For sure big fish can get you more meat but there also less number of those in that deep blue sea. Pound for pound, the fisherman still prefers to cast the net with small holes – getting easy food in copious amount.
Unfortunately the fisherman logic is somewhat lost to a vast majority of the enterprise companies in the world. India is home of a vast and complex array of small business. If you could catch them – the results will be equally copious. Let’s look closely at the small business owners:
Bigger businesses have more power. You may be able to get more revenue from them but making real bottom line – the profits will not be easy. Look at the example of telecom operator dealings with Mobile VAS companies. For every rupee received from the customers, mobile operators were able to keep 80 paisa while giving only 20 paisa to the original creators of the product.
Small businesses are actually big business before they actually became big. You catch them young if you can get them. And they will be loyal to you as they grow because you are so deeply ingrained with them.
With small business you have access to unpaid product managers. Think about the amount and quality of the feedback directly from CEO and founders of the small business you get. Those feedbacks are incredibly useful and can form the basis of amazing leaps in the value of your product. The best of all – it is all free.
Now that you happy and all gung-ho on reaching to cast the net, let me also talk about a bit about the stumbling blocks. Like everything in life, the benefits do not come easy. You have be careful about multiple when you are trying to sell to small business:
Selling to small business is the deal between you and the director of the company. It requires face to face meetings and real conversations. The trust does not come easy. This means, you have to spend your own personal time with the sales.
Small businesses today are on social media. Social media is very inexpensive way to reach to your target markets. You got to learn how to use it for your advantage. If you are a new age entrepreneur you probably already have mastered the art. If not, find your “Always-on-Twitter-and-Facebook buddy” and get some tips. Be very nimble because your customers are nimble now. For big companies, the sales cycle is typically in months. For small business, the sales cycle is in weeks. You have to match their speed with your own to close the deal.
If you are careful with these, I am sure you will have large diversified and loyal customer base – the best quality customer base any company can desire.
