U.S. Census Bureau data indicates that 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs in America over the last decade came from small companies. Considering that 2 million new companies open their doors for business each year, and that they spend an all-time high average of $7,000 per user on new IT investments*, the SMB market continues to be IT gold for both resellers and vendors alike.

Before targeting this market as the next "mini enterprise" with significant IT dollars, resellers new to the SMB market should be privy to a secret weapon: vendors serving the SMB sector. By leveraging a technology vendor's years of experience in serving SMBs, a VAR can tap into a wealth of industry knowledge to build long term, profitable business relationships with SMBs.

Unlike some resellers that may be small and focused on catering to many different sizes and types of companies, vendors are usually larger companies who have spent years engineering their product, researching their target market and understanding the needs of SMBs as it relates to their solution. And, for the VAR, this means all of the vendor's resources are at your disposal to help your organization become an expert in penetrating this high-growth market.

Using a good vendor's resources, VARs can learn the key challenges their vertical's SMB customers are experiencing. Vendors can provide this information through market research and from direct customer experience. Vendors also offer training, webinars and general marketing support to VARs who are selling their solution. With all of this information pre-packaged by the vendor, VARs become informed, trusted resources positioned to build a strong consultative relationship with their customers.

By demonstrating market knowledge and a broad IT perspective, VARs become more integrated into the IT strategies for the SMB and are looked to as a resource for solutions, not just one-off product sales. Vendors can also help shorten the sales cycle.

While the VAR may make the initial recommendation to a client, the actual vendor can play a role in helping to close a deal by providing in-depth product information, client assessment, integration and full implementation and training for the solution. Vendors can also provide guidance and training on how VARs should sell their products into either new or existing customer bases.

Building a customer base of SMBs can be profitable for both VARs and vendors, but VARs need to be committed and go beyond the initial sale of a few products.

Both time and resources need to be extended to the SMB client to cultivate the relationship. Staying current with product training will keep resellers competitive. Listening to the needs of SMBs, understanding their business processes and challenges, and providing feedback to the vendor lets the client know that you are a committed partner. And having that valued relationship with an SMB creates loyalty that's guaranteed to benefit a reseller that's navigating the market with guidance from a knowledgeable vendor.