As part of the ritual of examining local commerce and SMB Saas strategies, Localogy goes right to the source: SMBs themselves. How do they feel about marketing and operational software? What features do they want? And how has their hunger changed in a pandemic? This is all a moving target.
But as part of that exercise, we sometimes broaden the subject matter beyond traditional SMBs. In the latest Localogy study, done in collaboration with Mono Solutions, we looked specifically at freelancers. Why is this important? The Covid-driven “great resignation” has boosted the freelancer economy.
With that backdrop, who are freelancers, and what makes them tick? The report, The Freelance Channel – A Growing Reseller Resource dives in. After examining the types of software that freelancers sell to their clients last week, we switch gears to examine some of the barriers they face.
The thought is that the traditional role of freelancers – everything from copywriting to graphic design – has evolved into a reseller channel for tech vendors. In other words, freelancers have been discovered as an influential and organic inroad to enterprises, thus a back door for software sales.
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Data Dive
So what did the survey uncover about freelancers’ challenges in acting as resellers? We asked them the reasons they don’t engage in this behavior and got the following results.
– The biggest reason that surveyed freelancers don’t act as resellers is that they believe they won’t be very good at it (56 percent).
– That’s followed by “I don’t think I could make enough money” (43 percent), “I think it could take too much time” (42 percent), “I’m not comfortable selling someone else’s products to my clients” (39 percent), “I was not aware this opportunity existed” ( 36 percent) and “I don’t think I’d enjoy it” (30 percent)
– These results are mostly logical as time and money (which both scored high) are the biggest currencies in the life of a freelancer.
– Another key consideration for freelancers is relationships. To that end, they’re clearly concerned that selling products could in some way spoil their “steady gigs,” a legitimate concern.
– The point about freelancers not enjoying the sales process also is logical. Several sub-segments of the freelancer world are roles like writers and graphic designers. These folks are wired for their craft and are not always natural sales people… a central challenge to the freelancer/reseller opportunity.
– This same factor may be responsible for the most popular answer that they don’t believe they’d be good at selling software.
– Lastly, “I was not aware this opportunity existed” is a sentiment felt by a considerable segment of the survey sample at 36 percent. This could represent an opportunity in that they’re not opposed to selling necessarily… they just didn’t know about it.
– This could signal the need for more outreach and education to the freelance-corps from software providers that want to tap into their client connections and position of influence.
– This is particularly true in areas of software that are tied to the work that freelancers do (e.g. graphic design software). Their sales effectiveness could be powerful, given their perceived credibility in such areas.
Time to Shine
Stepping back, SMB online marketing – website-based or otherwise – continues to grow rapidly. SMB SaaS startups and online services providers are correspondingly thriving as it continues to grow as a leading subsector of the broader SaaS universe. There’s a long-tail opportunity at play.
Meanwhile, new SMB SaaS users could represent permanent adopters – a concept that’s accelerated in the Covid era as SMBs are forced to boost their digital transformation. This sends them into the arms of SaaS providers to accomplish a range of marketing and operational functions.
We’ll return in the next installment to go deeper into Localogy original survey research. That will include SMB goals and success factors. Let us know what additional insights jump out at you from the above data, and stay tuned for more breakdowns in our Benchmark Bytes series.
