Multiple forms of sales take place every day in the corporate world. From B2B to B2C, a wide range of structures exists to diversify the market and provide the best goods to consumers. One of the most complex forms of sales is known as organizational selling. With organization selling comes a set of standards and guidelines to which salespeople must adhere to establish trust and credibility with their clients.
The Definition of Organizational Selling
Organizational selling is defined as a business selling to another business. This seems simple enough, but organizational selling follows a different set of rules than selling a product to a single person. Just like their customers, organizations and businesses require certain products to keep their operations running smoothly. From shipping and packing supplies to raw materials like wood and steel, these organizations need to purchase goods from an outside source if they don’t produce them.
Driven by customer demand to produce goods, organizations purchase products in greater quantities than private consumers. As a result, organizational selling often deals with bulk purchases and their order costs tend to be much higher than what an individual would purchase. In addition, organizations must adhere to certain guidelines regarding the products they use. A certain type or quality of wood, a certain grade of steel, even packing boxes must adhere to organizational policies and consumer protection laws.
Sometimes, governmental standards under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are also applicable. For example, if your company manufactures no-slip shoes and steel-toed boots, another organization that wants to supply its employees with these shoes would likely ask if your product is OSHA-approved.
When organizations look to purchase goods, they are looking for products that would provide the greatest value for their businesses and meet certain quality and safety guidelines. This makes their purchasing habits unique from individual consumers.
Why Is Organizational Selling Important?
Knowing how organizations and businesses purchase goods is the key to marketing those goods effectively. The purchasing habits of these businesses can easily translate to common sales practices such as pitching and cold calling. Organizations depend on certain products to survive. For example, if you own a lumber mill or a mining company, the raw materials you produce are necessities for certain companies to operate. Take advantage of this fact by identifying those companies and pitching your product to them.
Identifying how your products can benefit organizations can lead to the development of a list of potential clients to contact. In addition, the bulk purchases of these organizations will provide major revenue that often exceeds what a private customer can provide. Facilitating an organization’s buying experience by allowing bulk purchases will keep them coming back for future business.
Since organizations adhere to standards regarding certain materials and products, researching the guidelines that surround your product will lead to additional development and marketing opportunities. Does your steel need to be a certain grade to be marketable? Does your latest line of shoes need OSHA certification? Bringing your product up to standard will allow you to market those qualifications to potential customers, making them likely to buy.
The use of missionary salespeople can help you identify and sign potential organizational clients. Missionary salespeople enter a region that your company does not currently serve and market your products to potential clientele, including major organizations that rely upon the goods that you produce.
Salespeople can use the concept of value selling to market your products to major organizations. Value selling focuses on how a product can solve a customer’s problems. With organizations, the problem is simple: They need safe, high-quality products to manufacture their own products and to keep their companies running smoothly. Your company manufactures the safe, high-quality product they need – and you can sell it to them.
The marketing formula is simple. Organizational selling is ripe with potential sales success – all it takes is a little bit of research and making the right connections. To learn more about effectively marketing your product to organizations, contact Shapiro Negotiations today about our corporate sales training program.
