“You're too small for a company our size”
CIO · Challenger vendor
A CIO who says you're too small for them is worried that a smaller supplier won't keep up: with their scale, their support needs or their security reviews. Don't argue that size doesn't matter. Ask what keeping up means: which demands worry them most, and answer each one specifically.
Practise it before the real call
Free to start. No credit card.
What the buyer says
You're too small for a company our size. We need a supplier who can keep up with us.
How to handle it
Listen
Hear "keep up with us". The worry is capacity and resilience, not your product's features.
Acknowledge
Agree that a large organisation needs a supplier who can support it properly, and that it's fair to test that.
Explore
Ask which demands worry them most: support hours and response times, the number of users, security and compliance reviews, or the supplier's own resilience. Ask what went wrong with a smaller supplier before, if anything.
Respond
Answer each concern with specifics: support commitments, customers of a similar size, how you've handled their kind of security review, and what you'd put in the contract. Offer a phased start that proves it.
Say this
“That's fair. A company your size needs a supplier who can keep up.”
Say this
“Which demands worry you most: support, scale or security reviews?”
Say this
“If we could show you each of those, what would you need to see?”
Variations
- Procurement Director: “We only work with suppliers above a certain size.”
- Head of IT: “We'd be your biggest customer. That worries me.”
Questions people ask
How do you respond when a buyer says you're too small for them?
Agree that they need a supplier who can keep up. Ask which demands worry them most, such as support, scale or security reviews, then answer each one specifically, with commitments, similar customers and contract terms, and offer a phased start.
How do small vendors win large customers?
By answering the specific risks a large customer worries about, such as support, scale, security and resilience, rather than arguing that size doesn't matter. A phased start often helps the buyer build confidence.
More objections in Challenger vendor
- “What if you go out of business?”
- “Nobody gets fired for choosing the big name”
- “I've never heard of you”
- “Nobody in our industry uses you”
Practise it before the real call
Free to start. No credit card.