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Posts tagged sales tracking
Connecting with Small Business Decision-Makers through Social Media
Jan 18th
We all know that business owners and other decision-makers are busy. But all this time, we thought they were busy tending to the needs of a growing company with limited resources.
Boy, how wrong we were.
Instead, as research at Forrester indicates, business buyers are spending all their time playing around with social media.
All right, so that’s not entirely true, but here’s what the study did show: 91% of the B2B buyers surveyed used social media. That is, almost everyone is involved to some extent with social networks. Primarily, people are doing what everyone else does online: Spectating. This means that while you might think business buyers are nowhere to be found online, due to their lack of commenting and content creation, the opposite is true. They make up a silent crowd that you can count on to consume your social media content.
Even more interesting was the fact that about 70% of those surveyed used social media for business purposes!
Since the survey didn’t target small business decision-makers specifically, we can’t go crazy drawing inferences. What the survey does indicate, however, is that business decision-makers of all kinds might be keeping a closer eye on social media content than you might think, given that they may not be particularly vocal.
Don’t let the silence fool you – they’re out there.
Speak, and they will hear you.
What Small Business Owners Worry About
Dec 21st
Recently, we came across an interesting poll conducted by The Enterprise Council on Small Business. They asked small business owners, “What is the single most important problem facing your business today?”
The responses were very enlightening, and are useful for understanding your customers if you sell to small businesses. Here’s the breakdown of the responses:
Poor sales 20%
Government regulations 16%
Cash flow 14%
Taxes 10%
Quality of labor 7%
Cost of labor 4%
Cost and avail. of insurance 4%
Finance and interest rates 4%
Inflation 3%
The top response shouldn’t be too surprising. In fact, it’s what defines small businesses. Small businesses typically don’t have a large volume of sales or revenue, and while some have steady business, many worry constantly about a lack of business and sales growth.
This list also shows that uncertainty about or disagreement with government regulation, perhaps led by the new federal health care laws, is top of mind for small business owners. Many small business owners are forced to choose “practical solutions” to regulatory demands, especially when the cost of compliance is high or it isn’t clear how to comply. Accordingly, the risk of being investigated or audited, without the protective shield of a large legal department, may also come into play for small business owners.
The remaining concerns are almost exclusively financial. Money concerns, therefore, are clearly a critical theme to consider when trying to understand the mindset of small business owners.
So, how should you adjust your sales approach in light of this information? Check out our companion post on What to Focus on When Selling to Small Business Owners.
