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By Contributing Editor Dianna Huff
Sean Kelley
(Excerpted below)
Marketing to small and midsized businesses (SMB) is hot.
Companies who purposely ignored budget-conscious SMBs in favor of the more profitable enterprise market are now introducing programs or products aimed right at them.
Obviously, there’s a market out there – as evidenced by the growing SMB sales for companies like HP. Of HP’s $80 billion in sales in 2004, nearly a third was from SMBs.
Advises Charles Epstein President of BackBone, an IT marketing consulting firm, “When selling to IT resellers, in addition to aligning your technology with their practice areas, you also have to understand the SMB market, particularly the needs of SMB companies.” Four rules:
Rule #1. SMBs don’t buy unless they need it. Your marketing messages have to offer real solutions to their problems or relief of their business pains.
Rule #2. SMBs are typically resource constrained and they don’t have much time. When delivering product messages, you need to make your case succinctly, quickly, and compellingly.
Rule #3. Most SMBs lack dedicated IT support, so an OEM’s, or reseller partner’s, ability to support the product is key.
Rule #4. SMB companies are price-sensitive. Your product needs to be priced accordingly and have flexible pricing options that fit an SMB budget. And, you have to be able to demonstrate a quick ROI.
SMB IT consulting firms and resellers are no different. They’re busy running their own businesses and putting out client fires. However, in addition to being price-sensitive, consultants and resellers are acutely aware of the bottom line – theirs and their clients’. Show them how your product is an ideal revenue opportunity for them and an ideal benefit for their customers, and you’ve got their attention.
You also need to convince them that you really will support them through both the sales process and the implementation process. |
