It’s still early days for technology adoption among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Vendors looking to push SMBs to take the next step must take their wants and needs into consideration when reaching out.

In June 2015 polling by SMB Group, figuring out how different technology solutions could help their businesses was the leading tech challenge cited by US small businesses, at 42%.

This was the third-biggest challenge among respondents from medium-sized businesses, cited by 31%; among this group, implementing new solutions and upgrades was the leading issue (40%). Around two-thirds of respondents from each group said securing or protecting their companies from threats was a challenge—a lingering issue for small businesses. Containing technology costs rounded out the top three small-business challenges.

When asked about the leading ways vendors could improve the purchasing experience, the majority of respondents from each group wanted them to more clearly articulate how their solutions helped improve specific business goals, as well as provide a consistent experience across channels.

Medium-sized businesses were much more likely than small businesses to want help connecting with reference customers with similar needs. Though providing real-time online chat and phone support to answer questions ranked third among small businesses, they didn’t want to speak with salespeople when it came time to buy: 43% wanted vendors to enable them to purchase online without having to talk to sales reps, vs. just 20% of medium-sized business respondents.