over a big corporate entity. I hope it buoys your attitude about the value your small, independent business can provide that the big guys can’t.

A couple of years ago, we had a groundhog living in our yard who was digging along our home’s foundation. We called a well-known nationally-franchised company that specializes in wildlife removal. A technician came out to the house, had us sign a standardized contract stating that they would set out traps and check and bait them daily for one week. To hire the service it cost us over $600 up front with the option to renew weekly if we wanted until the vermin was caught. After the first week, although they had done everything they were contractually obligated to do, there had been no sign of the groundhog, so we sent the exterminator on his way, thinking it had moved on.

Fast forward to this year - another groundhog was discovered living in the same area of our yard! We found ourselves seriously considering if we wanted to hire the same company. After all, we thought, they didn’t catch it last time. Did we want to spend another $600 for nothing again? We wondered if there were alternatives and discovered a comprehensive list of everyone in our county licensed for wildlife removal. We started visiting websites to learn about other options for solving this problem - if any - existed.

We were delighted to have discovered a small independent company that likewise specialized in wildlife removal, but with some definite differences - and we thought advantages - over the national chain, including these:

• We got a good “vibe” from the guy, just from his website; he was a veteran operating a local small business.
• He seemed knowledgeable and honestly interested in helping us rid ourselves of this unwanted rodent. He offered a more personalized, well-rounded solution to our particular problem rather than the “cookie-cutter” approach the franchise had employed.
• There was no contract involved; his service was billable only upon catching the groundhog.
• He set multiple traps around the yard and monitored a camera; he tracked the groundhog’s movement throughout the yard.
• He caught not one groundhog, but two!
• The price was half that of the “big guys”.
• He went above and beyond the call of duty: After catching the groundhogs, he took it upon himself to investigate a nearby wooded area where he thought a burrow of groundhogs might be living - and he was absolutely correct! He ended up alerting us to a much bigger issue.

The moral of my story is, the “big guys” may have slick advertising that make them well-known; they may have expensive lawyers who draw up contracts that make them seem “legitimate;” they may wear hard hats and uniforms so they look “professional;” but that doesn’t make them better than a small, independent guy who knows his business in depth.

That’s a lot to offer! So don’t think that just because your business is relatively small that it has no bragging rights. To the contrary, the fact that you are independent, experienced, curious, and sincerely interested in helping solve your customers’ problems… that’s a superpower that only small enterprises have. And that can be a huge advantage over the “popular” companies.

Advertise to promote the advantages of hiring your company who supports the local economy, lives among its customers and is familiar with their locale, extends a trusting attitude, charges fairly and according to outcome, is conscientious and invested in solving problems - not just fulfilling terms of a contract. Your small business has a LOT to offer to customers who appreciate those qualities and who will be attracted to your company because of them.

A lot can be gleaned from seeing how the same problem is approached by different business models...

In what ways is your small business better than the “big guys?” Don’t be shy about promoting them!