What SMBs Really Want This Holiday Season

Startups and small businesses unfortunately have significantly smaller budgets than their big business counterparts, so the holidays offer a good opportunity for some good gift giving. If you know someone that is busy running a business from home, or is always focusing on growing their office space, it’s good to think outside of the box for some gift ideas, personalized paper weights be darned.

A quick Web search will yield all sorts of interesting and perhaps rather useless gift ideas, from wearable futon beds to inflatable pillow ties. While these items are good for a laugh, the small business owner in your life could probably use something that will benefit them and their business for the better.

Consider items that are helpful, like portable battery packs for mobile devices, USB drives for on-the-go file keeping, or even a new tablet that can allow them to work from anywhere.

For the business owner who wants to stay current on business trends, a subscription to Entrepreneur Mag, Inc. Mag, or Fast Company are excellent choices. Gas cards for the mobile entrepreneur, tickets to relevant business conferences, a membership to the local chamber of commerce are also helpful and useful.

The SMB owner in your life might also like some bucks towards a Google or Facebook Ad campaign to boost their presence. These are all ideas that go far beyond desk bobble heads and unnecessary wine of the month subscriptions.

Take your gift giving a step further and invest in a communications system that can help your fellow SMB owner. This doesn’t require that you purchase a box of phone equipment and premises-based machines to get them up and running. Virtual PBX providers like Nextiva offer subscription-based plans that can give small businesses the benefits of a fully-integrated system without set up fees or complications.

Having the right phone system can have a huge impact on customer satisfaction, which in turn drives sales, repeat business, and customer engagement, and for SMBs this can make all the difference.

Go above and beyond the desk baubles this year and consider the gift of efficient communications for the entrepreneur in your life. 

Edited by Maurice Nagle