Sales Hacks: Know Your Niche

“Know your niche… and exploit it!”

We’re sharing helpful tips from Kevin Baumgart at Set Sales, which we call “Sales Hacks.”

For this series, Kevin shares tips and strategies that he’s seen work in print shops.

In this installment of Sales Hacks, Kevin talks about how to successfully tap into niches. 

Most shops I’ve worked with have a niche or target industry they play well in. For example, a lot of shops focus on breweries, sports teams, churches, and/or construction/trades. All of you can probably rattle off your target niche easily.  

But have you exploited that market? Have you used it to your advantage to get more of that business that you know you’re already good at and have a good chance of winning? Let’s review some strategies to use this to your advantage:

Collect testimonials, quotes, and stories from your niche(s): 

Ask your top customers in this market to email you two sentences on why they do business with you. They should be happy to do it, you just have to make the ask. You can also draft it up for them, make it easy, and have them approve it. 

Put testimonials to use

Prospecting: you should be adding your niche customer logos and quotes to your outbound outreach. Your prospecting emails should be uber-targeted and show that you know their space, their challenges, and how to help them. This should be communicated in any of your outreach, including phone and social media. 

In quotes: Add company logos at the end of your quotes. Peer influence could be the thing that pushes them over the edge. I think it’s a huge miss if you’re just shipping quotes and not showing why they should work with your shop.

Website/branding: Add an “industries served” section to your website. Showcase the work you’ve done in the space with quotes and testimonials.

Get outside of your typical geographic footprint

I find most shops sell within their geographic area. If we are experts at printing for X type of business, there is no reason we can’t sell to these businesses in other regions and states. Then make claims like, “We are one of the most widely used custom apparel providers for the ___ industry.” If that’s the case, then you should be able to sell to that industry outside your zip code.

Show me you know me

When you do get in front of new customers in your niche, show them that you know them.

• • Communicate that you understand their industry
  • Show that you understand their role
  • Tell them about how you understand the challenges they are trying to overcome and the goals they have with decorated apparel solutions
  • Share success stories from other customers in their industry

Good selling,
Kevin