Small businesses and startups tend to take on the personalities of their founders and managers.  The owner's personality and the company's brand, therefore, need to be treated as one identity. 

At Roominate Marketing, for example, we are two college roommates who like to have a good time, work hard, think creatively, and focus on the new world of marketing.  Our brand reflects that, and we need people to understand that in order to work with them.

When targeting a small business, therefore, you must make a connection to the founders by asking the right questions about their personal goals in regards to the business. By obtaining this information, you will get a better understanding of where the owner sees the business going and will be able to tailor your recommendations specifically in the language that the owner has used.

Although this is know as the Value Selling Methodology, we need to add a more local element.

Here is the list of top five things a small business owner is personally looking for in a consultant:

(1) The consultant cares about their business and is genuinely interested

(2) The consultant will never push services on the small business owner, but will always suggest services that fit into the owner's personal and business goals

(3) The owner never wants to feel like the consultant is using their business as a way to reach a sales target (ie: Yellow Pages Sales Reps

(4) The services are tailored specifically to fit the goals of the owner and his or her goals for the business

(5) They need to see the results in cash!

By first understanding the small business owner personally and how that fits into the that company's brand, you will be able to make a closer connection with the client.  Secondly, when it comes time to do the consulting work, your recommendations will fit exactly into what the small business owner wants to achieve.

In the end, if you take care of these small business owners and understand that the business is truly their baby (and needs to be treated as such), you will increase your chances of becoming a trusted consultant and "caretaker" to the business.

For more about this approach to targeting small businesses, see  our approach