Channel Pro - December 2007

CEASI_RNG SM_MBs INTO

When introducing a CRM or ERP solution to SMBs, make it familiar, easy, and cheap. Repeat.

By Liz Garone • Illustration by David Waugh

MANY SMBS HAVE HEARD THE ACRONYMS ERP and CRM, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they know what those letters stand for, or more important, what they can mean for their businesses. So trying to sell your customers on one of the many ERP (enterprise resource planning) or CRM (customer relationship management) solutions out there can be quite a challenge.

To do it right, start with the basics and explain how the software will benefit your customer’s bottom line. “It’s a highly competitive market,” says Lindy Antonelli, founder and CEO

of Access Tek Inc., a Microsoft certified business solutions partner based in Naperville, Ill. “It’s not just one feature or five or 10 that will win the deal, but rather the whole concept.”

And, with a plethora of options out there, SMBs will need help choosing among them, says Laurie McCabe, vice president of SMB Insights and Business Solutions for research firm AMI-Partners Inc. “There seem to be more choices every day, and from lots of different vendors,” says McCabe. “Whether it’s CRM or ERP, [the choices] can feel overwhelming.”

But there are a number of ways to interest SMB customers, says Antonelli. “Make it familiar to their people and easy for them to jump

right in and operate,” she says. By partnering with Microsoft, Access Tek has a “huge competitive advantage. What we offer looks like Office and everything else [our customers] are using, so they are comfortable right away.”

BOOSTING PRODUCTIVITY

In addition to familiarity, SMB customers are looking for ways to enhance employee productivity. “You have to give them the information they need at their fingertips,” says Antonelli. For many SMBs, that can come in the form of a Web portal that offers key metrics and other important information right when they log on.