How Do You Tailor Your Sales Strategy to Different Industries?
In the dynamic world of sales, the ability to customize strategies to various industries is crucial. We reached out to seasoned sales professionals, including Sales Managers and Directors of Sales, to share their experiences. From adapting sales tactics to product and timeframe to shifting focus for industry-specific solutions, here are four expert strategies for tailoring your sales approach.
- Adapt Sales Tactics to the Product and Timeframe
- Customize the Pitch for Industry Challenges
- Equip the Sales Teams with Vertical Knowledge
- Shift the Focus for Industry-Specific Solutions
Adapt Sales Tactics to the Product and Timeframe
It always depends on the product and the time for a successful sales process. When I did encyclopedia sales (yes, I'm that old), the strategy was to go in and win someone over in a matter of hours. When I did technology sales, depending on the product, it could be a matter of minutes, months, or years.
Selling a keyboard or mouse is fast; selling a computer or small NAS or SAN could take weeks or months to go through any relevant approval processes. Selling a large SAN, networking, software solution, etc., could take months or years.
First, a real business need had to be identified, and from identification to completion, it depended on a lot of small steps: relationship, price, finance, inventory, implementation. Adapting well means knowing what you are selling, knowing your customer, and being intimately familiar with your customer's needs.
Customize the Pitch for Industry Challenges
Sales strategies must be flexible and adaptable to meet the unique needs and dynamics of different industries. One approach we use at OnCourse CRM is thorough research and understanding of the industry landscape, including its challenges, trends, and customer pain points.
For example, when selling software solutions to healthcare providers, we tailor our approach to emphasize compliance, security, and interoperability, which are critical concerns in the healthcare industry. By demonstrating how our product addresses these specific needs and integrates seamlessly with existing systems, we can effectively position ourselves as a trusted partner.
By customizing our sales pitch and solutions to align with the priorities and requirements of each industry, we can build stronger relationships, overcome objections, and ultimately, drive successful outcomes.
Equip the Sales Teams with Vertical Knowledge
At PanTerra Networks, we believe a deep understanding of each industry vertical is crucial for sales success. Here's how we tailor our strategy:
We equip our salespeople with in-depth knowledge of their assigned verticals. This includes industry trends, regulations, common pain points, and the specific software landscape. Resources like industry publications, attending conferences, and collaborating with vertical experts are crucial.
We move beyond generic features and focus on solutions that directly address the unique challenges each vertical faces. For example, a healthcare salesperson would highlight our HIPAA-compliant cloud solutions and data security features, while a salesperson focused on manufacturing might emphasize our network optimization tools that improve production efficiency.
We adjust our communication style and messaging to resonate with each vertical. Technical jargon might be appropriate for an engineering audience in manufacturing, whereas a focus on patient outcomes would be more relevant in healthcare.
Imagine we're selling our secure collaboration platform, PanTerra Streams. A generalist salesperson might pitch its features—video conferencing, file sharing, etc. However, a salesperson who understands the education sector would tailor their pitch differently.
They might highlight how our platform facilitates remote learning, ensuring a seamless educational experience. They could showcase features like secure online classrooms and real-time document collaboration for student groups. This targeted approach resonates more deeply with the specific needs of educators.
By specializing in verticals, our salespeople become trusted advisors, not just product pushers. This not only increases sales success but also fosters long-term customer relationships.
Shift the Focus for Industry-Specific Solutions
The most important adaptation I had to make was moving from financial services to targeting the healthcare industry. When targeting the financial services industry, I would often point out how our software could be used to enhance efficiency, compliance, and data analytics in order to make better decisions.
However, since I started targeting the healthcare sector, my approach changed to how this software would provide improvement in patient care, reduce administrative processes, and assure compliance with health regulations like HIPAA. I would focus on the software features in secure patient data management and how it integrates with the healthcare systems.
To take the example of a case, a mid-sized hospital was having problems managing its patient records, mainly because of obsolete management systems. For example, a mid-sized hospital had problems managing patient records primarily because of obsolete management systems. I proposed to offer a solution to them by securing the data, increasing access to medical staff, and ensuring regulatory compliance. That worked as a targeted approach that showed direct compatibility of the software with their operations.
This experience made me realize that one size does not fit all. Being able to understand and solve the peculiar needs of each sector led me to drive results for both the client and the company.
