Make a Small Firm Look Bigger

Small firms are often penalized for their size. They don’t get as much attention from governmental authorities as bigger firms, nor are they likely to be considered as important when it comes to matters like making capital equipment purchases or tendering for work. In a competitive world, size does matter.

It’s important for a small firm, especially one that’s home-based, to appear as substantial as possible. Fortunately there are ways to do this that can make a big difference in how the world sees the organization.

Thanks to modern methods of communication it’s fairly easy to come across as something other than a one-person enterprise. Even a small home-based firm can use the same electronic tools used by bigger organizations, and from the outside nobody’s going to be able to tell the difference.

The first thing to do is to give the firm its own identity that’s separate from the owner’s personal life. The firm needs its own telephone number, for example. If one phone line shares both domestic and business calls it’s a dead giveaway that this is a small player on the global stage. The firm needs its own telephone.

Analyze every communications touchpoint for the firm and work to make it appear that the enterprise is bigger than it really is. Most really large organizations have a “telephone tree” answering system that can be adapted for a small firm. “Welcome to Harvey Consulting. So that we can direct your call to the most appropriate team member please select from the following three options” Of course, regardless of which selection is made it will go through to the same telephone but outside callers won’t know that.

Technology also enables a small businessperson to have calls forwarded to them while they’re away from the office, or to be notified when the answering machine has taken a call. Don’t use a message that tells callers there’s nobody in the office; instead say “All of our team members are busy helping other callers but please leave your name and telephone number and we’ll return your call shortly”, then have the notification sent to a cell phone or other landline telephone as required so the message can be retrieved and responded to.

Having a separate telephone number for the facsimile machine is another way of becoming bigger in the apparent sense. This infers a dedicated fax line and most enterprises of any real size have one.

Now for the email address. Sad to say, using a “Hotmail” address is another giveaway that the firm isn’t using a more sophisticated system for its emails. Make sure the address makes it sound like you’ve got a higher level of communications than just web-based. Try and get an address that uses all or part of the firm’s name too. “harveyj123@hotmail.com” isn’t nearly as impressive as “jharvey@jhconsulting.com” for obvious reasons.

Print materials are another way a small firm can appear just the same as a larger one. Business cards, letterheads, order forms, invoices and so forth should all be professionally-designed and well produced using a high-quality paper and card stock. A good quality printer in the office also makes a big difference in the appearance of any communication.

A small firm that wants to appear larger can set up a website that’s designed to do this. This doesn’t mean putting up photographs of phoney team members or a “national headquarters” building. It does mean going to a professional designer and getting the right look and feel to the site.

There may come a time when a meeting has to be scheduled and the small firm’s premises are unsuitable. Thankfully there are many meeting facilities that can be hired on an hourly basis in business centers or larger hotels, often including facilities for coffee and even sandwiches. Or just be accommodating and always go to the other party’s premises for meetings.

A really small firm needs to be affiliated with bigger enterprises as much as possible. This can be done by joining a Chamber of Commerce, employer association, industry association or similar body. Their name can be incorporated into such things as business cards letterheads and websites (“member National Consultant’s Association”) and anyone reading it will make the appropriate connection.

The right combination of electronic tools, communications devices and imagination can remove many of the signals that say “this is a really small firm” and put any small organization on equal terms with much bigger enterprises. The more a small firm looks like a big business the more competitive its position will be.

Copyright 2004, RAN ONE Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from www.ranone.com.