The Most Effective Sales Team Strategies For Small Business Web & Hosting Services

Small business owners are often up to their eyeballs with multiple tasks as they organize, run, and grow their business ventures. So, for your web and hosting services to reel in sales from small business owners, it's often critical to developing strategies that address their pain points quickly and effectively.

Here are some of the most effective strategies to boost your web and hosting service sales from small businesses.

Customer segmentation

When selling your web hosting services, it's critical to target the right prospects so you can tailor your offers to meet the buyer's needs.

Small business owners often wear many hats in their business and are typically pressed for time. Taking the time to research and find out their needs allows you to craft crystal clear offers that are to the point, increasing the likelihood of capturing the customer’s interest.

As any effective sales training course would teach, customer segmentation is a crucial element of successful selling. Consider grouping small businesses according to factors like:

• The business size
• The nature of the business
• Its geographical location

Segmenting your prospects often ensures a smoother sales process, saving you and the customer valuable time.

Align sales and marketing

The sales and marketing departments typically have distinct functions. The marketing team is usually responsible for drumming up publicity before handing it over to the sales team to interact with prospects and close deals.

When sales and marketing team up, the two departments can become a tour de force in closing deals faster. So, whether you’re targeting small businesses or not, cohesion in training between sales and marketing enables both teams to work toward the same goal of increasing sales.

Picture it this way: The marketing team provides the right content to warm up the iron (the customer) to the right temperature, and the sales team strikes the iron (close the deal) at just the right moment.

If the sales and marketing functions are disjointed, there’s often a timing lag that allows leads to grow cold. According to MarketingProfs, organizations with a tight alignment between sales and marketing achieve a sales win rate 38% higher than those who don't.

Using discounts?

Successfully selling to small business owners often comes down to how much their business saves from using your service. With so many other web hosting services dishing out a similar service, it may be hard to distinguish your offering based on the quality of your service alone.

According to most sales courses and training programs, offering discounts can increase short-term sales, spur positive online reviews, and boost repeat purchases. So, consider offering discounts to your customers to stand out from the competition. Consider including an affiliate program or promo code to lift your sales.

For example, you can offer your existing customers a discount for every new customer who signs up for your service through the customer’s affiliate link.

Small businesses often need to maximize the resources at their disposal. With the right discounts, small companies are highly likely to grab the chance to reduce costs – pushing your sales in the right direction.

Use review sites and influencers

Given the time constraints that come with owning and operating a small business, small business owners often can't afford the time to conduct in-depth research on web hosting service providers.

Often, small businesses will turn to review sites to look for tried and tested, high-quality hosting services.

According to a BrightLocal study, 80% of people trust online review sites in the same way they trust personal recommendations.

So, consider a listing on a trusted review site to warm up your prospects. When customers feel like your services come highly recommended, they’re more likely to swiftly move to the decision stage of the buyer’s journey. When you reach out to potential buyers, those aware of your positive reviews will likely be more willing to fast-track the process to buy the hosting they need.

Sales courses often educate sellers about the importance of influencer marketing to build your brand and cement trust, leading to more sales. So, it can also pay to engage successful influencers who are the right fit to market your services to small business owners.

Upsell your services 

Not all small business owners are tech-savvy, and typically they have too much on their plate to catch up with training about the latest tech. This means that small businesses have slimmer chances of turning their websites into platforms that bring actual returns.

For that reason, small business owners often need more support and to have all their questions answered as they set up their website. Scaling up your services – for example, by offering SEO courses – is one way to boost your profit and ensure you don't leave money on the table.

Bottom line

To grab more sales for your web hosting services, it's often essential to segment your customers in order to make your proposals more relevant. Also, harmonizing your sales and marketing teams and using techniques like discounts, user-generated and influencer marketing, and upselling can help propel your sales upward.