Hello,

I've recently been looking into approaching small businesses but I'm really stuck for what to say and how to start.

There are a few small businesses around my area, yet not all that many so I know I can't screw up.

I was wondering if anyone could explain their personal experiences, what they said and what the potential client said back? How you persuaded them and what did you show them? (I have a full 16 page business plan, believe certain parts are suitable).

Also, what kind of businesses did you target? I.T realated? Community related? and so on.

All replies will be appreciated along with any tips of pieces of advice.
J

If they already have a website and are hosting it somewhere else offer to match the price. If they're paying the same price most if not all would rather give their money to a local business. If they don't already have a site you should probably find a local web designer and work out some kind of comission deal where he pays you a set amount for getting jobs and then you host the site, or you could just offer web design yourself and contract it out, but that's not a very good option unless you have some dependable people.

Practically all my customers are businesses. However, I’ve picked them up thru referrals or while working with web designers. So I’ve never had to go knock at a local business’ door offering hosting (I assume that is what you are offering).

That said I feel that if all you are offering is web hosting you are going to have a hard time. If you put yourself in your prospect's shoes you will probably realize that they don’t necessarily know what hosting is, and if they do they don’t want to think about it. They know what a website is. They know what a mailing list is. They know what an online sale is. And those are the things they think about. If you are able to talk to them about a website, building their mailing list with online prospects or generating online sales they will listen. Hosting will just be a service you bundle with the solution.

If you are unable to bundle hosting with anything else it is not the end of the world. It just means you will have to work a bit harder to find a sale as your target will not be Small Businesses in general, but Small Businesses that know what hosting is and are not afraid to host with someone other than their trusted web designer. They will likely already have a web site and therefore already be hosting with someone else, so you will have to build brand recognition and trust – and that costs money.

Hello,
(I have a full 16 page business plan, believe certain parts are suitable)
I take that to mean that you got your hands on someone else’s business plan, and are using it as the basis for your own. Otherwise you would have already pin pointed who your target customer is and how to reach them. Especially if it is 16 pages long.

Small business isn't a niche, it describes (my guess) around 90% of the businesses in the country. That being said, while it isn't a niche, it certainly is a large market to go after.

Search the forums for local advertising techniques, there are many good threads with a lot of idea.s

I would also let them know about email hosting and not just web hosting. Some businesses might want only to have an email@thericompany.com

I havent done this but when I start I would first try to find out what benefits a certain businesss would get from having a website (if they alredy dont have one). Would it increase their sales? Maybe catch them with explaining how cheap web hosting is compared to other advertising methods. Explain to them how having an email address on theri business cards might draw in more inquiries from people who cant contact them during regural business hours. Etc...

"Small business isn't a niche, it describes (my guess) around 90% of the businesses in the country. That being said, while it isn't a niche, it certainly is a large market to go after."

Small businesses might be a large niche but they certainly are still a niche market. Especially if in your area, like you stated, there aren't an abundant supply of small businesses.

Afterall, the whole point of targeting a niche market is to pick a targeted audience to give a relatively similar message to. Small businesses have their own needs. Like I said before, if in your area, the amount of small businesses is few that right there could be your demographic.

Oh...

If the small businessses you are looking to go after do NOT have a website already than 9 out of the 10 situations they will either think you are selling them a website package or totally not understand for another reason. It would be a good idea to offer them a website as well. This is in part to the fact that if they already have a website they will tell you to go talk to the person who designed it.

--

Like Jory suggested, definitely consider setting up a link with a local web design company that doesnt offer hosting so you can offer businesses their web design and your webspace.

The web design company gets free advertising and more customers and you get to give a bigger target market what they want: a website AND somewhere to host it.

Win-win situation really - if you get the right web design company

Just my 2p
Mike

I do offer webdesign and I have made my own business plan yet the businesses in my area are varied. I cannot name two that are related with the exception of a printing shop and a computer hardware shop. That is as close as comparison gets.

Would like to thank you all for the replies.

I have already had some interest from a local school, which infact was something I was quite suprised about.

Thank you again.

I think its better to target a specific community of interests, if you've thought to make your service specialized.

yeah, Small Businesses is a fairly large market :D

I guess if you show them a demo of how your product will improve or ease their business then you have a valid selling point. For instance if there is a small restaurant, You could show them how to automate their billing or how to allow online ordering or how to customize menus etc.. There is nothing like seeing a demo on a laptop and how it can be advantageous to their business.

