Emerald-based businesswoman and keen blogger Bronwyn Reid has added ‘author’ to her credentials with a new book drawing on her experiences in dealing with larger corporations.
Small Company, Big Business is aimed at small business owners who are looking to start taking on contracts with the big end of town.
“This is part of the growth path for any small business that wants to move out of the struggle zone,” Ms Reid said.
“But doing that is very difficult for a lot of small businesses. What I have done in the book is outline the five steps that any small business owner needs to tackle in order to be able to be a reliable, successful and profitable supplier to big organisations.”
Her self-published book, which she describes as a practical guide, is due out in October.
In a nutshell, the steps she outlines in Small Company, Big Business are:
- Understand your buyer.
“You need to understand how big companies think and what they expect of you,” Ms Reid said.
- Set the foundations
Ms Reid stresses the need for a business plan, a business vision, and goals. She says also businesses need to have a good team – both internal and external, such as a good accountant, banker and lawyer.
- Simplify the complexity
This centres on getting your business systems in order. “The one thing that big organisations want is consistency,” Ms Reid said.
“They want it delivered in full, on time, with quality every time and that’s where a lot of small businesses fall down.
“The cure for that is to have really robust and documented business systems.”
- Make yourself known
The first place people will look for you these days is online, but Ms Reid said many small businesses did not even have a website.
“Small businesses need to understand that having a credible digital footprint is part of the process,” she said.
- Tell your story
“This is an introduction to the whole world of tenders – RFPs (request for proposal), RFTs (request for tender), all of that language around procurement, where to find them (tender documents), how to analyse them, how to write them and also about telling your own business story,” Ms Reid said.
She said businesses must be able to highlight what made them different to their competitors and give a compelling account of why the prospective customer should pick them.
More at www.bronwynreid.com.au
