Outsmarting Goliath confronts this paradox: Many of today’s consumers—potential customers—turn automatically to brand name products and services, forgetting that the well-advertised brontosauruses often deliver one-of-our-sizes-fits-all service and impersonal sales help. Yet a single phone call, a cleverly crafted letter, a stunning catalog, winning ad, or a well-prepared face-to-face presentation can change a customer’s perception. In those crucial situations, the small up-starter can use the tips in this book to capture more clients and give Goliath a headache. Highlights include:
Choosing a name and location that bolster consumer confidence Projecting a big image without hiring more employees Capitalizing on the Internet as an equalizerDebra Koontz Traverso teaches crisis management and prevention as an adjunct professor at Harvard University. She is a small-business consultant serving as the small-business expert for Workingwoman.com. Her book, Outsmarting Goliath, provides strategies to help small businesses defeat larger competitors. Traverso is copresident of WriteDirections.com, a company that offers consulting and teleclasses in business and personal writing. She lives in the Washington, DC, area.
Kate Fleming (a.k.a. Anna Fields) (1965–2006), winner of more than a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award in 2004, was one of the most respected narrators in the industry. Trained at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, she was also a director, producer, and technician at her own studio, Cedar House Audio.