Anita Campbell just featured one of my favorite clients, MrExcel.com on her blog "Selling to Small Business." 

I’ve been working with Bill Jelen (MrExcel) for over six years and we have an interesting relationship in that we actually work for each other — depending on who needs what.  He was my biggest client six years ago when we were building and developing the MrExcel business model.  He’s evolved from being an Excel consultant that worked with clients, to becoming a book publisher and now, his latest incarnation is as a professional speaker.  He’s not my "biggest" client, but still a favorite because he holds the record for being the client with the largest increase in sales and profitability (quadruple in about eighteen months)!

When we met, my first words to him were "Where have you been all my corporate life?" and now he and his team are a critical resource to me in working with my corporate clients in helping them analyze and report on customer survey feedback, and making sense of sales history data.

So we truly have one of these symbiotic virtual relationships that I’ve come to depend on in making my business a success.

What it Means to be a Virtual Business

August 6, 2007 | Anita Campbell

You might have heard the term, “virtual small business.”  But do you really understand what it means if your small business customers operate “virtually”?

One definition of a virtual business is a business that operates leanly, outsourcing to third parties whenever possible.  It may not have any full-time employees except the owner and possibly a few others.

The headquarters will not be very large.  It doesn’t’t need to be large.  The people in the organization are scattered in multiple locations, sometimes across the globe.  They work from their own homes or offices. Many will be part-time.

I’d love to hear your experiences with how running a virtual or non-virtual small business makes you the obvious choice for your customer.