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DQ News: Small Businesses Must Utilize Technology to Deliver a Personal Touch

In many ways, for small businesses that can utilize it, technology is the great equalizer between a start up and a larger company.  It lowers the cost of lead and contact acquisition dramatically and allows a small business to reach a targeted audience quickly and efficiently.  However, a small business needs to remember that technology is a tool to deliver personal service and not simply a tool to send sales pitches to more and more leads.  While unsolicited email can generate leads, personal service and quality products build loyal and repeat customers.

The sales cycle for most business starts with finding an audience in the niche in which the business is operating.  The business must then reach out to that audience.  Larger businesses can use traditional advertising and let the potential customers come to them.  But a small business is unlikely to have the resources to do this from the start.  This is where technology can be extremely beneficial to a start up or young small business.

By using information technology, the small business owner can narrowly identify potential customers in their niche.  Then, using email, the small business can contact these potential customers at little to no cost.  This type of targeted and narrow advertising can be done in a way that appears very personal.  But while sending unsolicited emails to potential clients is a great way to reach a focused, targeted audience, it is only the beginning.

To convert a lead or a contact into something more requires more than technology; it requires the personal touch to be continued through the sales cycle.  Here again, technology can help.  A small business owner can call and verify that the product or service is meeting expectations.  A small business owner can personally follow up with an email survey to identify and address problems.  In other words, a small business can deliver personal attention using technology that is impossible for a larger company to match.  This personal touch can be the differentiator that allows the small business to wow their customers and convert contacts into advocates who will carry the sales message to their circle of influence.

About the Author: This guest post is contributed by Amy Gardner, who writes on the topic of small business credit cards resource . Amy welcomes your comments at her email id: amy.gardner20-AT-gmail.com

Photo Credit: the Comic Shop

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