Dealing with Big Client's Impression of your "Small" Company?

Mark,
heres a simple way to diffuse that... I would say...

Mr (Big Client) is a Big Corporation what you looking to work with? [be quiet here and wait for a response] if they say yes, you say Great, and take off with a leading question. If they answer is no, say Great, and take off with a leading or probing question.

I can count on 2 fingers the times this has come up... Yep, Twice, both times, i handled it this way, with the same result. Secured new clients, without all the scuttle butt.

Heres another great example...

Do you offer Pink Elephants to Purple Gorilla Clients? Well sir, are pink elephants what your looking for ? Well not exactly, GREAT, let me ask you a couple of questions to better understand your business... DOES THAT SOUND FAIR?

there you go...
Regards,
Robert Nelson

Just tell people that you have a small in house staff, but you network with and employ many of the finest professionals in their respective fields on a case by case basis.

Need a Graphic Designer, I have several, need a good Insurance Rep, I got the best there is. Etc...

Just dont try to act like a big shot in the first place. Tell them you are independent. You would be surprised how many people will work with you just because they are endeared to your entrepreneurial spirit... just tell them "Honestly we are just starting out...pretty much its just me and my partner..." (or whatever).

Being pretentious about your company size leads to a tangled web later.

yes, also add that you are a part of a huge network of internet marketers who you call on at will when you need assistance for big jobs.

Then justify it by saying "it makes more sense for us at this point, than having to have a group of fulltime employees..., honestly we get the same results, maybe even for less cost..."

They, having employees, will understand that justification.

If not "CYA". Move on. dont jump through hoops in order to pretend you are something that you arent. It will be more headache than its worth down the road when they want to come visit your office. These days its no biggie to say We work from home.

I know guys that have big companies with employees, and honestly you have as much chance getting an appointment with them as any big web company.

Just make sure they are endeared to "YOU"... sell "YOU". Your character, the integrity you demonstrate, and knowing that you arent going to ditch them midstream is their main concern.

Dont fall into the "pretentious trap" for anything.

I agree, just tell the truth. Yup we are a small company, we basically serve local business and therefor we don't need to be huge. Should your project require additional man power we are more then able to meet the demands of what you need. yadda yadda.

Ps. High probability selling isnt only limited to small companies. Dial alot of numbers and keep moving till you come across the CEO who is gonna give you low resistance, the secretary who puts you right through... with enough numbers you will get that. In the end , landing a client is worth it, and with enough dials, you absolutely will.

Small companies are not the only kind that the high probability approach works on, despite what some think.

Then after you have a few sales... even a HUGE one, you can say "Yeah we just did a project for coca cola (or whatever) , and using that credibility you will start closing every other person you talk to.

Excuse me if already noted above but another key advantage to the client using a small(er) independent service is cost. The client is not paying for expensive overheads like plush offices and redundent staff. Tell them that too.

I've been asked that one time and I countered with "We have a community of workers that will have no problem getting the job done".

I'm the sole employee of my company... but I have lots of contractors/outsourced workers that I work with. Rather than trying to explain that I don't want to employ anyone and would rather work with contractors.. I just call them my "community of workers".

Seemed to work fine, I've had that client for just over a year now... As long as you can get the job done, does the amount of employees really matter?

I only work with medium to large companies. My response is, "As a smaller organization, we're able to rapidly staff up and down as needed to meet the needs of our clients. You will usually only work with a single point of contact, me or one of my customer-facing top project leads."

Personally i prefer not to deal with big clients who have big egos.

Working with SME's is so much easier and still extremely profitable.

If you do want to deal with the bigger clients then the advice given in this thread is extremely useful.

I have conducted seminars for individual marketing departments of larger organisations but i prefer not to take them on as clients.

Riz

This is really easier than you'd think. One thing offline businesses understand
today is downsizing and budget cuts. And that's exactly how you run your
business - lean and mean.

I sell my services as a "virtual business." This immediately separates me
from their big business mentality and forces them to ask what that means.
I then tell them that I keep a staff of virtual technical workers who work
on special projects. I manage the virtual staff and their projects to the
requirements of each client.

All they really want to know is how high you can jump when they need
you to jump!