How to Increase Business Sales
Selling to Marine Professionals and Services Businesses
The territory of marine professionals and services businesses is fertile soil for B2B sales. For companies that sell to marine professionals and services businesses, the streamlined sales strategies discussed in this article can be the key to gaining a foothold in the industry.
Many marine professionals and services businesses depend on distributors and vendors. As such, many B2B companies build their business plans around sales to marine professionals and services businesses.
The details of your sales strategy will vary according to your circumstances and your company's unique sales objectives. But overall, there are several things you will need to consider when devising a system for selling to marine professionals and services businesses.
How to Evaluate Sales Staff
Periodic staff assessment is essential for companies that sell in this industry. Businesses that achieve significant market share recruit the cream of the crop and routinely evaluate them against performance goals and benchmarks.
Although annual reviews may be acceptable for other business units, sales units should be evaluated quarterly with monthly or weekly reviews of sales totals. Training, coaching and sales incentives can be useful for improving performance and revenues. In some instances, it may be appropriate to team underperforming sales reps with reps that have more experience selling to marine professionals and services businesses.
Reaching Prospective Customers
Prospecting is the process of identifying potential customers and converting them to qualified leads.
Networking can fine tunes prospecting performance and closing rates. However, it's important to make sure your sales force isn't so focused on meeting new people that they miss the point of prospecting, i.e. the identification of likely buyers, key decision makers and high value industry contacts. In other words, the type of people you meet is just as important as the number of people you meet when prospecting for marine professionals and services businesses.
Lead lists are advantageous because they narrow the field for your team. Third-party lists from reputable vendors (e.g. Experian Business Services) arm your sales force with good leads, making it easier for your company to balance the quantity and quality demands that are prerequisites for effective prospecting.
Customer Profiles
Emerging sellers in the marine professionals and services business market are advised to create customer profiles before they invest in a specific sales strategy. A little industry knowledge can go a long way toward arming your business with the information it needs to convert high value marine professionals and services business leads.
In this industry, it is especially important to develop a customer-focused approach. In general, marine professionals and services businesses are very skilled at spotting B2B companies that don't have industry awareness and they tend to hold out for more knowledgeable suppliers, even if it means paying a slightly higher price.
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs