A Little Bit at a Time

Guest Contributor: Mark Nissley
Mark's Posts - Mark's Site


In the previous three posts, we recognized that small business owners are akin to rock stars. We then began talking about the pitch, and the key points of grabbing the attention and financial interest of our rock star small business owner. The first is to make their life simple. Don't promise to make their business better- you'll get the cold stare. Promise to make their life better.

The second point is equally as simple and direct. Don't promise them the moon. Don't promise them a fortune. Don't promise them instant fame. A rock star, unless they are an American Idol, played 642 dirty bars before meeting you. They bloody well know that it takes work to get where they want to go. The promise of instant fame is for the young and naïve. However, a few nights opening for Cold Play, they might be able to do something with that. They can see where that might go.

And so it is with our small business owner. They've been around the block a half dozen times. They've sold their soul a few times. They are battle hardened. Don't promise them you'll make them an Inc. 500 winner. Don't promise them you double their ROI. If you tell them that you can do either more than a little bit, they won't believe you. You'll get the stone cold stare. Talk about hours per month, or hundreds of dollars per week, or handfuls of customers. I don't care what you can do, or how wonderful your product is.

You see it is very important to under-promise and over-deliver to a small business owner. If you do over-deliver, you will have their full and undivided attention. If you under promise, you will have their respect. And if you take it step by step, you will gain a long term customer that will be your strongest advocate an d referral source.

This may be tough with your aggressive sales quota. You may be able to find some young and naïve small businesses. And they'll never refer anyone because they will probably go out of business. And chances are, you'll get branded as a scam in the small business network. Hopefully you have a strong enough customer base that you can convert your strategy to a slower long- term penetration. If not, are you in the right seat on the right bus? It's just that short and simple.