First blog post, so I realize that I am most likely posting this to myself. So for my own benefit and that of anyone that comes along at a later date and decides to review old posts, here I go.
Technology sales into the Small and Medium sized Businesses (SMB's) is one of if not THE fastest growing area of tech sales. What I find interesting about SMB sales is that they are in general much more local than Enterprise sales, especially in the area of Managed Services. The reason this is so interesting to me is that in my experience, people want to buy from people they like (nothing new here) but what most SMB's like in a person is someone that 'gets' them. Someone they feel like is either where they are, or has been where they are now.
Think of it like this, when I was in the mortgage industry I had plenty of small business owners as my customers. When I went to see the Lawyer that runs a little 3 attorney firm, I would "suit up" (thank you Barney Stinson) and the attorney and I got a long well...he acted and felt like we were equals. Shortly after that I had an appointment with a man that ran a landscaping business. Wore same suit. Everything about that meeting was uncomfortable. He was uptight, he was almost embarrassed to be around me. A week later he had to come to my office and bring me some documents and there I was in my Wrangler Jeans, and dirty cowboy boots. Instantly we were friends. His entire demeanor was different. No signs of being embarrassed that he was not cleaned up from his day of work etc. He saw me as an equal, and was much more comfortable.
OK, now to tie that back into technology sales. When I look around the internet at Managed Service Provider web sites...I see a lot of the same things. I see companies that I KNOW are 2 or 3 people shops, with a website that looks like they are a division of IBM. One in particular had pictures of big shiny buildings, fancy conference rooms and guys that look like GQ models with suits and gold watches...and that is for a company I know to be two guys from India in a office in a strip center behind a Popeye's Chicken. What I am saying is...do we need all of that? Sometimes we are so busy trying to pull off this "I'm a big boy" image that we forget that our customer wants to know how we can help them solve their problems...and if they think that we share those same problems because we are, or we used to be, a small business owner ourselves it, gives us a credibility and an insight they will appreciate and respond to.
I am not bagging on websites etc...I am just saying that its OK to show that you are selling for a company that understands their needs, because a lot of the issues they face are the same issues you face. With SMB sales be who you are, leave the posturing behind and the sales will be there.
