Activating the long tail: How retailers are using digital tools to turn SMBs into scalable growth

Companies are missing a big opportunity hiding in plain sight: their smallest customers. Small and medium businesses (SMBs) often make up the majority of a company’s customer base, yet many are served through generic, one-size-fits-all approaches that lead to poor engagement and conversion. A digital-first customer acquisition strategy can change that.Some companies are already doing this successfully. One Fortune 50 technology company now generates 20% of its total revenue from SMBs by centralizing digital orchestration and automating how it attracts, qualifies, serves and supports small business customers.Why SMBs are too valuable to ignoreSMBs may contribute less per account than large enterprises, but collectively they represent a significant growth opportunity. They tend to have shorter buying cycles, fewer decision-makers and less competition—meaning they can deliver new opportunities for growth when segmented properly.Despite this, most go-to-market models remain enterprise-centric and underserve SMBs. Traditional sales methods rely on manual, high-cost processes with limited personalization. Generic outreach, legacy CRMs and weak automation further limit performance.Rethinking your go-to-market modelLeading companies are adopting digital customer hubs that connect data, AI and automation to drive insight-based sales action. These hubs offer a scalable, targeted way to grow SMB business across five strategic pillars:Customer intelligence. Centralized data platforms create rich customer profiles by ingesting internal and third-party data. A large healthcare products company, for instance, built a demand hub that synchronized outreach across marketing and sales, with AI selecting the right timing and channel for every engagement.Lead engine. Going beyond lead scoring, companies enrich leads with behavioral and contextual data to segment more effectively. An energy management firm used IoT sensor data to identify upgrade needs and route qualified leads to the right sales channel, reducing time-to-close by 30%.Engagement personalization. Instead of fixed nurture tracks, digital hubs adapt engagement based on real-time signals. One financial services company built a dynamic content engine that escalated leads to human sellers only after signs of high intent. This approach saved time and boosted conversions.Customer experience. Digital onboarding and support workflows tailor experiences based on behavior. A tech company, for example, used signals like stalled setup or repeated errors to escalate human support, improving onboarding and reducing friction.Customer success. By monitoring usage patterns, companies can preempt churn and identify upsell opportunities. A global demand hub tracked marketing, sales and service signals to proactively engage customers and maximize lifetime value for one large tech company.The payoff: What a digital-first model unlocksA digital-first sales engine unlocks several advantages:Scalability. Reach and support thousands of customers efficiently, without scaling sales teams.Agility. Real-time signals enable fast adjustments to campaigns and messaging.Stronger loyalty. Personalized experiences increase retention and customer value.United Airlines uses a digital hub to manage millions of SMB travel accounts. It unifies CRM and loyalty data to segment customers, trigger personalized offers and enable self-service for contracting and program management. Sales teams step in only when intent signals are strong—reducing cost-to-serve and revealing new cross-sell opportunities.What to consider before building a digital customer hub for SMBsStanding up a digital customer hub requires alignment on three key questions:Who leads engagement—marketing or sales?For high-volume SMB segments, a marketing-led model is often more efficient, reserving sales outreach for high-potential opportunities.Start from scratch or integrate?Some companies can unify existing tech such as CRMs and marketing platforms. Others may benefit from building a clean-slate, purpose-built hub.Are leaders aligned and committed?Success depends on long-term commitment, investment and collaboration across commercial and tech teams. The return isn’t immediate, but it’s durable.The takeawayThe “long tail” of small and medium B2B customers is no longer out of reach. With a digital-first sales engine, companies can unlock sustainable, scalable growth in an overlooked segment and create a competitive advantage that will grow over time.