Two articles caught my eye this morning, in the wake of an email yesterday challenging me to illuminate how Micro Businesses can position themselves for desirable projects with The Fortune 500-100-50.

From Strategy and Business, “Leading Out of the Downturn”, speaks about how the recession calls upon leaders to re-invent the future – essentially to shift the context in which people are operating, by articulating new ways that they can contribute and ‘win’, even in a down economy. Recent brain research shows how that kind of re-labeling reduces stress: by decreasing uncertainty, new labels allow people to focus on a new question that gets brain juices flowing.

I agree that’s a leader’s job – and not an easy one. But what does that have to do with MicroBiz opportunities? It’s not a quickie, but it is a goldmine, so take a slow breath and read on.

• Organizations are essentially networks of commitments. Large organizations are composed of many commitments in a complex web, and that’s why they’re hard/slow to change (entropy.)
• Micro Business has the huge advantage of nimbleness.” Because we have fewer commitments we can respond to changing conditions faster.

We are faster to conceive how corporations could be responding favorably in the recession than [smart, well-meaning] leaders inside the organizations. We have enormous value to add by increasing their resilience: with new moves that would make them more viable in new situations.

Small Business can serve Fortune 500-100-50 leaders with thought leadership – specialty by specialty. For example, AdvanceMarketWoRx,” a MicroBiz consulting in Healthcare and Consumer Marketing, after 6 months of blogging and other social media was asked for articles by leading publications in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Their blogs have addressed a number of issues which will define the future of drug companies, including Can Healthcare Games Change the Game of Healthcare?” and How to to be Patient-Centric.” Not surprisingly, the firm has several new projects with brands that want to be market leaders.

Today’s other post is from Mirren This Week, “Why Your Calls Don’t Get Returned – you think the call is about you”.” It makes the excellent point that if you don’t know enough about the prospect to offer a new insight that will specifically help their business, you’re not ready to pick up the phone. Micro Businesses are often experts in our fields. Those who do know enough about the prospect can begin to add value in the first phone call.

Fresh language and new questions are powerful ways to decrease the fear of uncertainty and fire prospects’ curiosity about new opportunities. The whole world was galvanized in January this year when a plane landed in the Hudson River in 18 degree air temperature, and people nearby quickly powered pleasure craft as well as commercial boats to get the passengers out of the freezing water. Lives don’t have to be at stake to spark the brain; new questions are compelling, especially when they’re focused on others' concerns. Leading your prospect with an inventive question about how his/her customers might thrive will do the job just as well.

Innovative terms and questions reduce uncertainty, thereby reducing stress in the brain, and people feel better immediately. Less stressed, a prospect can process a new possibility. And feel good about you.

Focus on a better future for your prospect and their customers, lead with fresh language and interesting questions. Write, speak, and call.

Have examples of landing big clients by reducing uncertainty? Please share them.

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