By Amanda Leon, founder of OilMoney.io. Houston-raised, came up in the Houston marketing team of Vallourec, and has run Unrth, a brand and growth studio for oil and gas and industrial companies, since 2017, with her boots on client locations in Midland and Odessa. Last reviewed October 20, 2026.
Before I came back to oil and gas, I worked in food franchising, out of a headquarters office in Pasadena, California. The people making pretzels in more than 300 locations around the world came up with better ideas than anything I could have dreamed up from headquarters. So here I am, all the way from Pasadena to Midland, still getting my best ideas from the people with their hands on the thing being sold, day to day, whether it's water hose piping or pretzels.
Size doesn't decide where the good ideas live, and it doesn't decide every job. You compete with a bigger oilfield company by choosing where to fight. Let it have the high-volume, basin-wide work, and go after the jobs where a fast answer, local knowledge, and the owner's name decide who gets the call. Then make sure buyers know that name before the work goes out.
Where the Bigger Competitor Wins
Start with an honest count of what size buys. Drilling Tools International, a public rental-tool company, reported this for fiscal 2025: more than 340 MSAs (which it calls hard and slow to get), a 40-person sales force split between city and field teams, and a first-call agreement with one of its largest customers that has been in place since 2013 and was extended through 2026.
In field terms, the slow paperwork is done, and one big customer calls them first. So be straight about the scoreboard. On price at volume, basin-wide coverage, and fleet depth, the bigger competitor wins. If a job comes down to who can stage the most equipment across the most counties at the lowest unit price, let it go and keep your margin. Pick the work where speed, local knowledge, and the owner's name count.
Why Price Is a Hard Fight in Late 2026
Cutting price to get in the door is the oldest move a small shop has, and late 2026 is a hard time to try it. In the Dallas Fed's third-quarter 2026 survey, which heard from 42 oilfield services firms, the services index for prices received fell to 16.3 from 24.5, while input costs stayed high at 60.4. One services firm put it plainly: "We continue to see pricing pressure from operators."
The second-quarter 2026 survey showed the squeeze from two more angles. One services firm said pricing "has become much more competitive with the consolidation of the majors." Another said "customers are hiring our people." That second line should worry a small owner most, because losing a couple of good hands can mean losing the know-how your customers were paying for.
A bid war in that market favors whoever can spread thin margins over the most work, and that's rarely the smaller company. For formal bids, read how to win an oil and gas RFP without being the cheapest bid.
The Vendor Gate Is the Same Height for Everyone
Before anybody compares your price or your crew, you have to be allowed on location, and the gate doesn't shrink for a small shop. Ovintiv and Apache both want on-site suppliers in ISNetworld with a passing grade, and neither company's supplier page sets a lower bar by size; every requirement is laid out in how to get on an operator's approved vendor list. Clear the gate before you spend a dollar getting known. Our guide on how to get an MSA with an oil company, and then get called covers the steps.
Where a Smaller Company Wins
You know the lease roads, which gates stick, the company men by first name, and what went wrong the last time somebody ran that job in that county. That's the edge size can't buy, and it comes with two more.
- Speed. When a company man needs something on short notice, the owner of a small shop can say yes on the first call and roll. At a bigger company, the same request often passes through more hands before a truck moves.
- The owner's name. The buyer can know the person who answers for the job, and that person isn't going anywhere.
Every one of those edges depends on the buyer thinking of you before he needs you. In 6sense's 2025 survey of B2B buyers across industries, 68% already knew a seller from the vendor that won; the rest of that research is unpacked in Where Do I Find Oil and Gas Sales Leads? Speed won't help a company the buyer never thought to call. If your buyers keep calling the names they know, read how to get an operator to choose you when they stick with the names they know. If one big customer is most of your book, read growing an oilfield service company in the Permian without betting on one customer.
Putting the Owner's Know-How in Front of Buyers
In a lot of small service companies, the best salesman is the owner, and the best sales material is in his head: what he's seen fail, how he'd rig it up, and which shortcut costs money a month later. That's the pretzel lesson again. The best ideas in your company live with the people closest to the work, starting with you.
Buyers say that kind of material counts. In the 2025 Edelman and LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, 73% of target decision-makers agreed that thought leadership shows a vendor's potential value better than conventional marketing or sales materials do. How that sits next to your company's own brand is on Can I Build a Personal Brand on LinkedIn Without Clashing With My Company's Brand?
A spec sheet tells a buyer what you've got. Your stories tell him how you think. Getting them out of your head without pulling you off location is what The Warm Walk-In™ does: one story dump a quarter from the truck, posts in your voice, and your yes on every one. To get more than one person selling, start with how a family oilfield service company builds a real sales system.
How a Fourth-Generation Founder Got Known
The founder we work with is a fourth-generation oilfield man who founded a service company in the Permian, and the customers who knew him were aging out while the younger engineers had never heard of his company. We built his name with his yes on every post, and LinkedIn's Social Selling Index ranks him in the top 1% of sales professionals in oil and gas. Read the full story.
Get Your Bison Walk-Around
A bigger outfit has a bigger logo. Make sure your name holds up next to it.
Send us your LinkedIn. We'll send back the Bison Walk-Around: five minutes of plain English on what's costing you callbacks and what we'd build. No call. No invoice. We give first.
Sources and As-Of Dates
- Drilling Tools International Corp Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. MSAs, sales force, and first-call agreement.
- Dallas Fed Energy Survey, Third Quarter 2026, September 30, 2026. Services prices, input costs, and a respondent comment.
- Dallas Fed Energy Survey, Second Quarter 2026, June 24, 2026. Respondent comments on pricing and hiring.
- Ovintiv, Prospective supplier, checked October 17, 2026. Supplier requirements.
- Apache Corporation, ISNetworld Requirements for Onsite Suppliers, July 2025. On-site contractor grading.
- 2025 B2B Buyer Experience Report (6sense), published late 2025. Buyers across industries; the 68% figure.
- LinkedIn Shares New Report on the Value of Thought Leadership Content (Social Media Today, report chart 3), July 14, 2025. The 2025 Edelman and LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, cross-industry.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator Social Selling Index screenshots for the founder's personal profile (capture date pending), held by Unrth. Details in the full proof story.
The Warm Walk-In™ is an original method created by Amanda Leon and owned by The Valours Creative Innovation LLC.