Sales Advice By Market

Selling to Auto Information and Referral Services Businesses

Businesses that sell to auto information and referral services businesses face internal and external barriers to success. The challenging part is crafting a selling strategy that captures the attention of high value prospects.

Technology and technique are important. But in a B2B sales environment, they may be less important than other critical resources.

Many auto information and referral services businesses expect to receive great service from the companies they do business with. But service alone isn't enough. For B2B companies that sell to auto information and referral services businesses, the consistent application of sound business principles is just as important as your relationships with your customers.

Research the Market

Start with good market research, which is a prerequisite for profitability in this industry. High volume sales teams conduct thorough research on market demand, pricing and niche opportunities.

More importantly, they research and evaluate the specific auto information and referral services businesses that they want to add to their customer roster.

Since relationships can be critical in closing sales, meetings with auto information and referral services businesses leaders and their staff often form the backbone of the sales cycle. These meetings can also provide information that can improve your competitive position.

Marketing to Auto Information & Referral Services Businesses

Marketing strategies for auto information and referral services businesses are in a state of constant flux. Businesses that sell in this market have to be diligent about staying on top of trends, marketing channels and technologies. Although they aren't a one-size-fits-all solution, online marketing channels such as social media sites and email campaigns are rising to the fore.

In order to feed new auto information and referral services business leads to your sales team, you will need to identify a process for generating high quality leads. One of the ways to simplify lead generation is to obtain updated lead lists. Vendors like Experian Business Services provide reasonably priced lead lists that can be sorted and filtered to your precise specifications.

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 suffice 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 boosting sales and employee morale. In some instances, it may be appropriate to team underperforming sales reps with reps that have more experience selling to auto information and referral services businesses.

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