Beating Large Competitors With Superior Customer Service You can beat your bigger competitors by offering superior service. Here's how!

WARREN CASSELL IS a small-business owner; you'd be hard-pressed to find one smaller. His Just Books bookstore in Greenwich, Connecticut occupies only 650 square feet, and he has "one and a half" employees.

So how does Cassell compete with the big guys, who probably have 650 square feet of restrooms in their megastores? "Very effectively," he says. To be more specific: "I live and die by service."

Before, above, beyond and over all other messages is that one. Of the seven cardinal virtues of running with the big boys, six are "service." The seventh is "more service."