Selling to an Industry

Selling to Colleges and Universities Businesses

As the market recovers, colleges and universities businesses are gradually bouncing back from the Great Recession and are starting to reinvest. With the right approach, your business can earn a hefty profit selling to colleges and universities businesses.

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

If selling to colleges and universities businesses is your primary revenue stream, your odds of success increase dramatically when you incorporate a few proven resources and techniques into the selling process.

Market Aggressively

Effective marketing directly impacts colleges and universities business sales success. A combination of tight competition, multichannel approaches and emerging marketing technologies mean that you'll need to flawlessly execute your strategy to capture the attention of decision makers.

A large portion of your marketing efforts should focus on channeling leads to your sales force. Lead lists are a legitimate and important resource in lead generation and can be purchased cost-effectively from Experian and other reliable third-party providers.

Developing a Marketing Plan

A solid marketing plan is the foundation of a successful sales strategy. Your team might be stocked with highly capable sales professionals, but if they aren't supported by strong messaging and effective marketing channels, your products will never see the light of day.

Keep in mind that colleges and universities businesses are fast-paced operations with little patience for long sales cycles.

A thoroughly developed marketing plan helps to focus your selling proposition and deliver messaging in channels that are successful with your customer base. When combined with a sales plan, a marketing plan provides a coordinated selling strategy that converts prospects to customers.

Collaborative Strategies

Cooperation is a key feature of companies that succeed in selling to colleges and universities businesses. Segmented business models simply aren't as efficient as models that emphasize collaboration between business units.

In some cases, the synergy between sales, marketing and other business units can provide the impetus for meaningful growth.

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