I read an article in USA Today recently by Steve Strauss that talked about how being a small business has its advantages, especially in this economic downturn.

Strauss talks about the fact that while small businesses may have smaller budgets and fewer resources than larger corporations, one thing they do have is the ability to adjust quickly and move fast.

A good example of this is discussed in Jeb Blount’s article in this issue about 7 Rules to Outsell the Recession. He starts out talking about a friend of his that works as a sales director for a large company. Because of the recession, his friend’s company was being more cautious and added even more red tape making it more difficult to get contracts approved, while at the same time putting pressure on him to sell more.

While the larger company may have a larger budget to hire more salespeople, their entire sales process came to a complete stop all because they were being overly cautious and laying low during the recession.

I agree with Blount in that now is the perfect opportunity to pull ahead of the larger competitors who are erring on the side of caution and hoping to ride out the recession in safety. Now is the time for you, as small business owners to put the pedal to the metal and work harder than you ever have to reach your goals and set you and your company apart from anybody else out there.

Another interesting article by Blount titled 5 Tips To Help You Prosper During The Recession states that when the economy was strong, we could afford to make mistakes or ignore bad sales habits, but recessions separate the weak from the strong. Your skills, talents, and attitude are the real competitive edge in this marketplace.

Along that same theme, we take a look at the 10 Biggest Sales Blunders and How To Turn Them Into Sales. Now is not the time to make mistakes because if you falter, your competitor is waiting right behind you to close the deal.

Plus, our social media expert Kim Fenolio discusses how incorporating social media into your business can help take your sales to new heights.

Here’s a question to ponder: Because small businesses tend to be in a better position to move quickly and are lighter on their feet, does social media scale easier for them?

In my opinion, smaller businesses have an advantage here to enable a more scaled down and targeted local effort. Not that it’s easy, but if you put enough work into it, I think that smaller businesses have an edge in building one-on-one relationships with their audiences, even if they may be smaller than the larger corporations.

The bottom line is if you do nothing you get nothing. If you do something you will get something.

As always I look forward to getting your comments and suggestions at lynn@gowithabc.com.

All the best,

Lynn Celmer | Managing Editor