Why You Can Take Share From The Big Guys.

If you want to see why growth-stage companies have such an advantage, read this little post from Seth Godin about the values of decision-makers in larger organizations:
_____
A hierarchy of business to business needs
If you’re selling a product or service to a business–to a non-owner–consider this hierarchy, from primary needs on down:
Avoiding risk
Avoiding hassle
Gaining praise
Gaining power
Having fun
Making a profit

In most large organizations, nothing happens unless at least one of these needs are met, and in just about every organization big enough and profitable enough to buy from you, the order of needs starts with the first one and works its way down the list.
That means that a sales pitch that begins with how much money the organization will make is pretty unlikely to work. Instead, the amount of profit has to be tied in to one of the other more primary needs of the person sitting across the table from you (as well as the committee or boss she reports to).
B2B selling is just like regular sales, except the customer (who might not be the person you’re meeting with) is spending someone else’s money (and wants to please the boss). See the article here.

Exactly right, Seth. Economists call this “The Principle-Agency Problem.” In short, this is the tendency of the decision-maker to put the needs of the decision-maker ahead of the best interests of the organization. You can imagine what would happen to our marketplace and our world if there weren’t innovative, fast-growing companies to challenge the large bureaucracies.
Growing companies face many obstacles, but they have one enormous compensating advantage – decision makers interests are aligned with the interests of the organization. Better decisions get made in growth-stage companies everyday.
Growth-stage companies. We love ‘em!

Follow Mark on Twitter @markdimassimo