4 Ways to Act Big, Even If You're Small.

Suppose an oilfield service firm has $25 million in sales, and wants to work with a production company that has $5 billion in sales.

Is the service firm kidding themselves? Are they out of their league? Not at all, according to Jory Lamb, President of VistaVu Solutions.

"Many VistaVu customers know the importance of acting bigger than they are," says Lamb. "They know there are four key touch points when the bigger company will judge their capability, and they nail those.”

1. How you sell.

Small companies often let their salespeople maintain their own contacts and manage their own sales process. Bigger companies normally employ a disciplined, rigorous sales process in which new business opportunities and other information are centrally held and managed. The sales process your customers see will say a lot about your company.

2. How you deliver.

"Our customers know, if they want to convey scale and capability to the marketplace, the old whiteboard has got to go," Lamb says. "The end-customer will judge a company on their ability to locate and deploy their equipment, materials and people. Beyond a very small size, you cannot do that manually."

3. How you problem-solve.

In the oilpatch, plans and circumstances change and service firms are required to adjust on the go. That's when the end-customer learns all they need to know about the sophistication of their service provider.

"It goes back to knowing where all your assets are at all times," notes Lamb.

4. How you invoice.

Smaller firms that act big use business software to set up a project according to their customer’s terms of reference, create an invoice automatically and send it electronically when the project is done.

Says Lamb: “There’s nothing wrong with being small. If you act small, however, there’s a good chance you’ll stay that way. If you act big, you’re more likely to grow. VistaVu’s customers prove this every day.”