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I need advice and guidance on breaking further into the SMB market in the VA area.

Veteran

Joshua Ellis Spotsylvania , VA

We are an all inclusive technology services company and are trying to find the best practices for getting into SMB's and winning their business.

16 October 2013 6 replies Small Business

Answers

Advisor

Tom Cal, CFA San Francisco , CA

John - what NOVA?

Veteran

Joshua Ellis Spotsylvania , VA

John,

I am still working on my marketing plan, so I really could use any assistance in that area.

Thanks!
Josh

Advisor

John Stevens Middletown , MD

Joshua,

It sounds like you're off to a great start. Do you have a marketing plan? I have someone in NOVA that can help you with Tom's brainstorm.

Thanks - John

Advisor

Tom Cal, CFA San Francisco , CA

Utilize score.org to find mentors with expertise you require. I encourage you to utilize both in-person and remote mentors.

Food for thought, immediate answers not required:
Think about your mission statement.

Can you expand into higher margin areas with less competition, where you have the opportunity to add more value and therefore charge higher fees?

What's your "sustainable competitive advantage", if any?

What are the margin and price trends of the services you provide?

A quick brainstorm:
Lead generation and sales generation utilizing technologies that include ethical and opt-in based social-media, email marketing, search-engine optimization, off-line lead and sales generation, etc?

Also find a local Veterans business center, PTAC center, etc. and explore if small-business, Veteran, rural, distressed neighborhood, etc. status can give you an edge with certain customers.

http://www.aptac-us.org/new/

Veteran

Joshua Ellis Spotsylvania , VA

Tom,

Our Company is Athio Technologies. We provide IT, AV and VoIP Services. We recently completed a new dentist office, and by providing all solutions, we were able to save the customer 12k. Originally, he needed 3 separate companies to accomplish what we did. Our website is, www.AthioTechnologies.com. I don;t use the word, "all inclusive" when speaking customers, I just didn't know the best way of writing the question so it wasn't 100 words long....

Advisor

Tom Cal, CFA San Francisco , CA

a few questions to start a discussion:
* What is your firm's web-site and firm's name?

* what is your firm's "mission statement"

* What does "all inclusive technology services company" really mean? ("All" is a big word. For me, and just my opinion, "all" can mean "not an expert in anything".)

* What are several tangible examples of problems you have solved, and benefits you have successfully delivered?

* also seek mentoring from score.org

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