Discussion on:

10 ways tech can boost sales for SMBs

Thank you Justin,

Your tips are a perfect partner for my marketing tool kit! I am sure to be referring people to this article. It is hard to believe that in 2012 people still need lessons in what I consider basic sales sense, (Internet) knowledge and etiquette.

Cheers,
Paul

Great article, we're sure to pass on the information to our clients. We focus on delivering Efficient and Cost Effective IT Support for small businesses with 5 to 50+ people, however, one thing we're starting to move into is how mobile devices can benefit SMBs.

Demand from workers to use the same technology at work and at home is driving the take-up of schemes in business to make this possible. Bring your own device (BYOD) programmes formalise the use of smartphones and tablets at work and enable businesses to reap the benefits while retaining control.

One of the benefits of schemes to enable staff to use their own devices reduced costs.

Read more - http://www.net-essence.co.uk/IT-Support/mobile-devices-in-company-policy.html

Your suggestions are great and as the owner of a small business making websites for other SMB's I appreciate your comments about the DIY attitudes of most small businesses. One thing you should correct is the unnecessary use of jargon such as SMB's especially in your headline. Plain language is always easier to read and sells better.
/Peter

I like the points you make referring to keeping the customer up-to-date with notifications. Not communicating with a customer can end up leaving them in the dark, and possibly losing their trust. Combining points 4 and 5 seems like a logical action - with the CRM solution alerting you when a notification is due.
Staying in touch shows the customer that you are a human company, and that you care about their business - not to mention giving you the opportunity to cross-sell (IF appropriate!)

i know that it may seem so basic, but many SMB fall int to, from a password for the wifi with the fragile WEP protocol, to not use a router that can have security functions set. But most of all it is amazing that in this kind of enviroment you can find people playing angry birds for a whole hour! So that can be other issue how to evaluate the performance of users trough a monitor program for web traffic or general use of a terminal. It is very basic but i bet you have that scenario many times.

From a customer's perspective, I could not agree more with number 10. Nothing turns me away quicker from buying something from a website than having a gmail or yahoo contact address!!

Disclosure: I happen to be one. that said ...

Long ago, when the Internet was young, there were a few usability experts and they were quite expensive. It was the Internet Bubble time, when billions of dollars were burned.
This is no more so. Now we are many and don??t charge as much as others did during the good ol' Internet bubble times.
Some free advice: Usually SMBs (and not so "S" Bs) publish their mindset through their web site, aligned with their goals.
This is not that good, because in order to be a better marketing tool, the web site should be aligned with the costomer's goales, not the company's.
A simple and common example is a company that publishes a conglomerate of sub-sites, each one exposing their own products. This can be seen in IBM ans Microsoft sites.
The issue with this is that the customer needs first to learn the company's "map" and only after doing so will be able to sketch a path.
If the site was customer-oriented, it would start by making evident that customer's path. This would make the user feel as if the company understood their needs and would build confidence.