Selling to Businesses

Selling to Ribbons Businesses

Business experts are seeing that many ribbons businesses are expanding, and small businesses are striking while the iron's hot. For companies that sell to ribbons businesses, the upside is that a strong selling approach can lead to fast conversions in this market.

Initiative and perseverance are admirable characteristics for sales professionals. But selling to ribbons businesses requires more than an impeccable work ethic.

Frequently, successful businesses reach their goals through the consistent application of proven selling concepts. That's especially true in the ribbons business industry where small oversights can translate into losses in market share.

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 ribbons businesses that they want to add to their customer roster.

Since relationships are an important part of the selling process, meetings with ribbons businesses leaders and their staff often form the backbone of the sales cycle. These meetings can also provide information that can be leveraged to exploit weaknesses in competitors' sales models.

Marketing Mix

Since sales and marketing are connected business activities, your company's marketing mix plays a central role in bottom line sales revenue. The industry's leading sellers employ multichannel marketing strategies and prioritize channels that target decision makers.

Although there are no one-size-fits-all marketing strategies for ribbons businesses, B2B sellers can realize a competitive advantage from outsourcing lead generation to a third-party provider. Experian and other vendors maintain accurate and up-to-date lists of ribbons businesses. For many businesses, these lists establish a framework for the rest of the sales cycle.

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 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 improving performance and revenues. In some instances, it may be appropriate to team underperforming sales reps with reps that have more experience selling to ribbons businesses.

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