With 72% of small businesses stating that new business generation was their top priority in 2010, they are turning to technologies they know will quickly and easily bring them new clients through the door. These technologies are still websites and telephones over newer methods such as social media.
The survey conducted by Cloud Net, a business phone systems provider found that small business owners ranked websites top as the most effective technology for generating new business at 38%, followed by telephone at 33%, social media at 24% and email marketing at 5%. With nearly a quarter of respondents rating social media as the most effective, this demonstrates how those small businesses who have understood its benefits and have time for implementation are using it to grow.
The key criteria for selecting a technology for new business generation is speed of response at 52%, ease of use 33% and ability to track success at 23%. With a tough 2009 for many businesses, quickly gaining new clients is a must to make up for losses made last year. With a growing interest in the use of social media by small businesses for both sales and marketing, the biggest drawbacks of using social media for new business generation were cited as:
The technology used most for new business generation was the telephone at 41%, followed by website 37% and email marketing at 22%. This is also reflected by the fact that websites and telephones have been used the longest to generate new business, with nearly a third of businesses actively using their websites to generate new business for over 2 years, followed by over a half getting on the telephone to drum up new sales.
The technology that was the fastest at gaining new business was again the telephone 44%, followed by a website 37% and email marketing at 16%.
David Hill, Chairman of Cloud Net: “Currently for many small businesses, the hype around social media exceeds the reality, especially as small companies are under pressure to make sales quickly. At Cloud Net, we, like other small businesses, are using social media as part of an integrated sales effort, but when we know who our customers are, we favour making direct contact by picking up our VoIP phones, rather than tweeting or inviting them to connect to us on LinkedIn.”
“This survey also highlights that small businesses are focused on using technologies that can help them generate sales quickly. Putting together a targeted list of prospects, and contacting them directly is often quicker than hoping they will find you on Facebook,”
What do you think? Do you prefer to pick up the phone to pick up work? Or are you finding social media is bringing you rich rewards when it comes to clients? Leave your comments below…
Image by Robbert van der Steeg
