Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I had an unexpected comment yesterday, from a customer and even after 24 hours I`m not sure how to digest it.
I built my own website and it is what it is for now (read; please don`t tell me how to fix it), I have this customer call out of the blue and make an order,he was reading right off the website. when he came to pick it up, it was just me in my (big for me) small shop. he loaded his stuff up paid in cash (I always love that) and was inquiring about some other items (love that too). then from nowhere he says "I thought you were a much larger company" and explained the impression from my website.
he made another order so whatever he thought he decided my size was ok. but that got me thinking do others get disappointed thinking the business is bigger than it is?
am I loosing potential customers because they would rather buy from a smaller appearing company? I spell it out on the website I am a mom and pop operation.
Maybe I should just discount the comment, but for some reason it is burning in my brain.
any comments

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Bob

I wouldn`t take the comment too seriously. It could just be a compliment on the professional appearance of your site.

While you shouldn`t pretend to be something you`re not, I don`t think the appearance of being a large or small company will hurt (or help) your image. What is much more important that your brand is reliable and of high quality. Being reliable and high quality isn`t exactly dependent upon being large or small, so I wouldn`t worry too much about it.

Like you said, this particular image the customer had of you didn`t deter him from purchasing from you, so I imagine that it was just an innocent comment.


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Motivation for Entrepreneurs
Entre-Propel.com

I think it only matters if you`re promising what you can`t deliver. How big or small you "appear" really doesn`t matter much to anyone. After all, think of how often movie stars or network personalities hear the same thing, "Gee....I thought you were taller."

But if you make yourself appear to be a big corporate entity, then fail to deliver the basic products and services you`re discussing on your Web site, then you`re in real trouble.

Kathy and I have had some funny stories about people calling with a question or clarification, and wanting to make sure we wrote it down so "our people won`t make a mistake with the spelling," and such things.

Other times, customers are impressed that they`re speaking to the owner of the company directly. They feel a personal sense of customer care because of that, sometimes indicating they think we`re a big company.

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Dave Barnes
Spider Climbing, Inc.
(734) 994-0646
www.spiderclimbing.com

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