I came across this article which suggests that small business owner / managers are avoiding working at the weekend.  The article is backed by research from Barclays Bank. There are a few facts that really sound out to me:

1. The development and uptake of new technologies is having a positive impact on hours worked: - 46 per cent of businesses with internet access work a standard 5 day week, compared to just 35 per cent of those without.
2. Owners of small and medium businesses in the UK work 24 hours longer each week than the rest of the UK workforce
3. 43 per cent said they now will not work weekends compared to 36 per cent in 2003 and Sundays have become even more precious with only 29 per cent admitting to working on that day compared to 36 per cent in 2003.
4. On average entrepreneurs are spending over 15 hours a week – equivalent to almost two full days for most workers – on administration.  Six out of ten entrepreneurs feel that regulation is a barrier to doing business, particularly in larger SMEs, where owners highlighted the impact of employment regulation (PAYE and payroll, health and safety, pensions) and accounting regulation (tax and VAT).

#1 is a real win for putting in IT and internet connectivity, could you ask your customer "would you like to reduce the hours you have to work?  Research from Barclays suggests that you are 11% less likely to have to work longer than a standard 5 day week with Technology helping you"

#2 and #3 show that these business owners do not want to work at the weekend - depending on your relationship with your customer and their requirements, this either means you no longer have to (so they want to see you work which means it will be a week day - hurray) or their "free down time" is the weekend. 

These points also provide the capability to talk about how going mobile with SBS and either Windows XP or Windows mobile could if not unleash them from the business, enable them to work from better locations.

#4 is also a real winner - if administrivia really is such a big problem, helping them keep their books or manage their contacts or even produce information about the business using Office and Business Contact Manager should easily pay for itself - even if it only saves them an hour a week, if Office Pro cost (and I know it is less than this) £377 per copy, this works out as less than £7.50 per week - I bet an hour saved on admin is worth more than that.  What is more, if they can then use some of the customer management tools of Business Contact Manager, that would easily save more time and easily pay for itself in a short period of time.

I see this sort of information as a great boon - see if it resonates with your customer and then describe how the business benefits - try talking about how it saves you time too!!

ttfn

David