Selling to Small Businesses

A business owner whose company serves other small businesses (RV and recreational equipment dealers) once said to me that his small business customers, “… are like water.  They follow the easiest path.”   What he meant was that small businesses go with whatever offering makes it easiest on them. Now, he did not mean this in a condescending way.  He simply accepted [...]

The current U.S. economic expansion has been going strong for several years.  But indications suggest that the economic growth is slowing down.  Small business owners apparently feel much the same way — that things are slowing down (not stopping or declining, just not growing as fast).   This is reflected in the NFIB’s Small Business Economic [...]

Here’s an interesting tidbit that deserves some exploration.  eWeek Channel Insider reports on a Gartner study of the SMB market: Service and support trump price for small and midsize businesses. Seventy-three percent of SMBs rated the service and support they received from their technology providers as the most important factor in a buying decision, according [...]

Articles defining “influencers” are not too hard to find.  However, it is the rare article that gives actionable advice about how to create a dialogue with influencers.   A recent article by Nilofer Merchant at MarketingProfs.com is one of those rarities.  Five Ways to Develop a Dialogue With Key Influencers offers insights into how to develop a communication program with [...]

EROI.com has come out with a new survey on the best day of the week to send email for marketing purposes. For business customers, the best day is Tuesday.  The worst days:  Thursday and Friday. For consumer customers, pretty much the opposite holds true: the best day is Friday. But these statistics bear some explanation. My [...]

Welcome to the Carnival of the Capitalists, a weekly roundup of the best in business and economics blog posts. I am your host, and I am pleased to present this July 31, 2006 edition with over 50 entries. Many thanks to all those who participated this week. This is now my fourth time hosting Carnival [...]