When it comes to setting up any small business it seems that the goal is to compete with the bigwigs. While smaller businesses may have an understanding of how to improve efficiency and ensure that they are able to do what big businesses can, the fact is that there are small businesses that could learn big lessons from their larger counterparts. Here are some of the most important lessons everyone with a small stature should study.

You Don’t Need Every Tool

While big businesses are often at the forefront of technological components they don’t invest in absolutely every newfangled component. Lots of smaller businesses believe that they need to have the latest and greatest tools in order to thrive. But while smaller businesses that have specific niches can benefit from certain tools, and even companies that sell coffee can utilize a variety of coffee tools to make sure their machines are working as they should, it’s about ensuring that they choose the right type of technology. Streamlining operations and enhancing the customer experience is something we’re all gunning for, and while smaller businesses need to use the right types of technology, we all need to remember that newer isn’t always better.

The Customer Comes First

So many organizations become blind-sided by the fact that they believe they’ve got to focus on the internal components first and neglect everything else, at least in the short term. But we always need to remember that the customer is the priority. A larger company understands the importance of putting the customer before everything else, and it’s not just in terms of customer service, but about every component of the customer-centric approach, like market research, getting feedback, but also tailoring their products and services to meet the customer demographics. 

A small business can start straight away by seeking customer input and responding to online reviews. What’s more, they can also personalize their approach to ensure that the customers feel like they are able to communicate with the business. Sometimes a company can put up a wall between themselves and the customer, thinking that they’ve got a specific method that they need to follow, but the fact is when we ignore customer input, we are effectively driving those people away. It is always important to remember that whatever you do and however you unveil your latest marketing strategy, it should always be secondary to making those customers happy. Because, ultimately, if those customers are happy, they will be loyal.  

Investing in Employee Training and/or Development

Small companies can use the excuse of thinking that they can’t afford to invest in employee training or development, but this is why we need to look to the larger businesses and recognize that, in fact, a skilled workforce is arguably the most valuable component a company can offer. 

Customers bring business in and therefore we need to close the loop on this by ensuring that any customer service representative or employee has the wealth of skills that doesn’t just boost productivity in-house but actually improves customer retention. A well-trained employee will deliver excellent customer service, but will also be able to deliver the right type of service and stick by you because they have every faith that you’ve got their back.

If your business is in an industry that requires higher education, such as science, then it can be extremely important that your employees stay up-to-date with their education and training. You may find courses for them to go on, as well as equip them with the tools and resources they need to use their initiative and continue to learn and grow. This will ensure that the work they are completing is high quality, and they can continue to help your business develop new ideas and experiments. For example, if your business is in the chemical manufacturing industry, then tools such as the Molecule Database can be extremely helpful.

Scalability  

Small companies tend to plan for the short term, but big businesses have the benefit of scalability. A small company can set clear goals and incorporate a flexible infrastructure to emulate what a larger business has already done, and after all, a small business is just a big business, but just a few short steps behind. 

Any large company has to start out somewhere and this is why organizations can benefit from looking to the future and having some form of scalability model in place to deal with customer expansion or the need to invest in more tech or employees that will grow the business. Scalability should be an organic component and therefore if you figure out how to prepare yourself for the next stage as well as the few stages after, you are going to be ready for what comes your way.

There are so many other lessons small businesses can learn from the larger ones and every business out there has had to learn from its mistakes, but what we can also benefit from is looking at those large companies who have been there before us. If we can learn the lessons from the big players, there is no reason why we can’t achieve the same levels of greatness.