The business advantage every SME has over corporate goliaths

This weekend means yet another children’s party and yet another weekday lunchtime dash to get a gift. Usually this means a ‘grab what I can’ at the supermarket while picking up the office milk. This week I did something different… I went to the local toyshop.

What a different experience! I was sorted with an age appropriate gift, wrapping and a card with the right number on it in five minutes flat, aided by the experienced and helpful shop assistant.

I should add that this shopkeeper was no marketing genius. There was no attempt to gather my details etc, but it reminded me of the one clear advantage every small and medium sized business has over corporate goliaths: Customer relationship.

The people in my local Tesco are friendly enough. They are also efficient. But it’s not their job to usher me through the toy aisle making suggestions of the latest age-appropriate toy while handing me a card and a sheet of wrapping paper.

Building a relationship with your clients is one of the smartest moves any small business can make to stand apart from the likes of Tesco. The big companies with the big advertising budgets and big discounts don’t have the manpower, or inclination, to create a relationship in the way an SME owner can.

Now you probably can’t speak to every client every day, but you can communicate with them regularly.

Back to the toy shop. Despite my great experience hand on heart, I can’t guarantee I won’t grab a toy on the milk run in future.

However, had the toy shop owner taken my details and kept communicating with me, with an electronic or paper newsletter, that demonstrated his expertise, product knowledge with the odd offer thrown in, then he would probably have had a customer for life.

What’s more he would have had a customer happy to pass the hours spent in mum small talk at those oh-so-frequent parties recommending his excellent toy shop.