Editorial - Industry viewpoint - Big players need to think small

Nick Morse, newly appointed sales and marketing director at Equiinet, reckons selling to SMEs needs a fundamental shift in attitude.

One can only assume it was commercial pressure to get a return in the form of column inches, not sound marketing or PR nous, when Cisco revealed the findings of some costly research it recently commissioned from NOP.

The company slammed small businesses for resisting the internet revolution and other techy products - strangely enough, just the type of products Cisco itself produces.

It's just this type of arrogance - perhaps ignorance - which makes my blood boil, as all and sundry espouse the huge opportunities that exist in the SME sector.

Research findings from analysts such as Forrester and Spikes Cavell claim Vars hold the best potential of tapping the huge pent-up demand of the SME sector. This may be the case, but they ain't there yet.

So let's go back to the ordinary man or woman in the street. Would their mother, father or sibling have heard of Cisco, 3Com, Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Newbridge, Nortel and so forth? My guess is no. This is the first issue.

The small business operator needs to be informed of the value of these big brand names and that means huge marketing expense. In Stockholm recently, nearly every bus shelter carried a 3Com poster. This makes good sense, especially in Scandinavia where early adoption of technology is common.

Fair play to Cisco for its recent attempt to get mass exposure by sponsoring the annual World Match Play Golf Tournament at Wentworth. However, in my local pub, nobody actually knew who Cisco was.

Marketing pundits will tell you that sponsorship should support and reinforce a well-known brand. Are these firms consumed by the value of their stock price, willing to set aside millions of dollars to invest in the type of marketing needed to reach the SME?

So why are they getting it wrong? Basically, they are all trying to sell products and technology, not packages or business machines. SMEs buy compelling business benefit, sold as solutions to very obvious problems or to take advantage of a huge opportunity.

So for resellers, I would suggest a new model which introduces an 'X' factor to selling yet-to-be adopted IT to the SME. Forget vendor-distributor-VAR/installer. Grasp this new model: vendor-distributor-VAR-finance house and service provider.

Oh, and don't forget - you get to be the foster parent, looking after the solution provided. Sell a network, server or internet service complete with finance package, ISDN service or pre-arranged ISP services, include on the order form the monthly or quarterly finance payment, and in some cases, be prepared to be that service provider, complete with billing system and customer service.

The reseller prepared to embrace this model - and it isn't that difficult a concept to grasp - will soon see the rewards. The caveat, of course, is that vendors are prepared to really commit to this market with huge investment and a different set of compelling business benefit-led propositions.

I end with news that the Federation of Small Businesses has just joined with Microsoft, 3Com and a few others and is offering free internet access to the 120,000 or so FSB membership.

When I called to get details I was told, quite politely, to write a letter explaining my query to the chairman of the IT committee. Get my point?

It's a whole new (or old) ball game.