A Lesson from Big Business

Sometimes it's amazing how an opportunity presents itself so subtly and yet at the same time stare you in the face. It's truly a loss when we don't realize it until the moment has long passed.

An Opportunity Lost for a Large Business
I went to a large, nationally known department store recently with a printout from their web page. I wanted to buy a rototiller for $255 online. The online ad showed the product out of stock but I needed the tiller right away. So I went to the store with the ad in hand and explained my story to the sales associate. He said he couldn't help me, that the particular model was not in the store and available only online. I asked about all of the in store models and whether he could work with me on price to come closer to the ad price. There was even a model that was the same base price as the one in my ad ($319) but he said he couldn't work with me on that one either. Now the sales associate was polite and friendly but he also never really seemed eager to try and help me. No one else was in the lawn & garden area so it wasn't like he was overwhelmed with work. He was on the floor waiting for customers to approach. Yet when I approached he was happy to just tell me he couldn't help me. Apparently he felt he had done his job.

I asked if I there was a manager around that I could speak with. He said no and even asked why. I told him I wanted to speak to a manager who is interested in making a sale. He told me they are not interested in coming down that far in price on any of the tillers in store. I said OK and left. I went a half mile down Rt 22 to the Home Depot, showed them the same online ad from the other department store. They had the same rototiller and gave me the ad price. More importantly, the sales person didn't say no. He asked questions, got information.

The Lesson for a Small Business
I thought about my shopping experience that night and tried to come away with what the lesson is for a small business owner. Both of the stores I went to were large chains so the lesson in this case wasn't "small businesses sell cheaper rototillers". What I came up with was this: small business have the advantage in their flexibility. They are inherently better equipped to change quickly in response to their market conditions. It's kind of like the difference between driving a motorcycle through midtown traffic versus a stretch limo. The smaller vehicle can adjust to changing traffic patterns better the larger vehicle. It's important for the small business to recognize this and use it as a strength.

My guess is that the first sales person was probably adhering to some policy he was trained to adhere to. When a customer came with a different opportunity than what he was trained to handle he realized he couldn't help and told me so. He told me so politely as he was also probably trained to do. Apparently Home Depot has a different policy that makes it better equipped to handle the specific opportunity I presented them. The small business can and should have policies in place, but it should also have the ability to recognize opportunity and adjust accordingly to maximize upon it.