How to Convince SMBs They Need Technology Help
- 8 Comments
- December 8th, 2008
In the typical growth path of a small business, certain functions, like information technology, end up getting handled part-time by the owner as the business grows.
How do you convince the business owner that it’s time to bring in professionals and upgrade equipment and software?
Many business owners don’t have the technology background to know what they may be missing out on. They probably don’t understand half of the industry lingo and technical acronyms that solution providers throw around with abandon in their marketing literature and sales pitches.
It’s easier to carry on same as before. Why? Because as a business owner you don’t realize the value you could get from bringing in professionals. You can’t see why it makes sense to spend on something you’ve never spent on before. Making no decision becomes much easier than being confused to death by proposal-waving providers who seem to speak a foreign tongue.
One small business owner says that if you want to convince SMBs to buy, you have to convince them that the owner’s time is more valuable spent elsewhere:
The key for solution providers to winning in the SMB market is to focus squarely on the time savings that come with helping business owners get rid of that big IT headache.
That was the advice of Carol Modell, vice president of sales and co-partner at A&R, a maker of figure skating and hockey accessories, that is partnered with solution provider Powersolution.com., Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.“I was the in-house IT person and that was by default,” said Modell, whose husband, Ira, is the president of A&R, Ridgefield, N.J. “Whatever I was spending with Dave’s [David Dadian, CEO of Powersolution.com] company freed up my time. And my time is invaluable.” Modell said that precious time is critical in being able to focus more on strategic issues and growing a small business.
I think the above quote highlights a key point often missed by IT companies trying to reach down into the small business market. You sell differently to small businesses than you do to large corporations or even medium size businesses.
For instance, when approaching large companies during difficult economic times you might focus on staff reductions that can be made as a result of investing in new technology. But small businesses typically don’t have excess staff to cut. Or, in the case of the woman quoted above, she is one of the owners of the business. So she isn’t going to RIF herself – obviously. You’d sound like an idiot suggesting it.
But you might focus on cost containment — keeping costs in check as you grow the business. For instance, a compelling point might be that the customer could sell more and service more of its own customers without having to hire additional staff. Now THAT may be a compelling point.
Another focus in selling to large businesses is often on consolidating and getting more efficient. The efficiency pitch can work to some degree with smaller businesses. But usually you won’t find the same kind of low-hanging fruit that you find in large corporations — you have to look at different things.
For instance, you won’t find multiple data centers that can be combined. Usually you won’t find costly support contracts for aging equipment and systems that could be eliminated by buying new. There just isn’t the volume.
But what you can do is illustrate the number of man hours that can be saved. Or in some situations you can use a calculation like total cost of ownership to demonstrate savings — provided you compare it apples to apples to the existing solution used by the business.
Example: this company, Good Barry, quantifies on their home page the value of their solution:
Save Yourself 1 Day a Week
Some of our customers have reported time savings of 1 day a week when using GoodBarry. That’s because they don’t need to worry about keeping multiple databases and up to five systems in sync. GoodBarry is integrated, centralized and built for business.
Whatever sales arguments you use, I think you have to make it very easy to understand by the business owner.
If you are using lots of industry lingo or expecting the business owner to proactively make the kind of analysis that an IT executive might do, you will probably miss out on a sales opportunity. You will be like two ships passing in the night. The business owner may not grasp what you are talking about or why it’s a good deal to do anything other than remain a DIY-er (do-it-yourselfer). You have to spell it out for them.
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The last paragraph here wraps it up beautifully! I had an experience just this weekend regarding technology myself.
The gentlemen that I was speaking with was using industry lingo and when I’d question him for clarification – he became very patronizing and condecending towards me. He seemed frustrated at my lack of knowledge and honestly, I felt he “looked down” on me because of it as our conversation continued.
I knew what I was talking about – I just didn’t know what HE was talking about. Therefore, we were unable to successfully communicate anything to one another – but we were talking about the SAME things!
ReplyThe question is: What should the IT tool be used for? How much time could I save? How long time will it take to learn and implement the tool? What will happen in the long run?
ReplyI think it’s also important to know the size of small business you are selling to. A small business of 4 individuals has very different needs than a small business of 25. As in any sales process, know your audience. That said, if the business is experiencing growth, one way to sell IT or any other service would be to inquire about scalability. Processes used to say, manage 10 clients don’t scale to 500 very quickly. Any smart business owner will know that his/her company’s processes need to stay ahead of the growth curve – and if your solution enables them to do that, then hey, they might just be convinced to give it a shot.
ReplyProfessionals get wrapped up in their own lingo and forget that if someone is not in the same profession, they aren’t familiar with the jargon. I am turned off by sales people who won’t speak in terms that I can easily understand. I usually just decide to postpone a purchase until I can do research on my own and try to do it myself.
ReplyI definitely agree to that “spell it out to them” attitude.
Especially in IT stuff, there are a lot of terms that we really couldn’t grasp and I experienced that before talking to a programmer. He was trying to impress me with how technical he was but the problem is that I couldn’t grasp what he’s saying. He must be grateful then I was too patient to listen everything he says.
ReplyDefinitely, Amanda! It’s sad to know that some people don’t realize yet how important being understood is in business.
ReplyHow to convince them? Well, show them how many of us learned it on the hard way.
ReplyThank you all for a “direct answer to my question”. I have my own computer business specializing in offsite backups for small to medium business. I have tried my best to keep the jargon simple and direct. I have even used real world examples of how a drafting client of mine lost a drawing he had been working on for 2 weeks & was able to restore it in less than 30 seconds. That would have been a disaster for him as well as his customer.
ReplyNow the big question becomes how do I respectfully gain 10 minutes of your time and provide information for a service I know you need (maybe not this audience) and yet get the cold shoulder immediately? Consider this…how do you protect your customer/client/financial records now.