Preparing Your Small Business to Fight it out with the Big Boys

A Home Business Article Contributed by Marsha Maung

Preparing Your Small Business to Fight it out with the Big Boys

So you've started your new small business that allows you to either make MORE money than you are making right now or to replace your current work. You've started carrying out the business plans, targets, roped in the help from various sources and your website is in place, ready for you to promote. Now what?

Making Your Small Business Look Big

Let's be honest here and lay it all out on the table - most business you see online are small businesses, run by either one person or less than 10 people. That's a small business. However, the key to bringing in the projects is to APPEAR big online.

"We were young, but we had good advice and good ideas and lots of enthusiasm." Bill Gates said this some time back and it is so true. Even if the small businesses are, in actual fact, tiny, they still manage to look, sound and appear professional. The important factor is that they have spent enough time researching the field of their expertise, know what they're talking about and have spent some money developing their businesses so that others will take them seriously. With the right amount of enthusiasm, a really small business can win projects over big competitors.

Pricing Concerns for Small Business Owners

How do you decide on the right amount to charge your clients when they ask for quotes on projects? If you quote too high, they'd think you're living in la-la-land. If you quote too low, they'll think your work is shoddy.

For small business owners, the best thing to do is first develop your portfolio. You can do this by offering to do things for free for your friends and family and then add it to your portfolio. With a fatter portfolio, you can raise your price a little. The bigger and better your portfolio gets, the higher you can charge your clients.

When you're fighting it out with the BIG GUNS out there, the price is the main concern.

The Big Plan

You see, one of the advantages that the bigger companies have over your small business is that they have lots of people brainstorming out ideas for them. They develop water-tight marketing and promotional plans to help propel their sales through the roof.

You may not have as many people working for you and the plans may not be as sophisticated but use a little ingenuity, brainstorm ideas over the Internet or over coffee with your friends and family members can help you find better approaches to winning projects to your side over the bigger companies. Do your research on the latest prices your competitors are offering THEIR clients and you will soon have a better idea on how to fight it out with them.

Credibility of a Small Business

Say, if a client was looking at a proposal from you and a proposal from one of your bigger competitors, what do you think will help the client decide to give the work to you? Think, think, think. Yes, money is one. But price is not everything. If they don't think you can handle the job, they'd much rather pay the higher amount to the bigger competitor. After all, what's the point of paying less for shoddy work? So, establish a quick relationship with the potential client without bribing them.

You can also send them comments from your previous clients showing them what a wonderful job you have done so far and you are, indeed, a dead serious small business owner.