Sell to Your Target Market
Selling to Ship Building and Repair Businesses
There's no question that ship building and repair businesses are excellent sales targets -- and that makes them attractive to entrepreneurs who have aggressive revenue targets. For companies that sell to ship building and repair businesses, the good news is that the right sales strategy can lead to fast conversions in this market.
B2B sales can be challenging. To succeed in this environment, you need the right combination of skills and expertise.
In any B2B industry, one of the major factors in long-term success is the ability to expand your customer base. Fortunately ship building and repair businesses are plentiful, but the challenge is to acquire and retain new accounts.
Niche Selling
New businesses that attempt to tackle the entire marketplace face a difficult task. A better approach is to customize your approach to an underserved niche.
In the ship building and repair business industry, niches can be based on geographic, demographic or industry-specific factors. For niche sellers, market research is a non-negotiable. Don't assume that there will be demand for a niche product line unless your assumptions are rooted in solid facts.
Effective Marketing Strategies
Effective sales strategies begin with marketing, and the marketing strategies for ship building and repair businesses are as diverse as they come.
Yet in this industry, marketing effectiveness is rooted in the ability to target key decision makers. From traditional marketing to cutting-edge Internet strategies, any initiative that fails to reach decision makers is a waste of time and resources.
With so much riding on the outcome, you can't afford to rely on stale or inaccurate sales leads. Third-party lead lists may be the best resource for making sure your team is equipped with the most up-to-date information possible. If you don't currently use lead lists, you may want to consider Experian -- a third-party lead list vendor with a reputation for providing regularly updated and sorted ship building and repair business leads.
Sales Team Considerations
The majority of businesses that sell to ship building and repair businesses take a team sales approach.
Although your team may be comprised of individual sales reps, each rep has to recognize that they are part of a larger sales unit and selling strategy. There is simply no room for mavericks in this industry! Team-based training programs and other initiatives can be beneficial, but the best strategy for encouraging buy-in to a team sales model is for owners and managers to model team-based behaviors throughout the organization.
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