November 16 , 2006
Burt Steinberg, Vice Chair of the RBA and former COO of Dress Barn, kicked-off a new program for the Small Business Committee of the RBA Board, earlier this month. Called the "Conversation With..." series, the program brings the expertise and experience of an executive from the large business community to the owners of our micro business community.
Dress Barn, now a multibillion dollar company, was once a small business, so when Steinberg agreed to talk with RBA members, small business owners like Kathy Fealy and Steve Powell were among those interested in hearing his advice. Steinberg focused on an important issue facing the small business community. "Should I be doing business with big business? - the RISKS, REWARDS and REQUIREMENTS."
Fealy, whose business KF Multimedia & Web, Inc. helps clients strategize their websites, said she attended the event because she was considering how to take the company to the next level.
"I wanted to hear his input to be better prepared and have the resources needed to provide the service. I found it very interesting. I will now review structure of business and see where I can improve before going forward," Fealy said.
Powell is President Co-oper8 Marketing Group and co-publisher of the Rockland Business Digest magazine. He said he really appreciated the talk with Steinberg.
"The biggest 'lessons' I learned from the talk; it's often virtually impossible for small businesses to fulfill big business needs due to quantity, liability and/or financial requirements. Growth for small businesses needs to happen tier by tier, with a long-view approach toward larger, then larger, accounts; and small businesses should establish and then build within specific niche markets," Powell said.
Steinberg told the crowd that large companies generally will be looking for services that apply nationally, not on a local level, and that small businesses have to be careful dealing with very large businesses for several reasons. One common problem is a big business might use different billing cycles, and a small business could be waiting a long time to receive a big check. He noted that Dress Barn requires companies to do no more than 40% of their business with them; at least 60% of their business must be done with other companies.
If you offer a service to a big business, they will want to know why they can't get that from their staff members. If they like what you do, they may try to hire you outright. There are also insurance and manpower issues.
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