Selling to an Industry
Selling to Climbing, Hiking, and Backpacking Businesses
The word is out that many climbing, hiking, and backpacking businesses are expanding, and small businesses are striking while the iron's hot. Don't forget that climbing, hiking, and backpacking businesses aren't easy sales marks -- here's what you'll need to convert prospects into customers.
B2B sales can be challenging. To succeed in this environment, you need a strategy that is built on the fundamentals of good business.
If selling to climbing, hiking, and backpacking businesses is your core business, your odds of success increase dramatically when you incorporate a few proven resources and techniques into the selling process.
How to Evaluate Sales Staff
Regular sales force reviews are necessary for companies that sell in this industry. Businesses that achieve significant market share hire quality candidates and routinely evaluate them against performance goals and benchmarks.
Although annual reviews may be enough 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 climbing, hiking, and backpacking businesses.
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 underperform in the area of ROI.
For example, even though it might be desirable to recruit an additional ten sales reps to expand your base of climbing, hiking, and backpacking business customers, the additional labor overhead may be an inefficient decision from a cost analysis perspective.
Message First, Targets Second
Messaging is an important part of a successful sales strategy. Muddy messaging dilutes the sales cycle and makes it difficult for prospective customers to discern the value of your products.
For maximum impact, the identification of key messaging should be incorporated into a comprehensive planning process that combines sales and marketing into a coherent strategy.
The next step is to reduce your contact list to the contacts who are most likely to respond to your messaging. Although lead generation techniques are diverse, lead lists can be a useful resource for generating a list of prospects that are receptive to your messaging. Vendors like Experian are adept at providing targeted lists of climbing, hiking, and backpacking businesses that can be customized to your precise specifications.
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