These days, initiative and strategy are two things that never go out of style – especially for companies that sell to formal wear sales and rental businesses.

Internet Strategies

With formal wear sales and rental businesses going online in record numbers, it's becoming more important for B2B sellers to develop online sales strategies.

A user-friendly website is the centerpiece of all of your other online sales and marketing activities. However, it may also be worthwhile to integrate email advertising, SEO, social networking and other techniques into your sales and marketing mix.

Reaching Prospective Customers

Prospecting transforms contacts into qualified leads.

Networking can fine tunes prospecting performance and conversion ratios. However, it's important to make sure your sales force isn't so focused on conversation 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, quality is just as important as quantity when prospecting for formal wear sales and rental businesses.

Lead lists are useful 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.

Sales Strategy Tips

Effective formal wear sales and rental business sales strategies are concerned about both sales techniques and ROI. Some sales techniques are more effective than others and the ones that maximize ROI need to be prioritized.

Also, it's important to avoid a silo approach to formal wear sales and rental business sales. Companies that create firewalls around their sales units fall behind in the marketplace, especially when they face companies that encourage collaborative processes between sales, marketing and other units.