Do you spend most of your time selling to small businesses? Do you want to fine-tune your sales strategy to focus more on small business customers? You’re in the right place.
Before we delve into how you can sell to small businesses, it’s worth taking some time to define small business sales, and talk about why it’s important.
Small businesses usually have 500 employees or less, often far less; some may be start-ups, and others might be small firms that have been around for quite some time now.
Many sales people choose to ignore small businesses, and set their sights on closing larger customers, such as enterprise companies.
Intuitively speaking, you can see how this might work out well for you. Enterprise firms tend to have bigger budgets and more purchasing power. And at the end of the day, that’s all it boils down to, isn’t it?
Well, not quite. There are plenty of disadvantages of selling to enterprise firms, and advantages of selling to small businesses. For instance:
Small businesses have less red tape, which results in shorter sales cycles.
It’s easier to get in touch with key decision makers when you target smaller companies.
Also, keep in mind that small businesses don’t always remain small. If you’ve captured this company as a customer early on, and you successfully retain them, this means you’ll reap the rewards for years to come.
Here are four aales techniques for selling to small business customers:
1. Make sure you qualify properly
Lead qualification is important regardless of which customer segments you’re targeting, but it’s especially important when you’re reaching out to SMBs.
You’ll want to qualify your leads, to make sure you don’t waste your time on chasing down leads who aren’t a good fit.
2. Understand your customer’s mindset
If this is your first time selling to SMB customers, take some time to get to know your customers, and understand their mindset.
Once you have a thorough understanding of their underlying needs, wants and challenges, this makes it that much easier for you to build rapport with your customer, and eventually close the sale.
3. Don’t throw too much jargon at your customer
SMB businesses don’t have as many tools, resources, and expertise as larger companies. When you’re pitching to these businesses, make sure you speak simply and with clarity, and don’t confuse your customer with too much jargon.
4. Set your customers’ minds at ease
Generally speaking, SMBs are more risk averse because many are bootstrapped, and must make every penny count.
Bearing this in mind, do all you can to set your customers’ minds at ease, and reduce the friction associated with them becoming a paying customer.
Here are some things that you could do:
• Offer a free trial
• Offer a money-back guarantee
• Offer monthly payments instead of yearly contracts
• Feature plenty of testimonials and case studies on your website for social proof
Could your sales strategies be improved? Maybe we can help.
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