News October 2007
Recent survey findings report that the most popular technique for directors and managers of small technology businesses to secure sales and marketing advice is to ask colleagues or other small business owners – proving that this sector is resourceful, self-supporting and willing to share expertise, unlike larger more corporate organisations.
The results, just published by Terry Forsey, Technology Sales and Marketing Coach, look at the ways technology companies across the UK approach their sales and marketing activities and their attitudes towards looking for assistance when their personal resources run dry.
“Of businesses that responded, less than 10% sought advice from trade associations or Business Link, with 35% preferring to seek information from colleagues,” said Terry. “This figure is 1% higher than those who call in professional advisers.”
The survey discovered that 64% of companies in this group admitted to being ‘weak’ when it came to lead generation and surprisingly, 60% felt the same way when it came to using the Web to improve sales and marketing.
“You would imagine that businesses whose main service is IT based would be at the forefront of using technology to drive sales,” added Terry. “This could be because business owners may be more comfortable with face-to-face contact and find communication with the outside world, particularly using the web, can be quite a challenge – one they do not feel able to respond to.”
Findings also showed that 84% of respondents reported that they felt their strengths lay with the ability to build relationships, with 80% rating themselves ‘strongly’ for producing winning proposals.
“As with most surveys, the results are open to speculation, but what this does show is with professional advice, smaller owner-managed technology companies can harness the power of the World Wide Web and transform their lead generation process to make positive impact on the ‘bottom line’ – possible income generation that cannot be ignored.”
For more information, please call Terry on 01536 771440.
ENDS
Survey was carried in September 2007, and findings are based on 250 responses.
