MSME Day - How Should the IT MSMEs Move in Business?

On the International MSME Day we suggest some future business strategy for the offline IT MSMEs who have been losing business because of the growth of E-commerce and because of lockdowns related to Corona. Now, with the probability of Delta variant bringing another massive wave soon, IT MSMEs need to become proactive in their business strategy.

Following are some suggestions they can follow -

1 - Promote their E-store profiles

Most IT MSMEs already have profiles on E-stores sites such as IndiaMart and on yellow pages such as Justdial and Sulekha. This means that they have crossed the first step towards digitisation. If they don't have a profile there, they should open a profile there on this International MSME Day.

The next step is to promote their profiles properly online so that they can capture customers online.

For this, they should -

• Make a website with links to their E-store profiles on IndiaMart and other such profiles
• Write short posts on their website everyday - this will take not more than 15 minutes. In the post they can highlight some of their products, services and solutions
• Post the link to their profiles on social media everyday with different text in the message - repetition of a text message will result in reduction in traffic on social media - Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram are the best platforms for this. Use hashtags to increase the reach of the post
• Post the link to their blog post on social media daily
• Use an easy payment gateway with international payment enabled

2 - Prominently display their contact details and promptly respond to inquiries

It is important that the visitor sees their contact immediately on visiting and if s/he contacts the profile owner should immediately respond to the inquiry.

Remember -

• The customer trusts the company more if the owner himself or herself responds to the inquiry
• Don't instal AI-enabled chatbots. This really turns the customer off. Be the real, human respondent to handle the customer
• Be helpful and polite while dealing with the customer
• Tell the customer in detail about your products, services, solutions and value addition features
• Make an appointment to meet or video call with the customer
• Send your staff to pick up the gadget from the doors of the customer for servicing and return it back Similarly, if the customer wants to exchange a product, it should be a door delivery and door exchange
• If it's a solution installation, it should be again a door service
• Be quick and prompt - don't keep the customer waiting
• In short, don't ask the customer to move out of their house or office

3 - Make sure about quality

• The first impression is the last impression - keep the quality of your products, services and solutions high grade. There should be no comprise on it
• In case of complaint, address the complaint immediately
• Give warranty for your products, services and solutions on top of what the original company is giving

4 - Be honest in your dealings

• The customer is intelligent. Don't regard him or her as a person who doesn't know anything and don't give him high prices and quality assurances or value added features that you can't deliver
• Keep your prices at par with the E-commerce platform

5 - If possible, join an E-commerce platform where there's a lot of traffic already flowing and where you can sell your goods, services and solutions

• Look upon the E-commerce as a modern technology to help you in business. Don't look upon it as a competitor against your outdated offline store. Change your perspective
• There are major E-commerce platforms for goods, services and solutions. See which ones sell your offerings and join all of them

On this International MSME Day, take a look at how your business is doing, where you have lost and readjust your business strategy. The MSME Day should be an occasion to give yourself a new direction and new energy. It should not be a ritual to be observed and frogotten the next day.

It's high time for the IT MSMEs to do this.

Read more from Dr Archana Verma here

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