How small businesses can truly be nimble (and not just say they are)

Have you heard this one before?

“Because we are a small business, we’re more nimble than a large company!”

Those of us who have been around the block a few times know that being a small business does not always lead to nimbleness as a valuable differentiator.

Think about it — how many times has a small business let you down?

The fact that it happens more than we care to admit raises some concerns for potential clients:

• Can we depend on them to deliver on time? 
• Will they meet our quality requirements?
• Can they scale?
• Can they deliver if the owner gets hit by a bus?

Difficult differentiator

The nimbleness of small businesses should be a valuable differentiator. This is one of their competitive advantages over large businesses. Let’s face it, large companies have processes that generally require a good amount of bureaucratic muscle to modify — for good reason. The lack of this heavy bureaucracy is supposed to make small businesses nimble and allow them to provide customers with an unmatched experience.

Unfortunately....read the rest at The Business Journals