Ok, since this is a forum full of small business owners, I have a question about selling to small businesses. Hopefully I can put this post together without breaking the rules on self promotion.

My company’s original customer base has been exclusively fortune 500 companies since our inception. We recently decided to take the experience we gained implementing systems and optimizing processes at large companies and focus more on the small to medium sized market (1-250 employees). We have partnered with NetSuite; which I think is the ideal CRM/ERP solution for a small business.

My problem is marketing and selling to small business owners. It is completely different than working with large companies, so I am hoping to get opinions on approaches that you recommend and/or don't recommend. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Looks like you need to build a plan first.

Building a plan takes thought, focus, and time. Here's a couple of starter questions:

1) What results do you want? Do you want people to buy, think of you first, be the leader in your category? You need to be specific.

2) Who are you trying to reach, who are your customers? If you could describe them so the police could put an APB on them, what would they look like, what would their occupation be, etc.

3) What is the most important message you'd like to tell them....in 10 words or less. Can you communicate what you have to offer in very simple terms.

I also have some more marketing tips at my site, if you'd like to see/hear more.

Good luck!

When I used to sell advertising to the banks, I made sure I wore a coat and tie. When I would sell advertising to the farm implement dealer, I made sure the coat and tie were in the car.

Your site implies Fortune 500 just from the terms and the language used. In other words, lots of corporate jargon. Most small business owners don't talk like that.

In my opinion, it would serve you well if you had something that explains what you can do for the small business owner in terms they use and language that's simple and easy to understand.

In addition to Bill's statements, your Home page sould be representative of your marketing. The problem/solution approach can be very effective. What is my problem and how can you solve it? Your current Home page does not clearly tell what you do or what benefit you offer.

The small business community runs lean. Most participants have multiple roles and no time to waste. How can technology make things easier without costing more? Don't assume the small business owner understands all the acronyms, spell it out, make it simple, and get right to the point so they can get on with their day.

While large companies are more in the know, especially about technology, smaller business owners usually need to be educated on how it applies to them.

Thanks for all the feedback.

We do provide a demo. In fact we provide a 14 day trial account and customize the account to better fit their business model. That has ended up being a pretty big up front cost to us, as it is all throwaway if we do not close the deal. Since the deal sizes are relatively small, it can be an issue, but I strongly feel it is the best approach.

As for our website, I completely agree that we need to redo the content. One of our big initiatives is to update the content and optimize it for search engines. Currently, we are not appearing anywhere close to the top of google rankings for our selected keywords so we definitely have some work to do. I also think I need to work on updating my language skills as "consultant speak" definitely does not fly with the companies we are working with now. I really appreciate all the comments; it validates what I had been thinking.

thanks

I have no idea what your product DOES..

CRM...cutomer relationship management ....how bout ....staying in touch with your customers ...

ert ? have no idea ...

how you gonna help me from advertising to marketing to product to fulfillment ? thought that was what my employees do ...

I am not being critical....just down to earth ...and small business owners, like me, will NOT sign up for a free trial of a product that confuses them...

keep it simple, sam

make a problem...solve it for me

tell me what the benefits are to me

then maybe I will buy

I cashed out of a very successful services firm that sold to very large companies and transistioned into a practice who's client base is small businesses.

I actually found the sales cycle to be very similar, if you would like to discuss my experience, please feel free to contact me directly so we may have a more detailed discussion than this medium allows.