The Big Business - Small Business Disconnect

There is often a large disconnect between big business and small business. SMB owners do not think they are important enough to the big businesses so they go with someone who they feel they can have a personal relationship with and who will be attentive to their needs. The thinking is "Why would a Fortune 500 company care about me when they have all these huge companies as customers? I am going with someone who will treat me like I am important to them."

How can you show SMBs that you care about them and remove the disconnect?

1) Actually Care
This might sound obvious but there is often a disconnect within an organization about how small business sales and service should be handled. While the CEO or VP Sales might be on board with creating the vision it is up to the front line workers to execute that vision. Make sure your people are taking the time and effort to actually care about their small business customers and offer the outstanding service that you are preaching.

2) Hire People Who Understand Small Business
Small business owners like to deal with other small business owners. Many sales are lost because the entrepreneurs do not feel like the salespeople understand their situation. The salespeople are thinking too much like a "big business". You need people who speak the same language and understand the SMB mindset. Hire people who have either run their own businesses in the past or have been exposed to SMBs prior to joining your company or they will have a steep learning curve and you will lose many potential opportunities. You cannot fake it.

3) Show That You Are A Small Business
Just because you are working at Microsoft or Xerox it does not mean that you are not entrepreneurial. Chances are you have a small team that you are working with, have a budget to operate within, and are trying to make the most with the resources that are available to you. Show your SMB clients that you are running a lean machine, just like they are, and that their business is important to you.

Xerox Update - Small Business Templates

In early February I was invited as a guest to Xerox's Ignite Small Business Conference. One of my key recommendations was to share their best practices with entrepreneurs. Small businesses are always looking up to the big companies to gain insights as to how to run a growing company and put the proper systems and procedures in place.

As a follow up on February 18th I wrote a post on exactly this strategy:

Small companies are always looking to their bigger counterparts to get best practices and learn how to grow their business. How does Xerox get positive press coverage? How does Microsoft hire the best people? How does Bell prepare its business plan?

Well I am pleased to announce that Xerox is listening and I received an email this morning from VP Paul Gleason. Xerox just released a section on their website that discusses how to get press coverage. They included background information and two downloadable word document templates for small business owners to use.

It is a step in the right direction. I have given Paul a few more suggestions and am looking forward to seeing more detailed resources covering an array of SMB best practice topics in the near future.

A Small Business Battle: IBM vs. Microsoft

Last week IBM launched its System i Express, a low-cost, all-in-one IT hardware package for small businesses with five to 40 employees. It will allow entrepreneurs to purchase servers from IBM and run business applications on a per-user basis starting at $7,995 for the initial five users.

Most small businesses have traditionally opted for the inexpensive Microsoft Windows-based servers. IBM is hoping to change this by reducing their i Express costs. They also claim that their servers are less vulnerable to viruses and more reliable.

According to System i general manager, Mark Shearer: "This is probably the boldest move we've made in the small-business space in a decade."

The key to IBM's success, however, will not be in the hardware but in the software applications that will run on it. Few small business owners will call up asking for a System i server but they will want to run the latest manufacturing, financial, or medical applications and their software vendor will advise them on which server to purchase to run the applications.

Windows has a dominant presence and switching costs are high enough that most SMBs will not move over but IBM does present a compelling enough case to be considered as a serious alternative for new purchasing decisions. To that end IBM is hoping to triple the number of new customers in the first year of the new promotion.

Small Business Links for 2007-04-05

• Report: Cablecos Target Small Business Phone Market - The top 20 cable operators are looking to get a piece of the small business phone market, a move that could cost incumbent phone companies more than $4 billion over the next five years, according to a new market research report from Insight Research Corp.
  
  
• JPMorgan Chase Bank is Named Ex-Im Bank's Small Business Lender of the Year - One of the largest banks in the world has earned the distinction of being named the 2007 Small Business Lender of the Year by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank).
  
  
• Outlook positive for small business - Canada's economic and financial outlook bodes well for small-business owners into 2008, but tight labour market conditions will remain a key challenge, a TD Economics report suggests.
  
