By understanding the unique characteristics of SMB sales, solution providers can hone their printing sales strategies in this growing market.

The small- and mid-sized business market offers many opportunities for solution providers who are looking to boost revenues and profits. Some estimates peg the total market size at an eye-popping 6 million companies, or about 1,000 times the number of enterprise businesses in the U.S.

Even better is that this is a growing area. "Market research shows that the SMB market is still expanding," says Paul Gleason, vice president of marketing and channel development for the A4 business unit of Xerox. He adds that compound annual growth rates have averaged 15 percent over the last five years, and that rate could continue into 2009.

But because of their size diversity and cross-section of market specialties, SMBs can be difficult to peg as solution providers try to develop effective sales strategies. Here are five characteristics to consider when devising those SMB plans.

1. Share your pain. Take advantage of the instant credibility most solution providers have; after all, they're all part of the same class of businesses. Capitalize on this camaraderie by discussing pain points associated with not having a devoted IT staff to manage consumables, maintain hardware uptime, and load balance MFPs and printers throughout the company. These areas offer prime talking points for managed-services discussions.

2. Take advantage of shorter sales cycles. Selling managed services contracts to enterprises can be a drawn-out process because of multiple conversations with various department heads, detailed print-environment analyses, and deep-dive technical discussions about auditing applications. By contrast, solution providers can successfully make discussions about managed services part of related presentations about server, desktop and laptop management. "It's an easier add-on conversation at SMBs than when you're selling in the departmentalized IT structure of a large enterprise," says Tara Agen, America's LaserJet strategy and business planner at Hewlett-Packard.

3. Beware of cash flow problems. One downside of SMB sales is their shallower pockets compared to large enterprises, which can leave solution providers waiting for their checks to clear. "Sometimes, you are rolling the dice on the financial relationship you're going to have with a small or medium business," Agen says. Accordingly, solution providers and their financing partners in leasing arrangements need to thoroughly evaluate the credit worthiness of clients before extending terms.

4. Sell horizontally and vertically. Look for opportunities for applying a solution that's successful for one SMB to other similarly-sized companies. In addition, a cure for the pain one realtor or legal office feels will likely benefit others in the same vertical market, which increases the payoff for the original work to compile project specifications and perform any necessary integration.

5. Don't count out enterprises. Look for ways to apply your SMB expertise to larger accounts. Xerox's Gleason says some recent studies have shown that smaller divisions of large corporations purchase printing and imaging technology using criteria similar to an SMB's. "If what you're doing is working for SMBs, it might be right at the departmental level for enterprises, too," Gleason says. "For some types of products, large enterprises prefer buying through the channel."