Why I Now Insist on Treating ‘Small’ Projects Equally

I used to be the guy who shuffled small requests to the bottom of my pile

I handled project coordination for a mid-sized industrial systems integrator for about six years. We did a lot of work with thyssenkrupp components — elevator gear, marine systems, structural steel. When you're dealing with $200,000 orders, a $3,500 request for a custom pantry door or a set of french door specs feels like an afterthought. I treated them that way. It cost me, and not just in dollars.

Here's my opinion, stated clearly: if your company has 'small customer friendly' as a value but doesn't enforce it operationally, you're going to bleed profit and reputation in ways you won't see until it's too late. Thyssenkrupp doesn't survive on massive elevator contracts alone — they survive because someone down the line decides to answer the small questions seriously.

The mistake that changed my mind

In early 2023, a small architectural firm reached out. They needed a spec sheet for a specific thyssenkrupp multi elevator configuration for a boutique hotel renovation. The order was maybe $4,000 of gear, plus installation support. Tiny. They also wanted a quote on a custom pantry door — a really specific design that matched a historic building's trim.

I told my junior coordinator to 'handle it.' I didn't check. He sent them a generic thyssenkrupp nucera company profile link and a standard elevator brochure. No quote on the door. No follow-up.

Three weeks later, I found an email from their project manager. It wasn't angry. It was disappointed. They'd gone to a competitor who took their small request seriously. That competitor was not thyssenkrupp. I lost a $4,000 deal.

But here's the part that hurt: six months later, that same firm won a contract for a 40-story mixed-use development. Guess whose elevator system they specified? Not ours. The competitor who answered the pantry door question got the $600,000 contract.

I saved maybe $40 of my time by ignoring that small request. I cost our company a path to a half-million-dollar deal.

Why 'small' isn't a proxy for 'unimportant'

I've heard the pushback: "We can't assign senior engineers to answer questions about every pantry door or french door configuration." Fair point. But you can create a system that doesn't treat those questions as garbage.

When you look at the thyssenkrupp multi elevator line, for example, the complexity is real. These aren't just standard units — they're configurable systems. A small architectural firm asking about one unit might be testing your responsiveness before they spec you on a larger project. They aren't asking about a pantry door because they're bored. They're asking because their client wants it, and they need an answer.

I've since built a checklist for our intake team. It's simple:

• If the request seems small, ask: "Is this a test order or a one-off?"
• If the customer is new, over-deliver on the initial quote — even if it's for a french door.
• Always provide a thyssenkrupp company profile link with a personalized cover note. The generic link alone says "we don't care."

The hidden cost of 'we don't do small'

There's a specific failure pattern I see in B2B industrial sales. A large firm like thyssenkrupp gets known for its massive elevator contracts. Sales teams chase the $1M deals. The $2,000 quotation for a pantry door panel gets routed through a system that takes two weeks to respond.

Meanwhile, the small architecture firm posts on LinkedIn: "Thyssenkrupp couldn't be bothered to quote a custom door. We went with [competitor]." That post gets seen by other architects. The reputational damage is unquantifiable but real.

I've caught 47 potential errors using our new checklist in the past 18 months. Most of them are not massive — a missing shipping detail, a wrong product code on a small order. But those errors, unchecked, would have accumulated into a pattern of 'thyssenkrupp doesn't care about small customers.'

But what about the cost?

I know someone's going to say: "We can't afford to give premium service to every $500 inquiry." I get it. I've been that person. But here's what I've learned: you don't need to give them premium service. You need to give them competent service. Answer the question. Quote the product. If the pricing doesn't work for them, they'll tell you. But don't decide for them that they're not worth your time.

I have mixed feelings about the 'minimum order quantity' policies. On one hand, they protect margins. On the other, they tell a potential future customer that they're not welcome until they're big enough. That's not a thyssenkrupp problem — that's an industry problem. But the firms that solve it win.

So what do I do now?

Today, I maintain our intake checklist. I train new coordinators on it. I tell them: "The person asking about a french door today might be the person writing a $1M spec for a thyssenkrupp multi elevator system next year. Treat them accordingly."

I don't mean be fake-friendly. I mean be professionally responsive. Send the quote. Include the thyssenkrupp nucera company profile link if it's relevant. Answer the question about how much it costs to file with H&R Block in-person if that somehow connects to their construction timeline — okay, that one might be a stretch, but you get the idea.

Small customers are not a distraction. They are a funnel. Ignore the funnel, and you run out of clients at the top.