Selling More

Selling to Used Railroad Cars Businesses

As the market recovers, used railroad cars businesses are timidly rebounding from the Great Recession and are starting to reinvest. For companies that sell to used railroad cars businesses, the focused selling strategies discussed in this article can critical in penetrating the industry.

Selling is one of the hardest tasks you'll ever undertake. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that new customer acquisitions in this industry is a daunting � but ultimately achievable business goal.

Your approach will vary according to your situation and your company's unique sales objectives. But in general, there are several things you will need to consider when crafting a strategy to sell to used railroad cars businesses.

Hiring Staff

Your sales force is your most important sales asset. A first-rate sales strategy is ineffective if your sales team is unable to do their jobs effectively.

Most used railroad cars businesses appreciate the value of sales professionals who are informed and prepared. When a customer has a problem with an order, they typically reach out to their sales contact so it's imperative for your team to be trained in techniques for service after the sale.

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 increasing sales volumes and individual achievement. In some instances, it may be appropriate to team underperforming sales reps with reps that have more experience selling to used railroad cars businesses.

Market Aggressively

Effective marketing factors into used railroad cars 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 genuinely powerful resource in lead generation and can be purchased cost-effectively from Experian and other reliable third-party providers.

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