We Are Committed to the SMB Market … And Other Best Laid Plans

Most large tech companies that have decided to target the SMB market space will tell you how committed they are to small businesses.  But the reality can seem much different.

In truth, what you find is that some executives and even some entire departments within large tech vendors  are indeed committed.  It’s just that it takes more than corporate edict to be able to effectively meet the needs of small business customers. 

Serving the SMB market, especially with technology products, is like a complex dance.  You need to understand the dynamics from the point of view of the customer and the channels they (and you) use.  What’s more, all your departments, all your people, all your processes and systems, all your communications — everything needs to be in sync and moving toward the same end goal.  That’s often where the best laid plans go awry, when something is not quite in sync. 

Here is one IT consultant’s view of a company, HP, whose approach is not in sync.  Anne Stanton, the President of the IT consulting company writes on her blog, President’s Update:

… we have been having one crazy time getting authorized to sell HP Servers. You see you do not have to be certified, technical, an expert or anything else to sell HP Servers. You simply have to promise to sell a certain dollar amount per year.  Now that would be all well and good, and fit into the old model of reselling, BUT the base quota is ridiculous for a new company in a small area.

And as such the client suffers. They can buy from Staples, Bestbuy, the College,.. (Hello, Can you see a customer spec’ing out a server with Raid 5, enough RAM, a hardware controller, the right set of NICS etc. at Staples?) or even direct, but not from their trusted IT Partner.

Talk about a Loose, loose, loose.  The reseller looses because they can’t sell choice of server, the customer looses because their IT Department can’t offer them choice and the vendor looses, because they loose more and more sales to the competition.

Obviously HP has something out of sync:  its reseller policy does not grasp the realities of what it is like to be in the end user’s shoes or the end user’s trusted partner shoes.    

I’ve long said it is harder as a large corporation to get it right when selling to small businesses, than it is to be a smaller vendor.  In a large corporation, while you may have vast economic resources at your beck and call, getting everything to move in one direction is like moving the Titanic.  It doesn’t turn on a dime.  You may see that iceberg coming, but it still is going to take a lot of time to turn, regardless.

Anyway, read Anne’s blog post for her insights.  Blog posts like hers are the equivalent of getting input from a focus group –  it’s invaluable input and should be required reading.