It’s big to be small

We naturally sell to and buy from people we like or share a likeness with. How many of your customers fly to work in their own chartered jet?

You don’t have to be big to compete in today’s markets – quite the contrary in fact. The game has changed: Big teams have been reduced and replaced by the internet. Big offices have been traded for hot-desking and home offices. And there are multi-million-dollar lounge-room operations competing with the big boys every day – and often winning!

What does being small signify? It means: Being agile, flexible, responding in real-time and fast off the mark! It also means being adaptive and responsive to change, or, even better, being the person driving it!

The bigger you are, the less nimble and adaptive to quick shifts in the market you will be. Things change fast in today’s economy; if you don’t respond and adapt, you could very soon be out of the game.

The smaller and leaner you are the more energy you store. Big, bloated companies burn masses of energy just to keep the doors open. They are lethargic and lack energy. If you think you’re working for or leading a company like that, hit the scales now to modify your appetite and what you think you need to eat to succeed.

I spend a significant portion of my own time helping big sales teams focus their time and energy on increasing their output. In many cases, that provides them with skills and tools to do more with less: To help them think small and focus on small tasks, then to do them over and over again, until they are exceptional at what they do.

To attract and retain top talent, your business will need to create an inspiring environment for likeminded salespeople to do their thing. Bigger is rarely better in this instance, particularly when it comes to growing your sales force. Give me the 20% of high-performers over the 80% who are just making up the numbers any day.

If you can’t be small, then at least start to think small. Start by making your smallest stakeholders – your customers – big.

This blog is an excerpt from Trent’s new book: OUTLAW: Fight for your Customers and Sell without Fear.

Trent Leyshan is the founder of BOOM!, Australia’s leading sales training and development specialist. He is the co-founder of Expand People and author of OUTLAW: Fight for your customers and sell without fear.