Are you listening to your SMB clients and prospects?

Recently I’ve had a number of clients bring up the selling process to SMB prospects and clients for one reason or another. I thought this would be a good time to dole out some assistance in this venue.

There really is no such thing as a born sales person, especially in the technology solutions industry selling to the SMB space. And even more so in this day and age.

I don’t care how much of a slick talker someone thinks they are, they aren’t going to just convince anyone to buy a technology oriented service or make an equipment upgrade.

You are better off not being that “born sales person” and being more of a business person.

Although the selling process is much more difficult if you don’t have a good marketing/lead generation system, for our purposes here, I’ll assume you are generating qualified leads. This is important as it means the people entering the sales funnel don’t need to be “convinced” of the need for your services, but need to find a partner to do the job at hand.

So assuming the marketing has already taken care of the general typical client fit (correct niche, demographics, etc), need and want then the selling process must assure the fit of working together and then close the deal.

Here are a couple of pointers to not talk yourself out of a deal with your very cautious SMB prospects:

Listen more than talk. Not getting the whole story is a common mistake in solution selling and very typical in the technology solution world. When you don’t have the whole picture, you tend to open your mouth too soon and start throwing out solutions to prove your smarts. Not a good idea.

Ask for the end result from a business standpoint. If you don’t know what the prospect is actually trying to accomplish for their business, you can’t know if you are the right business partner to help them out let alone make any suggestions.

Explain your possible solutions. Once you know what the business problem is and what kind of results they need to see, you can point out what your business can do for them specifically related to their problem/needed results.

Explain your process. This is where more systems come into play. Inside of this explanation you would want to specifically tell them how each problem gets solved and how the end results will be obtained and measured. The SMB prospect is a shrewd buyer. Without explaining to them exactly how you deliver the recommended solutions and what they can expect for their investment, all you will get is a “I’ll think about it”, which is not what you want to hear.

Answer any remaining questions. Sometimes known as the “objections” portion of the process, this is where you fend off misconceptions and make sure they understand the value of your services in solving their problems.

Ask for the sale. This is a major weak point for most people, but is of a particular problem in the SMB solution industry. You don’t ask, you can’t get. By now you should have proved your companies worthiness and ability to get the job done as the prospect explained. Present the package/solution that fits what they explained to you and do it for the full value of the service while asking them when they want to get started.. If they indicate they can’t afford it, then you can worry about negotiating, but only if you can take some value away for every chunk of fee you remove. That’s an entirely different conversation though.

These are just some basics in the selling process when providing solutions to your SMB prospects. Think about recent service purchase you have made for your business or personally. Who did you end up buying from and why? The odds are it had nothing to do with price. And if you did go with the low ball, how did everything turn out?


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant’s Coach

A New Way to Learn and Earn Specifically for IT Service Business Owners

Over the past few months I've been working on a new way for me to help IT consulting and service business owners maximize profitability while building business value. And now it's finally ready.

Below is a press release about the new program that has been set up between myself and the makers of the IT industry financial dashboard and benchmarking software Corelytics.

Next Generation IT Mastermind Programs Utilizing Latest Business Intelligence & Benchmarking Software

Leading Technology Business Coach and Premiere IT Business Systems Developer Ink Joint Venture to Build Business Value & Profits for IT Solution Providers

George Sierchio of Action Business Partners, Inc. and the makers of Corelytics™ announce their joint venture Technology Business Planning (TBP). This partnership has been designed to go beyond ordinary peer groups and move IT solution providers into utilizing mastermind groups with real-time business intelligence dashboard and benchmarking software.

The difference is clear in this business value building and profit growing program:

•Accountability and goal driven monthly mastermind groups led by a certified business coach that has succeeded as an IT solution provider business owner
•24x7 private peer forums monitored by industry leaders
•Regularly distributed educational material provided by industry insiders
•Includes the use of top notch business intelligence software with support
•Real-time IT industry benchmarks based on user business niche
•Networking opportunities with non-competing group members

“We’re taking peer groups up two notches at one time.” notes technology business coach and advisor George Sierchio. “First, by making group meetings and forums facilitated by a seasoned entrepreneur and business coach, we go beyond the limitations of peer led groups. And second, by adding in business intelligence tools as part of the program we allow companies considered small and micro businesses to have the same or better tools and knowledge as the bigger companies in the industry”.

The full TBP program groups 10 to 15 success-hungry technology business owners together based on business size, revenue base, and most importantly on experience. Along with a confidentiality clause and no competition within a group, all of these factors make for a highly effective business growth experience that minimizes wasted time, money and energy.

No matter what size the business is, if owner has the drive to succeed and the desire to be surrounded by peers and highly experienced business advisors, they most certainly deserve to have affordable access to this kind of program.

Technology Business Planning (TBP) is a joint venture between George Sierchio and owners/developers of business intelligence dashboard software Corelytics™. TBP provides business coaching programs for IT Solutions Providers utilizing a combination of mastermind groups, peer forums, industry insider developed educational material and the Corelytics™ business intelligence software. For more information please visit techbusinessplanning.com.



This is an exciting new set of programs with this top notch, industry specific software integrated right into the fabric of it. It's targeted to small businesses that want to truly operate like the industry leaders do with the same quality tools, education and assistance they use, but affordable to a small business. I strongly encourage you to go up the site and read more about it.


