Are You Aligned?
Posted by Andrea Vassiliadis on Fri, Mar 19, 2010 @ 08:58 AM
This blog should resonate with those of you running specialized small businesses like myself, where you know your field of expertise like the back of your hand. It is all you do, and that is your key selling point. You have chosen to go the boutique route and focus on deep knowledge and intense customer service, staying independent in your offerings. Maybe you're a CPA or a Wealth Manager or you sell Group Health plans or Insurance. You work very hard every day to do things just the way you want them done, so you can be proud of your work. Luckily, you have avoided strangulation by red tape that leads to apathy, by going corporate.
But, one day you're happily struttin' your stuff when *BAM!*, you get THE phone call. A beloved client, who has been with you for five years has decided to go with their payroll company, who now offers every single service known to man and rolls it all up. The payroll company starts the day by making your coffee and ends the day by tucking in your kids at night and putting a mint on your pillow. It's nothing personal, your beloved client tells you. They have been very happy, but the payroll company offers perfect service for no money, and in these hard economic times... blah blah blah... What to do?
It's time for us small business owners to unite against these corporate giants, and form our own strategic partnerships that they can never compete with! Because guess what? Their corporate service is NOT as good, and it is NOT even close to free! Through any combination of efforts, we can create our own "bundled" products for our clients that blow away anything these giants can slap together. Imagine the bundled plan built on the blood, sweat, tears, vision and heart of the owners of each line of business... NOT a corporate balance sheet and a board vote to add a department that may or may not stick around.
I'm very big on this concept and have had the great privilege of meeting some of the sharpest most dynamic folks in their industries. Other entrepreneurs with the same philosophy of building and working together to improve our businesses and what we can do for our clients. And of course, people I know I can trust and who know they can trust me. And heck, I even get to learn a thing or two along the way, and have a lot of fun to boot!
Now I know that my beloved clients can get the same quality for their other needs, and there is no fear of them going anywhere else. There is enough business out there to band together for our clients, to bring them good old fashioned boutique expertise, without driving up the cost. If we all just work together.