Welcome to SMB Soundbites!   I hope that you will visit often to hear more about trends, tips about making the most out of new tools and technology, and stories from SMB customers about their business challenges and triumphs.

I love my job!  I’ve always had a passion for small and medium businesses, often referred to as SMBs, meaning those companies with less than 1000 employees. They fuel over half the U.S. economy and drive the majority of new jobs, representing the heartbeat of America.  Engaging with the SMB community is also fun.  Where else can you find so much variation and uniqueness?    Businesses range from skate park manufacturers—to software companies, to lettuce harvesters, to architectural firms, to craft businesses selling through Etsy—all with different customers, expertise and models for success.  Most of all, I get energized by how business owners follow their passion to achieve greater life balance and overall happiness.  What a great crowd to hang with!

And, admittedly from a Plantronics perspective, there are up to 66 million heads to potentially outfit with headsets!

I believe that SMBs stand to benefit even more from communications technology than larger companies because communicating effectively can be the pivot point between winning business and losing business.  SMBs have to be more agile and nimble in their day-to-day work since they wear so many hats.  They want to demonstrate their “bigness” — capable, ultra-responsive and professional — so they can compete with companies of any size.  Business is more personal on all levels.  I bet every one of you has a friend or relative who runs a small business, so you know how intertwined the business is with their lives.  And, what is more personal than a live phone call where you can detect emotion and sincerity?

We recently published a white paper entitled, Five Ways for SMBs to Succeed Using New Communications Technologies, authored by Blair Pleasant, a co-founder and analyst with UCStrategies.   It has some useful guidelines for growing your business while cutting costs.  I hope that you will download it and check it out.  Why wait?  As Jonathan Winters once said, “I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.”