Following are two examples showing that, as formidable as some huge companies may seem, you can beat them. These examples come from Best Buy/Geek Squad and Wal-Mart.

First, let's look at Best Buy/Geek Squad and how they have alienated a customer, at least from their computer business. I've purchased lots of consumer electronics from Best Buy over the years, and appreciate their no-commission customer service reps and the way their stores look. However....recently I had to return my wife's laptop to Best Buy for service, and decided to try out their Geek Squad group. Normally I go to our local computer repair shop, but my wife bought her laptop at Best Buy and it was still under warranty. Did I make a mistake!

Here is what happened:

1. My wait for anyone to acknowledge me was 25 minutes of waiting in line. There were plenty of Geek Squad employees around, but none seemed to care that I was waiting. I wasn't alone. There were 3 people in front of me, including one old woman in a wheel chair; I couldn't help but wonder if she came in sometime in her thirties, and had aged while waiting for someone to serve her.

2. The wait process was excruciating. I saw people behind the counter, but none would look me in the eye, tell me how long it would be, or basically appear to be human. Some were looking at laptops, and I assume they were working on them and didn't want to be disturbed. If that was the case, they should have been "off stage." Meanwhile, I saw behind the counter a long line of computers sitting there like the warehouse seen at the end of the first Indiana Jones movie. That should have caused me to run right there.

3. When I finally got waited on, the paperwork was ridiculous for a technology service firm. I filled out my name and info, and then the counter clerk walked about 10 yards away to print up all sorts of copies, enter a ton of data into the computer, print out some more paperwork, and have me sign a form. I felt like I was at a 1980s Department of Motor Vehicles or, even though I never had to experience this, like I was at a Soviet Union government office.

4. The clerk told me that the wait for work would be 7 to 10 business days. They would have to send the computer to their actual service center and wait for it to be serviced there, at least for two issues. Then the local Geek Squad could handle a third issue. Note that my local computer repair shop usually completes similar work in under 3 business days. However, we were under warranty and I was curious about whether Geek Squad was any good, so I let the computer go.

5. I got an email from Geek Squad saying my computer was in good hands.

6. Five days later I got an email from Geek Squad saying that my computer was now at their main service center and had been assigned a tech.

7. Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, up to 14 days later I checked the online status of my order and all it said was that the computer had been assigned a tech. Memo to Geek Squad: Don't send out emails to customers about updates unless you actually plan to make progress and update the online form. Either the Geek Squad wasn't working on my computer, or were working on it but weren't updating the system for me to see progress.

8. Two weeks later my wife called Geek Squad and discovered the nasty truth. The monotone voiced, somewhat negative sounding Geek Squad rep told her the computer would be ready in SIX WEEKS! Not 7-10 days. SIX WEEKS! I called back to confirm and asked what was going on. The rep said, "I have no idea. They don't give me any information either." Is Best Buy TRYING to go the way of Circuit City?

Anyway, I called my local computer store, told them the problem, and they promised 1-day turnaround. They also noted that the issue might not cost more than $5.

Here is the cost to Best Buy/Geek Squad: We are buying two computers this year. Even if Best Buy is less expensive than my local computer store in Sarasota, I'm going back to the down-home, friendly, personal service that I get there.  End of story.

Note that any first year business school student could look at the above process and come up with a half dozen ways to fix it. Why can't Best Buy? The answer to that question is also the reason why you can compete against them. More in a moment...

The second example is simpler and comes from Wal-Mart. Yesterday I went in the store to buy some high powered water guns for my kids' last-day-at-camp party. When I finally found someone to answer some questions, he seemed annoyed and put out to hear from me. He interrupted me to answer a phone call, and spent a while on the phone being mean and annoyed to whomever was unfortunate enough to be calling. Then I asked him my questions, and he was very impatient.

My question was, "You have one of these items here and I want two. Do you have another one in the back?"

His answer was, "No, this is all we have. Nothing in the back. I am in the middle of doing inventory, my truck hasn't come, and what you see is what you get." And off he went to count inventory. I left and went a mile down the road to buy the water guns.

Wal-Mart -- and normally I am a fan of this store for 24 hour last minute purchases -- has a couple of problems here: First, this particular employee was rude and impatient, too busy to deal with customers vs. doing inventory. Second, Wal-Mart only had one item on the shelves and so they lost a sale. Third, it took too long to find help and when I finally did, instead of help I got attitude.

The lessons from both cases for smaller companies is that YOU CAN COMPETE AND WIN:

1. You can compete because you care more.

2. You can compete because you are closer to the customer and can solve their problems more quickly and personably.

3. You can compete because you can manage the little things that minimum-wage level employees who are part of a huge beauracracy could care less about.

4. You can compete because when you notice problems you can put in place systems and processes to change them. You are steering a much more agile boat, not a huge cruise ship.

Go get 'em!