The unique 'small business feeling'

Many people who run their own enterprise fail to appreciate that running a small business can give them several advantages over the bigger players in their sector or industry.

Instead, too many business owners run their venture while making assumptions like:

- "We can't compete with the prices offered by the big guys."

- "We haven't got the marketing reach or sales force to match them."

- "Their employees are better than ours."

Now this may be true, but it doesn't have to be.

Of course it's a fact that bigger businesses have got economies of scale that smaller firms haven't, can afford more salespeople out in the field, can spend more than you to advertise in more places, and can tempt new employees with attractive career packages and benefits.

But that doesn't mean that they are any better than you.

In fact, with the right approach, a small business can beat its bigger rivals in many ways because there are advantages to being a small firm that big companies simply cannot emulate.

And it's down to you, as the small business owner, to recognise what these advantages are and exploit them for all they're worth.

So what are some of these special factors that can give your little firm an edge to help you survive, or even grow, often in a fiercely competitive sector?

In his influential book What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School, legendary entrepreneur Mark McCormack talks about the way that big companies strive to create the success factors and advantages that enable small firms to grab or generate market share and in many cases grow very quickly.

He talks about the advantage of the 'small feeling' that is so unique to micro and smaller enterprises, and which bigger firms will often desperately, but usually unsuccessfully, try to copy.

McCormack says: "There is no other feeling like that in business, or at least any that I have experienced. It's not just the excitement, although that is certainly part of it. It is more a sense of the immediacy and importance that everything takes on, the feeling that what you do from day to day matters, and generates a desire to do even more."

He also highlights how the anxiety suffered by an entrepreneur running a small business is often channelled into urgent and positive action, because it is impossible to be complacent in a micro enterprise when you are always aware that you might not be in business in six months' time.

This puts an edge on everything you do, and this edge will also be picked up by every member of your team - provided you are encouraging this to happen - which can create a 'spirit' that is unique in smaller firms.

McCormack refers to this in his book. "There is also an esprit in small, growing companies which is difficult to explain to anyone who has never experienced it. I suspect it is not unlike the feeling one gets from being the member of a champion sports team."

Which is where you, as the business owner, have a genuine advantage over your bigger rivals - because your employees can be made to feel like a big cog in the wheel that is your small business.

The advantage this 'small business feeling' brings includes the ability to quickly adapt and try out new ideas, as both you and your employees will experience the satisfaction of being part of it happening. This is especially the case if you encourage your team to continually work on new ideas, and to find different ways of doing things.

As a result of this, you will be able to react more quickly than your bigger rivals to customer demands and changes in market needs, and you will also be able to proactively find ways to add more value to your business proposition and test this in your market before your rivals know what is happening.

Of course, to begin with, you might never be able to compete with your bigger competitors when recruiting new people to join your firm, in terms of salaries, career paths, and the fringe benefits and 'package' that they can offer.

But what you can do is explain and offer the unique small business esprit and experience, and the sense of excitement and enthusiasm that people who are smart enough to realise it will regard as a real opportunity for career satisfaction.

And hopefully they will bite your hand off by accepting your offer to come and work in your own unique little enterprise.

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