NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 29, 2021 / Corporate marketing to the C-suite and other executives needs to be done differently than traditional sales and marketing. Many sales professionals wonder how to sell to Fortune 500 companies. Others want to know the exact corporate sales strategies used by the most successful Fortune 500 companies when selling themselves.
A corporate sales executive reviewing the quarterly sales and revenue projections with a sales manager. Image Credit: 123rf.com / Dzianis Apolka.
What Defines Corporate Sales?
According to Reference.com, the best corporate sales definition is that "Corporate sales are the sales that a company makes to another company through its everyday transactions. Corporate sales are also called B2B sales, or business-to-business sales. On the other hand, if sales are made directly to the end consumer, these are called business-to-consumer, or B2C sales."
Who are the Top 10 Companies in the Fortune 500?
- Walmart
- Amazon
- Exxon Mobil
- Apple
- CVS Health
- Berkshire Hathaway
- UnitedHealth Group
- McKesson
- AT&T
- AmerisourceBergen
Walmart Inc. leads the top spot of the Fortune 500 list at $559 billion in revenue. AmerisourceBergen Corporation rounds out the tenth position with $189 billion for 2020. The top ten companies combined for over $2.6 trillion in sales and revenue. It is difficult to know exactly how much was attributed to corporate sales, due to several of the top companies generating revenue in the B2C sector.
Corporate Sales Strategies Used by Fortune 500 Executives
"Your sales strategy needs to lead with a clear articulation of the challenge you can help your prospect solve. At the beginning of a sales conversation, your prospect likely doesn't fully understand the benefits of what you're selling. The last thing you want to do is immediately treat your product or service like a commodity, rather than a valuable solution to a real business need they have," said Steli Efti, CEO of Close.com. Close is a "Sales-as-a-Service" as well as a "Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology company developed for salespeople, by salespeople.
Be a Problem Solver to Alleviate Pain Points
One of the main paths to a winning corporate sales strategy is to alleviate a customer's pain point with what your company offers. If a brand is known for being helpful in this way, customers will surely become brand advocates. For example, your content marketing can include free ebooks, educational YouTube videos, or bootcamp style lessons. These types of offers will help people get to know your brand better and convince them that they need to use your product. HubSpot shared this strategy in "How to Improve Your Corporate Marketing Strategies."
Don't Try to Sell Anything on the Initial Outreach
This may sound counterproductive according to Inc.com's insights shared in "5 Secrets For Landing a Whale of a Client." However, not trying to sell a company on products or services immediately can sometimes lead to a sale more quickly than a pushy hard-nosed sales pitch. How this strategy works, for example, let us say a news report comes out on a company in a situation that your company's products or solutions are well equipped to help with.
Cold email outreach or call the head of the affected department, mentioning the news coverage on their company and offer to email over a resource that might be helpful to them. Without trying to schedule an appointment, talk about products or services, or push for a sale, end the call. A high percentage of the time, the company executive will then want to schedule a call to talk because the approach was from a position of trying to help, without asking for anything in return.
Clearly Articulate the End Results
People buy results, not just products or services. After a prospect's attention has been captured with what they'll be able to achieve by using your company's solution, it is now time to clearly explain how that will happen and what they get after purchasing. End results equal showing the value of what is in it for them.
Selling a premium solution to a Fortune 500 company that has never used one before, will require clear details for the buyer. For example, educating them about how your solution will work, how much of a time investment to expect in managing it, and the types of ongoing support they will have access to.
This corporate sales strategy is particularly relevant if you are selling a product or service that comes with an upfront fee, requires a complex rollout, has time-intensive integrations, or ongoing collaboration with your customers after closing the deal. Prospects need to know exactly what they're going to get as far as deliverables, when those milestones will be met, and the downstream impact they are expected to have on their business.
Corporate marketing strategies were highlighted in Issue #135 of Contact Finder magazine. Image Credit: Contact Finder.
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SOURCE: Campaign Writer