For years, I have said that small businesses have the competitive advantage over large national competitors, big box stores and national companies. If only you played your best hand! Stop thinking that you can’t compete with the big box stores, the chains, the franchisers. Of course you can! Small business owners have huge advantages, if they only pay attention to them.

My wife tells me I am a sucker for a good sales rap and I am, I admit it. I love to listen to a salesperson who is knowledgeable and helpful and guides me to the right purchase for the right reasons, price being only one consideration. Usually his or her recommendation is the most important matter if it is credible, knowledgeable and passionate. I cannot get this at big box stores but I know I can at small businesses where the employees care about me and about their products or services. Furthermore, if I am entertained, I will want to come back. If I had a positive “consumer experience” as it’s called, if I am taken care of, the price soon becomes irrelevant.

You cannot beat the big guys on price. They will always win there as they have greater buying power and buy at a lower price. They also have huge ad budgets and can attract the market, usually with price. They can also subsidize their efforts with huge cash reserves, allowing them to put loss leaders out. None of this can be done by a small business owner. Instead, reinvent yourself, this is one of the four pillars of success for successfully navigating the downturn. Stop taking a beating and fight back. You can win as soon as you decide to play your best hand.

Emphasize the qualities big box stores and other major competition cannot deliver on and win, win, win! Earn greater profits and emerge more powerful, more successful. Price is just one variable that determines when and from whom a purchase is made. There are dozens of others. Stop competing in a game you will always lose: price. Compete where you will always win: service and specialization. You cannot just be a smaller version of a large national player–that does not work, this we all understand–but you canoffer deeper and broader selections of narrower product ranges and become the place to go for that type of item. You can offer special services that support the customer experience making you better than the competition. You can add entertainment and theater into the buying experience. You can provide additional services your large competitors cannot deliver and thus create perceived value. You can finance, guarantee, educate, customize, deliver, pick up, entertain, be open better hours, offer more and charge more. Your clerks and sales people can be extra knowledgeable. The market will respond favorably. There is no limit to the number of ways you can attract a profitable, loyal customer base delivering exactly what the big guys cannot. Deliver, install, repair, train, guaranty, be an expert, provide terrific service, entertain, be special in some way and win. Perhaps most important is the personal touch, i.e. knowing your neighbor who shops in your store or buys any product or service because they trust you. You know them and they know you. When you are providing what the market wants, they are willing to pay the price to get it.

We are always talking to our clients about how they can become better and more profitable as once the debt is removed. I talk to far too many small business owners who believe all they have to do is get rid of the debt and all will be fine. NOT SO. We are in a new era and your business tactics must change with it or even if the debt is removed you may not succeed. I am always concerned about our clients understanding this issue and taking appropriate steps to insure long-term success by doing business in a newer, better way, after the debt is removed. The job is not over. You must adapt, change and emerge after the debt is removed, in other words, reinvent yourself and your business.