Nowadays, increasing your sales in a business has become lot easier and the mantra is to just be hyperactive in the online world. According to a study by American City Business Journals of owners, CEOs and presidents of US companies with fewer than 500 employees, the online activities of all small-business owners directly correlate with their sales.
According to the types of activities conducted such as reading up on the news, planning business travel, blogging and checking up on competitors, users are categorized as-
- Interactors – ‘highly active species’
- Transactors – ‘moderately active’
- Investors- ‘those who invest online’
- Viewers
- Commentators
Interactors, the most active participants online in almost all respects, accounted for only 15% of businesses but 24% of sales. Transactors are somewhat less active online but the group most involved in online selling, also over indexed in sales. Even in popular categories, such as using the Internet to buy business products and services, interactors outpaced users in other segments. They were also more likely than average to check business news (79%), local and regional news (75%) and collect information on their competitors (51%). By contrast, just 17% of viewers and commentators, 26% of investors and 46% of transactors used the Web to check up on the competition.
A perfect example in recent times is that of Dell SMB. Recently, Dell took a giant step forward with its efforts to help small business owners, expanding its Small and Medium Business Solutions Center to provide SMBs with the resources, information and online communities they need to grow their business. Dell’s VP for SMB global marketing, Paul Henri Ferrand rightly commented, “Dell’s resources like the Solutions Centre, Live Chat and social networks always help provide concrete answers and advices, in many cases, by our best experts: our customers.” That’s the spirit that all small business owners can take up and do wonders for their sales and profits!
