In the face of a rapidly shifting marketplace, companies – and sales teams – are having to change focus…fast. Oftentimes, the reason for such a shift involves a “go to” market going away. This often means moving your focus into a new, untapped market.
When considering how to get salespeople to sell into a new market, managers need to stress the potential value of the markets they want to expand into and provide incentives for territory development.
Planning is key. When reps feel unsupported or ill prepared to attack new segments, launch new products, etc., the chances of a successful shift diminish.
How to Get Salespeople to Sell into a New Market
Expanding into New Markets
Businesses that are looking to get into new markets have many reasons for doing so. Maybe there are new customers available in a new geographic location, which means a larger sales pool, or perhaps your business is shifting its focus into one particular area.
Whatever type of shift in sales focus the organization is facing, it is important that the reasoning behind this expansion is clear to the sales team. With the right motivational techniques, sales professionals can prosper in new sales territories.
Improving Sales in New Areas
To begin a sales campaign in a new area, it is important that you pursue as many marketing techniques as possible to grow a sufficient list of prospects in your new location.
The Houston Chronicle says that one of the best ways to grow your business in a new area is through integrated marketing, or the combination of online marketing, in-person networking, email channels, and direct mail campaigns.
Once you have considered the best marketing techniques for your business, you should do everything possible to track your new campaign and determine how well your new territory is performing for you.
This information can be used to help inspire confidence that the new strategy is paying off and will push your sales department to reach new levels.
Using Incentives to Help Reward Salespeople
Another of the best techniques regarding how to get salespeople to sell to a new market is using incentives as a catalyst for growth in a new market area.
Sales contests that offer recognition within the company as well as a material reward will often work well when it comes to inspiring sales professionals to work harder in relatively untapped areas.
Forbes advises that the reward that you give to the winner does not need to be very expensive, since things like a free lunch or preferred schedule choice will often be a valuable enough method of recognizing good work by employees.
Another good strategy that addresses the issue of how to get salespeople to sell in a new market is adjusting compensation for the sales department. Some companies will promote growth into new areas by giving their sales reps a greater percentage of overall profit when they sell a particular product or something in a particular location, which entices sales professionals to focus their efforts on a new market or get their existing customers onboard with a new product or service that the business is offering.
Whichever kind of market expansion you are undertaking, it is important to invest a great deal of time in strategizing how to get salespeople to sell in a new market. Another important factor is the selling skills your team has at their disposal. Your team should feel confident that the sales process they follow will help them when venturing into unchartered territory.
The IMPACT Selling® system gives salespeople a 6-step, buyer-focused process that they can use to sell virtually any product or service.
