Selling to an Industry
Selling to Chocolate and Cocoa Retail Businesses
As the clouds dissipate, chocolate and cocoa retail businesses are gradually bouncing back from the Great Recession and are once again poised to invest. If you're tired of underdelivering on your sales numbers, maybe it's time to start selling to chocolate and cocoa retail businesses.
There are no one-size-fits-all strategies for selling to chocolate and cocoa retail businesses. The basis for success is the same as it is in many other industries.
The process of converting chocolate and cocoa retail businesses from prospects to satisfied customers doesn't just happen. It takes intentionality from owners and managers to create a strategy that is tailored to your product line and customer base.
Marketing, Promotions & PR
Young B2B companies are often tempted to buy their way into the market. Rather than taking the time to develop relationships with chocolate and cocoa retail business owners, these companies blanket the market with high-priced marketing content in hopes of making rapid headway with buyers.
Marketing is useful and necessary. But new businesses should channel their energy toward initiatives that support their value proposition. Although lead lists obtained from third-party vendors like Experian can dramatically increase the quality of your prospects, the effectiveness of your marketing efforts is limited to your team's ability to connect marketing, promotional and PR messaging with your company's unique product traits.
How to Sell to Chocolate & Cocoa Retail Businesses
After you have established contact with a prospect, how do you close the sale?
Like many of us, chocolate and cocoa retail business business owners are busy professionals operating on tight schedules. As a rule, be respectful of your customers' time constraints and adjust your pitches to accommodate their schedules.
In some instances, your initial contact at chocolate and cocoa retail businesses you call on may not even be the decision maker, making it necessary to quickly locate the real decision maker and adjust your approach accordingly.
Cost Analysis of Your Selling Tactics
Every part of your sales strategy should be targeted for cost analysis. Business owners sometimes overlook cost considerations and instead, choose to invest in sales strategies that fall short of ROI expectations.
For example, even though it might seem logical to increase the size of your sales force to expand your base of chocolate and cocoa retail business customers, the additional labor overhead may make hiring cost prohibitive -- or at least unattractive compared to other less costly strategies.
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