Definetily agree with the above. If you have enough time to eat making up that mock-up this is a great idea.

Especially on older customers or ones who simply don't quite understand or comprehend what you are offering.

I am posting the following from another thread that I was active in. I appologize if it doesn't quite fit wording wise.


The true way to get their attention is to show that you want their business and tell them what you can do for their business. I started out doing this with different local race teams, but I have done it with many other businesses and let me tell you it truly does work.

Call up one of your friends and have them take a car ride with you just all around town. Make sure to buy them dinner or something else to make it worth it. On your ride all around your local area right down the name and address of every business that you can (unless it is a major business, such as K-Mart, you're looking for the little businesses here obviously).

Once you get done, take your buddy out for something to eat, then head on home with your list in hand. Get on google and start going down the list of people and make 3 different categories.

1. People who have a website that is already killer
2. People who have a website that is so-so or really a piece of junk.
3. People who do not have a website.

Now take the people in the first pile, and go ahead and toss them in the trash because odds are they will not want to switch to you and it would really be a waste of your time to try IMHO.

Take the people in stack number 2 and start at the top doing your research about every company on there. Not just name, address, and what they do, but lots more than that. Look into how long that have been around, can they use E-commerce, would a web presence help them, what is wrong with their current site, how can you make it better (partner with a design firm if you must). Etc...

I kept every race team (business) in their own little personal file to make things easier, do it however you want.

Now stack 3 is a bit harder, but much better for your business. Do the same thing the very best that you can. Find out any and all information about each business and put it in a file.

Now comes the really fun part, take those two stacks and start to make presentations. My girlfriend's mother used to be a teacher and happened to have a nice binder (puts the plastic binding on sheets of paper) as well as 3000+ bindings, so she did not mind if I used a few.

I made a nice 6 page packet for each and every company on my list. It went a bit like this:

Cover: Nice simple cover, something along the lines of:

What <company name> can do for <their company name>

with a shot of your logo or whatever you like.

Page 1 started off with a description of what they currently had (or didn't have) in the way of a website.

Page 2 had a description of my business in general (some background information and whatnot)

Page 3 had a very nice set of text explaining how my services could greatly increase their revenue, brand awareness, etc....

Page 4 spoke of a nice past experience with a previous client and what it had done for their business.

Pages 5 and 6 had a nice layout of different website designs, prices, etc.. and some contact information.

The rear cover had contact information and the logo.

Now you take each one of those packets to each business (do not mail them, walk in and talk to somebody). One of two things happened (and these are the only things that can happen) either they will actually sit and talk to you for a bit, or they will just take the packet and tell you to have a good day. In any event flyers go in the trash, nice packets with a company's name right on the front hand delivered by a sharply dressed person do not end up right in the trash, they at least get read, and you will get calls back.

I'll third the suggestions for demonstrations. Another thing is that you should gather some knowledge on how having a web site (one made by you, that is) would impact their business in a positive way. Don't just show them a demonstration or a mockup, tell them what it can do for them. Position yourself as a knowledgable consultant and fellow small business owner. Also, give them something that they can put on their desk. Some kind of pamphlet or brochure would be best. It should be well designed, well-written, and well illustrated - it should contain the entirety of your sales pitch as well as case studies on how your services have helped other clients. As a side note, you can't just do this with web hosting. Even to more experienced hosting consumers one companies bytes and bandwidth is apparently just the same as the other companies, so what you have to do is highlight design above all other things. However, don't limit your potential hosting customers only to design. If you offer commodity hosting and design, people will come just for hosting and eventually find themselves wanting a design.

Edit: I think that I was actually beaten on making my point.

A good approach above.

Also you don't want to sell a small business without a website hosting.
You want to sell them an internet presence that while affordable can allow them to be open 24/7 to all their potential clients. You want to first sell them the website at a set cost and then add the monthly hosting. Exploiting that opportunity even more you could mark up the hosting to include site maintenance. For people who already have a website you have to sell them on more features maybe even helping them with their presence. You will need to do research on the company, what they do, how long they've been around, etc. Small businesses respect that. Someone actually doing their homework. You need judge whether a presentation might scare your client ??, "This looks expensive" and doesn't want to here anything else. Show them how your service can affect their bottomline.

I'm always thinking of new ways to approach clients, new ways to sell services. In the smb space the range of personalities and technical competencies cover a large spectrum, so you need to be prepared for different types of conversation.