SMB Sales Techniques for Maximizing Revenue

You already know that SMBs are different from their bigger business cousins in so many ways. But are you taking those differences into account when coming up with your sales strategy? Tapping the massive potential of these businesses demands more than a good product and a snappy sales pitch. You’ll need to really think like an SMB–and to help you get over the learning curve, we’ve highlighted five useful techniques for selling to this market.

What does “SMB sales” mean?

Different countries qualify SMBs differently (yes, we’re talking about small and medium-sized businesses). In the United States, a small business employs fewer than 100 people, while a medium-sized business has between 100 and 999 workers. You could also define a small business as one earning less than $50 million a year, and a medium-sized business as generating between $50 million and $1 billion in sales a year.

In turn, “SMB sales” means the activities dedicated to selling to this market. Once you understand how SMBs compare to large companies, it makes sense why they require a distinct approach when it comes to sales strategies.

Benefits of SMB sales

The greatest advantage of finding your way in the SMB market is its size. In the United States alone, there are more than 33 million SMBs (!) – that’s 99.9% of all US businesses.

While these figures are exciting, they also represent a huge challenge. If you don’t apply the right sales strategy, you can easily get lost in a sea of potential SMB customers–and waste precious time approaching companies that might be a total miss for your pitch. That’s why it’s worth toning your technique, so you can tap into the opportunities that await:

• Small businesses usually have fewer stakeholders. In fact, chances are that you’ll be selling straight to the CEO. This means less effort (and time) spent adapting your value proposition to a number of different user types.
• The compact purchasing processes of SMBs lead to shorter sales cycles and rapid decisions. Your prospects will move through the sales pipeline quickly so that you can get to newer opportunities faster.
• Larger companies sometimes want customized product features, which can spell trouble for vendors who don’t have the resources for these requirements. SMBs are less demanding. As an example, for a SaaS sales process that uses a product-led growth strategy, they tend to be great customers.
• Some SMBs make it to the big leagues. As a trusted vendor, you can ride their success as they expand and need more of your services.
• With so many SMBs out there, a salesperson will have many chances to learn what works and get more efficient as time goes on. In comparison, with large companies, word might travel fast that your pitch isn’t up to par, and that can hurt future chances at landing opportunities.

What is the difference between “SMB” and “SME”?

“SME” stands for “small and medium-sized enterprises”. Certain countries and entities, such as the European Union, World Trade Organization, and World Bank, use SME instead of SMB, just to make life interesting. They also tend to have different definitions for what qualifies as an SME/SMB according to number of employees, annual revenue, and so on.

5 tips and techniques for selling to SMB customers

As we’ve said, SMBs aren’t like big companies, so you can’t just swap your methods when approaching this market. Every market sector has its own special features, and it might take time to get familiar with them. A lot of the SMB learning curve has to do with understanding how these companies work and adjusting your own mindset. To get you started, here are 5 useful tips and tricks for selling to SMBs:

1. Think survival mode

75% of small businesses don’t make it to the 15th year. This could be true for some of them because they got rich and retired, while others preferred to remain small and simple. But for many, it’s probably because they couldn’t stay afloat.

Selling to these kinds of companies means that their main customer pain point is survival. They might not be as interested in growth as they are with keeping their heads above water. As a salesperson, you should think more about steady revenue from SMBs than about landing a big account.

2. Provide practical terms

One of the ways to make buying your product more acceptable is to go easy during the sign-up phase. Small companies are often worried about cash flow, especially if they run a seasonal business, so having considerate contract terms can lead to a good long-term relationship.

For example, if you are selling a B2B SaaS product, providing a healthy discount for a year-long subscription (paid on a monthly basis) might make a difference. Other moves that can build trust include money-back guarantees, testimonials from other SMBs, and follow-up calls.

3. Be loyal to create loyalty

Many SMB owners rely on their own funds (or collateralized loans) to support their business. The money they are spending on your product comes out of their pockets and shows that they trust you. To respond in kind, you should check in with new clients often to check that everything is going smoothly with their purchase. This also gives you the opportunity for upselling and discussing product extensions, and it can lead to valuable word-of-mouth promotion by the SMB customer to their SMB friends.

4. Redo your research

Looking for intent data as part of prospect research is different in the SMB world. Whereas managers at large companies are on LinkedIn and probably have a bio page on the website, SMBs don’t focus on that type of publicity. Instead, you’ll need to combine an ideal customer profile with Google searches and third-party data to build up a list of prospects, and then boil them down with lead scoring. 

5. Keep it simple

Large companies sometimes have entire teams that are part of buying equipment and technologies that the organization needs to stay competitive. These purchasing agents are experts, or at least have studied the products that are out there. In comparison, an SMB manager might not even have what you are selling on their radar, so it’s your job to educate them, starting at square one. Explaining what your product does and why the prospect needs it should be kept in basic terms of cost/benefit.

Key takeaways

• SMB sales are the activities related to selling products and services to small and medium businesses.
• The SMB market is huge and comes with the advantages of short sales cycles, simpler purchasing processes, less customization, many chances to learn about the market, and a possibility of a client becoming a large company.
• To maximize sales, you should consider the survival mentality of many SMBs, provide generous terms, focus on loyalty, do specific research, and use simple pitches.