  
• Cisco goes for small, small business - Cisco is increasing its small business focus with the launch of a new suite of products and certification for resellers going after small business customers.
  
  
• Voda Joins with DSG for Small Business - Vodafone and DSG are joining forces, and Voda will be sell its range of voice and data services for small business customers through 30 DSG stores such as PC World.
  
  
• Cisco vs. Microsoft: Small Business Showdown - During Cisco's annual partner summit in Las Vegas this week, Cisco is announcing an aggressive push into small and midsize businesses. The initiative sets the stage for Cisco to both compete -- and collaborate -- more closely with Microsoft.

Microsoft Is Doing Something Right!

I came back from a week in New York City and began plowing through all the email in my system and found that everyone is talking about Microsoft's upcoming Small Business Summit.

I found updates on the conference in 3 sites that I read on a regular basis to monitor trends: Guy Kawasaki, GANB, and Big Marketing for Small Business.

Microsoft is standing out because they are creating the largest virtual conference ever for small business owners, they have almost 60 presentations people can listen to, and they've attracted big speakers like Guy Kawasaki.

It's also free to register - a price tag that will attract any small business owner.

Microsoft sure is generating the buzz for this event - I'm looking forward to seeing how well it goes! To learn more about the event and register for free, visit the Small Business Summit website.

Gain a SMB Competitive Edge

Small companies are always looking to their bigger counterparts to get best practices and learn how to grow their business. How does Xerox get positive press coverage? How does Microsoft hire the best people? How does Bell prepare its business plan?

The success of the Service Corps Of Retired Executives, a national nonprofit organization comprised of retired professionals who offer free counseling to small business owners, is only one example of how SMBs are looking up to tap the knowledge of bigger companies.

This all leads to a very important question: Why are you not sharing some of your best practices with SMBs?

There are many processes that your organization takes for granted that would be of tremendous value to a small business owner. What questions do you ask in a job interview? How do you motivate your staff? What kind of incentives do you offer? How do you make sure your suppliers and partners are loyal to you?

With all the new small business resource centers and portals popping up across the Fortune 500 websites, none of them are offering information that is of true value to small business owners. The opportunities lies in providing useful tools and resources by tapping into the intellectual property of your staff and by sharing some of your processes that are taken for granted. Remember, small businesses do not have the structered systems in place to help them grow and are often learning through trial and error.

The first big company to do this will go a long way to winning the hearts and minds of small business owners.

Microsoft Improves Small Business Package

Microsoft is building a presence in the small business market. Windows and Office are, of course, standard tools for most entrepreneurs but with offerings like Office Small Business Accounting, Microsoft is targeted SME's and going after entrenched players like Quicken. Microsoft's new Office Live also helps small business owners establish free company websites and email accounts to help them build an online presence. They have also created a Small Business Specialist partnership program to connect with organizations that fill the needs of small businesses.

Microsoft defines small business as being under 50 employees and up to 25 personal computers and their upcoming release of Vista and Office 2007 will be an interesting one to watch. The consumer market is an obvious market for the products but small businesses could drive the growth of both products and Microsoft's future.

I'll be keeping my eyes on Microsoft to see how they target small business owners and penetrate the market. Vista and Office 2007 are scheduled for release next week.

Can SAP Tackle The Small Business Market?

SAP is the 3rd largest software vendor in the world after Microsoft and IBM. With 38,000 large global companies as clients, they are quickly becoming a victim of their own success and are now targeting small businesses to continue their growth.

Yesterday SAP announced that it's going to spend as much as 400 million euros, roughly $520 million, over 2 years to create an organization that can sell to small business clients. With this new move, SAP is expecting their profit margin to drop by 3-4% this year and they will come up against a number of obstacles selling to small businesses including:

• There are more SMB's to target and their needs tend to be more varied
• SMB's require bigger sales and support teams
• SMB's typically also take longer to make buying decisions
• SMB's require more intensive sales advice than larger enterprises

It will be interesting to see what strategies SAP uses to tap the small business market and how successful they are after spending half of a billion dollars.