In most situations, you have a limited window of time to make a first impression. It may be grabbing an audience’s attention, representing a brand through personal appearance, or displaying confidence with good, firm handshake at an interview. Once this initial moment has passed, it’s time to sell. Whether it’s a product, service or yourself, you need to be selling. The approach may change, but the goal stays the same, for the most part.
When doing sales or marketing B2B, the sales approach is slightly different than with consumer products. Most consumer products to gain distribution, do creative, reach people willing to hear the message and repeat. (obviously there is more to it than that, but I didn’t want to drag on).
When dealing with other businesses, using general business benefits (lower costs, more stability, faster time to market) to sell a product or service is a good start. However, it can be even more effective when catered to a particular business’ needs. It shows an understanding of their business, thereby building credibility and trust.
My suggestion is to target your best customers and cater presentations, sales literature and leave behinds specifically for those companies. It may be time consuming, but the business will likely take you more seriously and feel comfortable working with you, even though your price isn’t the lowest and your customer service isn’t as good as it could be.
Using the same sales brochures for every customer shows that your fiscally responsible and consider every potential customer to be on the same playing field. That is not the case. Large contracts, purchases and agreements, take large effort.
