The AMI-Partners Blog

These are scary times, but they can also be stirring times for IT marketers who believe in specific result. Businesses especially SMBs in recent years don’t have unused equipment sitting around but at the same time are buying what IT they need. They are very cautious about optimizing their IT budget. So it is critical to identify the need of the prospect and match the benefits offered by you. SMBs have always been the heterogeneous part of the market but it is critical to measure the shift of behavior in this scenario. Vanilla offering may not yield the preferred revenue for you.

I am sure at this stage you would not like to waste your resources and would prefer to prioritize customers through systematic sales targeting. You may choose the easier way and go for vertical market segmentation but that would not work as the businesses get smaller. The functional need even within a specific vertical is diverse and your offering deals with specific functions.

SMB behavior and expectations have shaped up in this revised condition of the market. It is important to understand how these changes impact your ability to build brands. We have segmented the market based on these modified needs and behavior of SMBs so that you know what is the most potential segment to target with your product or service offerings. The technique is not new but dynamic in nature.

It is true SMBs in India have restricted their cash flows. Nearly 75% of SBs and 55% of MBs in our Quarterly Pulse survey reported likewise. At the same time only 37% and 33% of them reported cancellation of sales orders. This clearly indicates that SMBs are spending but accommodating their budgets by shifting priorities.

Your target segment will be determined by a match between the benefits offered by your offering and the need of the prospect, but you want to know the needs which are evolving and cutting through clutter. See whether your current offerings bring you the desired revenue, if not you might want to target the other potential segment by modifying your offerings. You can easily measure the cost & benefit as we tell you specifically the need and potential of each segment.

Partha Sarathi Sengupta
Manager – Strategic Market Analysis