Sales Tips
Selling to Health Food Stores
If your business is having trouble reaching sales targets, take a minute and take a look at our tips on selling to health food stores. This is the approach that will help you get started selling to this market.
B2B sales can be challenging. To succeed in this environment, you need the right combination of skills and expertise.
For small businesses that sell to these companies, the industry's positive growth outlook makes the solid execution of fundamental sales principles more important than ever.
Marketing, Promotions & PR
Young B2B companies are often tempted to buy their way into the market. Rather than taking the time to develop relationships with health food store owners, these companies unleash an avalanche of high-priced marketing content in hopes of scoring fast conversions from buyers.
Marketing is useful and necessary. But new businesses should channel their energy toward initiatives that support their value proposition. Although lead lists obtained from third-party vendors like Experian can equip your sales force with targeted prospects, the effectiveness of your marketing efforts is limited to your team's ability to connect marketing, promotional and PR messaging with your company's unique product traits.
Educate Your Sales Force
In reality, most health food stores aren't interested in middle of the road products. Before they commit to a purchase, they want to know everything there is to know about your product.
In this industry, differentiation can be the deciding factor in conversions. It's critical for your sales team to be knowledgeable about product specifications and support. If you're selling a service to health food stores, your sales force must be intimately familiar with the features contained in your service agreements and be prepared to resolve customer concerns during the sales cycle.
Internet Strategies
With health food stores 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, you should also consider incorporating email advertising, SEO, social networking and other techniques into your sales and marketing mix.
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