When my interior designer clients told me about this objection that they’d gotten from big brand hotels, I had to stop myself from shouting ‘liar, liar pants on fire!’. Because having purchased services for mammoth brands for 2 decades, from both big vendor brands and small, I could tell a soft ‘no’ when I heard one and knew just what to do about it.
Here’s what I mean…

The Big Brands Buy Big Brands BS

This is largely true, yes. I admit it. But here’s the exception: when the vendor is an extreme expert at what they do, and can deliver better ROI than a big brand vendor, I am definitely open to listening and even buying. I’ve seen it happen over and over again, where smaller vendors who were experts in an area of need that we had as a corporation, we brought them onboard. We even went to lengths to skip steps, create budgets and find loopholes to work with them. So no, I don’t believe the BS that big brands ONLY work with big brands.

Building Trust into Your Brand

Big or small, corporations aren’t buying your services, they are buying you, the person who is selling to them. Now, if they happen to see you in front of them at their industry conference speaking as their keynote, or if they see your article on LinkedIn or listen to your podcast about your expertise, what do you think happens to their level of trust for you and your brand? Visibility in the context of thought leadership creates trust.

What’s In It For Me

One of the biggest revelations of my research into corporate buyers was that something called Personal Value was twice as important vs. business ROI in a sale (Source:CEB Analysis, Motista Survey). In fact, Personal Value was described as things like familiarity, career advancement, popularity, confidence and pride for the buyer. So when you, as the seller, are able to provide information, technologies, and even simple opportunities to participate in events where their highest values are being honoured, they are more likely to buy from you-even if you’re not a big brand company!
So imagine a world where your value to giant corporations isn’t in your size or your might but it’s in how deep your expertise goes and how visible you are with it. Then, you’ll never have to hear that ridiculous objection ever again!
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