How to Sell to Niche Markets
Selling to Ethnic Gifts Businesses
There's no question that ethnic gifts businesses are excellent sales targets -- and that presents an opportunity to entrepreneurs who have aggressive revenue targets. If you're tired of sitting on the sidelines, maybe it's time to start selling to ethnic gifts businesses.
Technology and technique are important. But in a B2B sales environment, they may be less important than other critical resources.
The process of converting ethnic gifts businesses from prospects to satisfied customers doesn't just happen. It takes a deliberate approach from owners and managers to create a strategy that connects your products to your customer base.
Direct Marketing Strategies
Direct marketing has many advantages for selling to ethnic gifts businesses. The benefit of direct marketing is that it provides a cost-effective resource for reaching qualified prospects with targeted messaging. From a sales cycle perspective, direct marketing establishes a platform for relationships with ethnic gifts businesses that can benefit from your products or services.
The sticking point of direct marketing is lead generation. Since reliable leads can be hard to find, we recommend using lead lists supplied by established third-party vendors. Over the years we've found that Experian is one of the best in the business with a reputation for supplying consistently reliable lists of ethnic gifts businesses that are primed for sales pitches.
Sales Incentives
Ideally, you want your sales force to be self-motivated to perform at a high level. But to encourage constant improvement, consider offering sales incentives to sales reps that exceed ethnic gifts business sales targets.
Incentives don't have to break your budget -- sometimes merely acknowledging a team member's exceptional effort is more valuable than an expensive incentive that lacks recognition or prestige.
Industry Experience
In ethnic gifts business sales, industry experience is a huge plus. Although it isn't necessary to have decades of front line experience, it helps to speak the industry language and to understand the pressure points of a typical ethnic gifts business.
B2B sellers who lack industry experience can supplement the shortfall by subscribing to trade journals, partnering with industry insiders and immersing themselves in the industry culture. Remember, ethnic gifts businesses may also be more amenable to sellers within their network, so it's important to increase the size of your network as quickly as possible.
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