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

What Kind of Technology Business Owner are You?

What I love about the title of this post is that depending on how you read it to yourself, it can take on a different connotation. To some it may sound offensive, another group will think it's sarcastic and others will take it as a simple question.

The odds are, your own opinion of yourself as the owner of a business will determine how this question comes off to you.

But that's not the real reason for the post. It's actually taking us back to my normal rants about how businesses will win and businesses run like jobs will lose over the next 6 to 18 months.

So let's get into the 3 main types of people that own businesses:

Glorified Contractors- These people don’t want to be “held down” as an employee. But are in fact just over achieving employees thinking they can squeeze more money by eliminating the “middleman” also known as a boss or employer.

They spend most of their time doing jobs and hoping another comes along while avoiding the business side of the business. They have few if any marketing skills and no business operations skills or even recognition that these functions exist.

Many of them are actually just waiting for an opportunity to again become an over achieving employee for someone else. As a definition, an over achieving employee loves the rewards of being a "top dog" at whatever they do as their job in a business but he/she does it without the risks of being an actual owner of the business.


Business Owners- These guys and gals understand that there is a business operations portion to take care of and do what’s minimally necessary to handle it but are more interested in being in the trenches and being their own boss verses owning a company and running it. This puts a low ceiling on how much money they can make and they usually work many more hours for less money than they should be putting in their pockets.


Entrepreneurs- They get the whole picture no matter what size business they choose to have and develop. These people have the drive to seek and take opportunities and continuously look to maximize profit and business value. Their businesses are perceived in an entirely different light by clients and potential clients. They work on the business more than it it. Their efforts are more productive giving them much more to show for it than those of the regular business owner.

So where are you? And how does this relate to my main point about businesses run like jobs?

Well, the glorified contractor has no business at all and is pretty much at the mercy of real businesses that can hire them in a fashion that avoids getting nailed as treating them like an employee. Fines and lawsuits are running rampant in most states because of this issue. This and the fact that you never know if these people will show up the next day is driving clients away from this type of outside assistance for anything more than quick project help. (Think Elance.com)

Glorified contractors will only survive if they actually do some marketing and have enough businesses to sub-contract to so that they are not looked at as employees but an actual sole proprietor working on small projects. Not a good place to be.

Business owners are already starting to see the squeeze as clients and potential clients are looking for long term partners to their businesses that are experts in a niche and in many cases an entire vertical. They want to see business savvy inside of these partner companies showing they will be around for the long haul and proof that they understand the client's business/business problems. Talking techie is not cutting the mustard anymore.

Being an entrepreneur is where it's at, my friends. When you can see the big picture within your own business, you can see it better along with your clients and it will lead to better clients to work with that are willing to pay more money for your value.

Acting entrepreneurial has nothing to do with how big your business is or how big you want it to be. It has everything to to do with how you think, how you structure your business, and how you are perceived by others outside of your business. It's also the way to build business value, maximize your profitability, and raise your value to your clients.

Take the first step today to be a happy entrepreneur.


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

SMB Nation & Technology Trusted Business Advisors

Wow. Just recovering after a great weekend at SMB Nation East in my NJ backyard. I was very happy to see lots of old friends and colleagues but even happier to meet so many great new people. A truly awesome event all around.

There was a ton of great information flying around all weekend and I am very proud to have been part of it as both a speaker and with helping out as the Business Speak Chair.

Even most of the tech sessions and vendors were on board with the overarching theme of acting as a trusted business advisor to your clients and potential clients. To be honest, this is how any all-around solid service and solutions business is run. But in the technology world, most businesses end up concentrating too much on the technology portion.

Well, that just won't work anymore. As the owner of your technology solutions business you need to be the one pushing the fact that you are providing business solutions that use technology. It's that simple.

Everyone is trying to position themselves to come out on top when the economic upswing hits. That means even the tech people inside of your clients' businesses are thinking more like business people because they have no choice but to understand what makes things tick.

So what's the quick and dirty about being a trusted business advisor? Build relationships, ask questions and listen to the answers (more listening than talking) then formulate your answers based on business oriented solutions to solve the problem. Keep the geek speak to a minimum unless asked to give those details. This is how you provide value and take price out of the picture.

Be ready to point your clients and potential clients in the right direction to solve problems your business can't internally solve. This is your chance to be their hero so have additional revenue streams waiting in the wings with joint venture partners.

Please, please understand and heed my warnings that your clients and potential clients want to do business with a real business and most will do their due diligence to make sure you fit that mold. Talking the business talk is step 1. Internally running your operations like a real business is step 2 and just as important as it gives you stability and proves it to your clients.

This is one of the main themes I spoke about at SMB Nation and I was very happy to see a good turnout for that particular session. Even happier that it seemed to be very well received. Those business get it. And hopefully they are right now doing an internal check on how they can improve and solidify their operations.

If you were at SMB Nation but unable to attend the "Business will win, Businesses run like a job will lose" session, please make sure you download my slide decks. Contact me if you were not at SMB Nation and I'd be happy to arrange a summary discussion of what I spoke on. It's truly an important subject.

So keep in mind the title of that session because true businesses will come out on top and businesses that are glorified jobs will get the short end of the stick. Being a trusted business advisor is a big part of this so jump on it now.


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach