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If for the successful sale of an ordinary product it is enough to use the classic methods of marketing - advertising, participation in conferences, then the question of how to sell sophisticated equipment remains open for many. To sell IT products or high-tech machines, you need to know the specifics of these industries and much more.

From this article you will learn:

How to start selling complex equipment
How to sell complex equipment, stepping aside from competitors
Internet Selling Strategies

How to sell complex equipment and where to start

First you need to carefully study the product.

First, you need to familiarize yourself with the technical specifications in detail.

If the product has features unknown to a wide range of potential buyers, then in negotiations with the client this will become an extra trump card. You need to be as technically savvy as possible - this way you will always find what to answer to the buyer's arguments about the identity of your product with that offered by a competitor.

Secondly, it is necessary to determine the beneficial aspects of the product for a particular client.

By calculating the possible savings for the buyer or his profit from sales, it will be easier to negotiate with a person.

To competently sell complex equipment, try using this method. Put yourself in the place of the client, for example CEO a company that decides to purchase equipment similar to yours for its organization.

Get used to his role and start looking for the manufacturer of the product you need. Get a special mailbox. In negotiations, introduce yourself, albeit little-known, but real firm. Collect commercial offers from potential sellers.

After that, analyze all the data sent to you (the easiest way to do this is with a pivot table). Compare offered terms of delivery, service, Consumables and, of course, the quality of the equipment.

Think about which of the sellers you would sign a contract with? Such tactics will allow you to see the strengths and weaknesses your competitors, as well as to understand what exactly are the advantages of your own firm.

It becomes clear what additional offers on your part, you can interest those clients who are likely to conduct the same market analysis.

Another important point. Many entrepreneurs who decide to sell sophisticated equipment are afraid of competitors: there are many of them and they are incredibly strong. And is it really so?

In this area of business, it is often not the goods that compete, but the sellers. knowing well specifications equipment, you can prove to the buyer that there are no absolutely identical products in your area and the features of your particular product will bring him considerable benefits.

And perhaps the most important thing: you should decide to whom you will sell this complex equipment. Clients who need this technique are of two types. And each of them needs its own approach.

1. The first type of clients– customers who already have these devices and are well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the equipment.

You can negotiate with such customers only if you know the characteristics of your products perfectly.

The technical nuances of operation can be found on specialized forums. Many people who use this equipment willingly share information. Another option is to look at the production of those of your customers who have previously purchased such products and ask for advice from a technologist.

2. The second type of clients- people who are just planning to start their own business and looking for the right equipment in advance.

When selling complex equipment to such buyers, it should be remembered that these people are unlikely to be familiar with all the intricacies of its operation. Therefore, it is worth bringing them together with a specialist in this matter.

The peculiarity of working with a client here is that a person does not yet understand what difficulties await him, and therefore he has a poor idea of the importance of after-sales service.

You must explain how to maintain the equipment and how often it will have to be done. Be sure to let the client know that by signing a contract with your company, he will save himself from many problems in the future.

How to sell complex equipment, rebuilding from competitors

Only by understanding the advantage of your conditions and products over competitors, you can convince the client to work with you. Attention should be focused on several points.

The price of a similar product from competitors.

If it is lower, then why? Can't you make a discount too?

Distinctive features of the product sold by competing firms.

Try to find out from buyers - both your own and those who applied to other companies - about the advantages and disadvantages of these devices. Or try to find this information on special forums.

Service maintenance.

How much does it cost from competing companies? What guarantees do they provide? What makes your service different? What can you offer the client from what your competitors do not have?

The cost of operation, which means the amount of funds necessary for the maintenance and service of the purchased equipment.

If you sell complex and expensive equipment that is not easy to replace, then this indicator plays a very important role.

But the fact of the low cost of equipment can also be turned to your advantage by proving to the client that in the event of a device breakdown it will be easier to buy a new one. That is, no investment in repairs and forced downtime in anticipation of the elimination of defects. Even spare parts will remain.

Business characteristics of the goods.

They are no less important than technical specifications. The client will only buy the equipment that is profitable to use. That is, such things as the cost of maintaining the line, the amount of output, time, etc. must be calculated.

If technical data is more important to engineers, then owners are primarily interested in profit. Show the customer that the business features of your product are superior to those of the competition in most respects, and you can assume that the contract has been awarded.

Submit your application

Compatibility.

It is profitable to sell sophisticated equipment if it is compatible with the equipment of those brands that potential customers use. Otherwise, it will not work to attract the attention of buyers to your company.

Suppose, except for machine tools Russian production the market offers expensive European equipment and cheap Chinese. How to interest the buyer in your own, domestic technology? You need to do the following:

Tell the target audience about the existence of your product.
Offer customers a service to replace consumables or worn parts. At the same time, indicate that your company will do this much faster than competitors, since their production is located in another country.
Provide evidence (including visual evidence) that the quality of your equipment is quite comparable to European. While the offered price is lower and the service is better.

To increase sales of complex equipment, you can offer the client some Additional services. For example, you can take on a number of related operations.

Install and configure your equipment. Experienced businessmen understand that complex equipment is not easy to install correctly, it takes additional money and time. If you save the client from such worries, then he will prefer your company to others that do not provide such bonuses.

Conduct after-sales service. And do it both for free and for a fee. You can, for example, agree on a certain number of free calls per month or offer to service the equipment free of charge for a certain period.
Conduct staff training. Simultaneously with the sale of new and sophisticated equipment, it is necessary to offer the client to train employees of his company to work effectively with this equipment. This service can also be both paid and free.

Even the second option will bring you certain dividends: a buyer who, after a deal with you, will not have any problems and increase profits, will definitely contact you again.

giving expert advice . By offering the client the best option for selling his products, you will increase his loyalty to your company, which means you can count on further cooperation.

When selling complex equipment, the buyer can be offered the following in addition:

The desire of the buyer is the law for the seller, and if a person wants to personalize the equipment, then why not? The main thing here is not to overdo it. Be sure to check with the customer how confident they are about the need to make changes to the basic set of equipment.

Where to sell technically sophisticated equipment

The first thought that comes to mind is the Internet. Indeed, on the Web now you can sell anything and buy anything. But there is one problem. How would you rate the potential buyer? A solid-looking company website is not yet a guarantee that the company is solvent.

Your manager may be in contact with a seemingly large potential client for months, but in reality it turns out that he is able to afford equipment only in the cheapest configuration. And this is at best.

At worst, he will refuse to buy at all. Therefore, you should not trust the Internet 100%, and in general, it is better to use it as an aid. And in order to assess the prospects of a potential buyer, you should carefully look through industry guides and catalogs, visit exhibitions, read the industry press.

A company that publishes information about itself in expensive industry directories and participates in major exhibitions (and this also requires a lot of money) can certainly become a worthy client. This company clearly intends to develop further, and without the presence of complex and expensive equipment, this is hardly possible.

Suppose you have a list of companies participating in an exhibition. How to proceed in this case? Simply select potential buyers and contact them by phone.

To make communication more trusting, mention the meeting with company representatives at the exhibition and praise the company stand. Take an interest in the results of the event and unobtrusively transfer the conversation to a topic of interest to you.

Of course, it is better to offer and sell complex equipment to a paying client, and industry news can help in determining it. Analyze information about the development plans of certain companies to understand whether they are able to purchase high-tech equipment.

A good source of the information you need is trade magazines. For example, managers of a company trading measuring equipment are looking for new clients with the help of the Gold and Gold Mining publication. Companies that advertise in this magazine are potential buyers of this type of equipment.

To whom to sell complex equipment

The sales of complex equipment should ideally be handled by two people: an experienced manager who has an idea about the features of the product, and an engineer who owns all the technical information, terminology and the necessary numbers.

The latter, by the way, must take a basic course in sales theory in order to clearly know what can be said to the client and what topics should be avoided.

To successfully sell complex equipment, you need to have a good understanding of who you will have to interact with in the client's company. The purchase decision is most often made by a number of specific individuals, described below.

Procurement Specialist

This person is unlikely to pay attention to the additional services you offer, the service provided, etc. He is instructed to find specific equipment, and he is looking for it. If you received a request from a procurement specialist, it is imperative to find out from him who is the initiator of the acquisition. For this:

use special terminology in conversation, ask specific questions about the equipment: do your best to achieve, so that the buyer calls a technologist for help.
call the company yourself, find the right engineer and tell him about your products. Convince the specialist that the request to the purchasing department should be changed, as your company sells complex equipment that is more suitable for a specific request.

Engineer (technologist)

The cost of equipment for engineers is often not even in second place, but in third place. On the second - technical characteristics, and on the first - how familiar this or that equipment is to them. And it can be quite difficult to convince engineers to switch to new equipment, especially if it is expensive.

No one wants to take risks once again: if such a technique suddenly doesn’t suit something, then it is unlikely that it will be possible to change it. Therefore, in order to sell complex equipment to a client, you need to convince the engineer. It's not as difficult as it seems. Just let him evaluate your devices in action, meet with a technologist who has previously worked with the equipment. For this:

organize testing equipment in a special room;
talk to an engineer, currently using your technologies, to demonstrate their action to the client. In the case when the business is just spinning up, after making at least one transaction, it is important to agree with the buyer on the possibility of subsequent demonstration of the equipment to other customers.

If you decide to sell new sophisticated equipment that is still little known in a country or a certain region, then be sure to advertise on the Internet, as many potential customers, having learned about new technologies from the media or other sources, begin to look for more detailed information online.

How to sell sophisticated equipment online

So that the further text does not raise any questions and you can freely talk about promotion methods in order to sell sophisticated equipment, let's agree on terminology. For example, no specialized publication, including dictionaries and textbooks, has yet given an unambiguous definition of b2b marketing.

This term is readily used by a variety of Internet resources, but they do not offer a precise definition, dealing only with the description of this activity.

Let's try to figure it out. If without unnecessary difficulties, now the term "b2b" implies an ever-growing number of business models aimed at the sale of goods / services legal entities, as well as the construction by entrepreneurs of a dealer network for the purpose of reselling products to legal entities or individuals (b2c) persons.

A variety of opportunities are used to promote a b2b site.

contextual advertising

Selling complex equipment using this marketing tool can be quite effective. Advertisements in this case, only those users whose sphere of interest is close or directly coincides with the subject of the promoted service or product are seen.

The most popular services for promotion contextual advertising are Google AdWords, Yandex.Direct and others. They work best in developed markets. But if your service or product has only recently appeared on the market, then a lot will depend on the right keywords.

Think about the phrases your potential customers would use to describe their problem, and use them mostly. For example, not every person may be familiar with the word "video speaker". It would be logical to replace this term with the phrase “live site”, “video presentation on the site”, etc.

Promotion in social networks

Here, targeted advertising will help you sell complex equipment. She works well in in social networks Facebook, Vkontakte.

In order to maximize your target audience, you will also need quality filters or parsing the right people.

These traffic sources will most likely not become the main ones in maximizing ROMII and will give a rather delayed return on ROI, but as a help they will be very appropriate.

Search promotion

Thanks to optimization, the site achieves high positions in search engines according to pre-selected requests.

Companies selling sophisticated equipment often pay attention to this source of lead generation in the first place. Search promotion is right for you if:

You have at least three competitors in a group of products or services. However, Special attention you should pay attention to how soon the investment in optimization will pay off.
Competing firms sell through the site. If it benefits them, then it will benefit you.
An expert will advise you to optimize whom you have consulted. Evaluation of potential traffic in a particular topic is most often free.

At a minimum, you will need:

search reputation (SERM);
information directions - description of vacancies and brand, product characteristics;
elaboration of the SEO-usability of the project structure;
search for related directions for different target audiences for organic traffic.

When selling complex equipment and ordering site optimization, you need to be sure that it will pay off. This can be done in three ways.

Simulation . Acquire traffic from the context and see if the data is bringing in customer requests. Organic traffic is larger in volume and at the same time costs much less - 2-10 times.

Analytical Modeling. Only an SEO specialist can do this at the proper level.

He will count the funds invested by competitors, develop the project structure, calculate the expected volume of traffic and basic conversion, and lay down usability coefficients. It is recommended to hold a tender among the contractors and assess whether the future results are worth the required investment.

Keep in mind that many contractors may (sometimes even unconsciously) overestimate forecasts. If the project is not being evaluated by a senior specialist, then the numbers given to you are not always justified. Here you will be assisted by an independent SEO expert who can check the commercial proposals that you have received.

Benchmarking. Try to find out how much money competitors have invested in optimizing the site and what kind of return they have received in the end.

Marketing within the site

In-site marketing is a fairly new tool, but it is developing very quickly. So that the visitor does not leave the resource for as long as possible, special tools are used, contacts of a person are collected, individual and profitable offers are made to the client.

All this makes it more likely to sell the products offered by the company, including the sale of sophisticated equipment.

The following intra-site tools are the most popular:

online consultant (LiveTex, JivoSite, RedHelper);
news subscription;
the ability to leave applications on the site or the "Callback" button;
widgets - smart banners, smartboxes, hellobar and others.

Let's analyze the latter in more detail.

The widget is a complex interactive tool and appears on the site only after the user makes certain actions. A banner, hellobar, or pop-up window may inform resource visitors about promotions and special offers, or may contain a form for collecting contact information.

Useful information presented in a new and original form can motivate a person to take certain actions: make a purchase, use the company's services. Today, to create certain widgets, the WitGet online constructor is most often used.

Email marketing

You can sell complex equipment (as well as any other goods) using email marketing. Emails with advertising are distributed to users' e-mail addresses. Moreover, unlike spam, the client himself subscribes to this mailing list and can easily refuse it - this possibility prevents a negative reaction from the user.

A huge plus of email marketing in b2b is that the addressee is usually the decision maker. At the same time, the letter contains news about the service, tells how it is best to use it, etc.

Thanks to this not too complicated approach, the client gradually gets used to the company, begins to treat it more loyally.

Hidden Marketing

This method is positioned as a non-advertising way to promote goods or services. In fact, advertising is also present here, but in a hidden form. There is no annoying spam for everyone, there are no ads offering to buy this or that product in plain text.

A person learns about the benefits of a product from the words of another user. And when selling sophisticated equipment, in this case, you need to use not specialized open areas, but social networks, forums and blogs.

For effective promotion companies using b2b marketing, take the following steps:

Make your brand trusted. Show certificates, logos of companies that are yours regular customers. Showcase testimonials from customers who have already purchased your product.
Create a portfolio. People trust deeds more than promises.

Test period

If you offer your customers a trial period (demo access), that is, they can check the service's performance, then in most cases the decision to purchase the product will be positive.

When selling complex equipment and, in general, working in the b2b direction, it is better to follow just such a policy. This will save you from the long process of coordinating documents and transferring payment. The test period allows you to interest the client so much that it will be quite difficult for him to refuse to purchase the goods.

3 Strategies for Selling Complex Equipment Online

Strategy #1: Finding New Sales Sources

If we consider the path of goods from the manufacturer to the buyer, then the links of the chain will look like this: manufacturer - dealer - b2b-client. The latter can be a store, a consumer or a service user. How can the first two links in the b2b niche increase their sales?

First of all, you need to find new partners, and for this to expand the dealer network. You can go two ways.

The first is to reach out to salespeople who specialize in products like yours and offer them your positions. The second way is to conclude an agreement with those who, for example, do not sell complex equipment, but have suitable customers. Moreover, the latter are persons with the right to make a decision on this issue.

Everything is simple here: ordering building materials and construction works are almost always linked. As well as SEO and website development, sportswear production and various sports clubs. The list is virtually endless. Additionally, you can think of franchising, entering new markets, etc.

To successfully sell complex equipment, you need to be able to interest partners in something. To do this, follow a series of steps.

Build a customer base.

In a specific case, you need a list of dealers who work with this product or contact a warm target audience.

It is also necessary to check the quality of traffic (use Similarweb for this or evaluate the visibility for queries in organic and paid results). This will allow you to understand the motivation and determine to whom and how much to offer at the very beginning.

Alternatively, poll your target audience, but it mostly consists of offline companies, the methods of attracting which are somewhat different.

Find something to attract a partner.

Show successful cases and testimonials. Make a presentation, send to a potential client email, organize a landing page. Indicate the main points of "win-win partnership", tell about the values of your company. Pay attention to the advantages of the company over other suppliers.

Develop a scheme for how you are going to interact with the client.

Offer, for example, to exchange user bases and banners on sites, carry out joint mailings, make general publications on social networks, take part in sponsorship programs together. There may be proposals for franchising, joint recreation or the introduction of employees into the partner's team.

Benefit in any case will be based on the discounts provided or the percentage of sales.

The search for new partners can be safely called separate view sales, occurring mainly through cold contacts. The competition in this type of activity is not too high, but in order to successfully sell complex equipment in the future, it is better to entrust the launch of the process to experienced marketers.

Strategy #2: Position of Power

If you are a monopolist in a niche, successfully sell sophisticated equipment, and can even dictate terms to customers, then you don’t need online marketing in principle. True, such a situation is extremely rare, especially for the "white" business. More often you have to fight for a strong position in partnerships. How to do it?

There is one rule. If a mass advertising campaign of a certain product, not only its sales will increase, but also sales in the corresponding market sector. This rule has an actual subspecies, namely: more and more customers are switching to online shopping - most often from organic traffic.

Based on the above, we can derive a not too complicated formula: by investing certain funds (A) in promotion, you end up with result B, and the market gets C. If you look at the trends, then C may well be more than B.

In order not to lose all 100% of this type of income, the site's rating needs to be raised to the top 10, it is necessary to use contextual and aggressive media advertising. Thanks to your advertising campaign, C will rise in the market, and you have every right to take advantage of the fact that the conversion rates will be higher than usual.

To use this factor to increase sales of complex equipment, make joint marketing plans, promote together. More often, the scheme “The manufacturer receives an offer from the dealer” works here, but there are other options: “Manufacturer to the dealer”, “Dealer to the store”.

Collaboration will bring many benefits to the participants:

Each link in the chain will receive a return on any advertising:"Buy online - a type of product - a specific brand - in a specific store." You and your partners can even share online traffic depending on the amount invested.
Your position as an organizer is the strongest. The choice of the most profitable strategy largely depends on you. In addition, any supplier likes to work with proactive dealers.
You pre-plan the moment of launch, guessing the site’s ranking in the top 3 for key queries, preparing contextual advertising campaigns and media amplifiers.
You can strengthen outlets lower order. For example, raise your products in the ranking of listing pages, arrange remarketing advertising campaigns, start email marketing, social media contests, etc.

When you sell complex equipment to customers, help them realize it in turn. Provide blanks, partially pay for the undertakings of partners. Concentrate all work from different sites on one contractor or your own marketing department: it is much more convenient to manage an advertising campaign from one place.

You can go much further and start collaborating with competitors on certain narrow topics. In this case, several advertising campaigns are launched from each project at once, but the assortment and prices for goods are consistent.

Marginality becomes higher, respectively, and profit increases. True, these actions are not entirely legal from the point of view of antitrust policy states, but hardly anyone follows the top ten sites in search engines. This is how they do it not only in b2c, but also in certain b2b niches.

Power up digital marketing in your sector, thereby increasing the number of online orders and improving the sales of sophisticated equipment.

Collaborate with partners: joint ROMI from advertising campaigns overall indicators will be higher. Ask suppliers to pay for your advertising campaign, or at least give you discounts for promoting their products.

Strategy number 3. Monetization through b2c

No matter how much profit the company receives from customers, no one will pass by the bonus of 5–30% received from the b2c direction. These models and systems are different from those that are used offline, but online everything is quite similar to warm orders in b2b.

The amount of such traffic on the site directly depends on the work of marketing. The more effective it is, the more such visitors. There are examples when more than 90% of the entire audience was from the b2c sector, but in any case it was not possible to monetize this traffic.

How to get the maximum profit by selling complex equipment? To do this, you need to take care of the following.

Help customers buy your products.

Here we are not talking about the sale of an FMCG group with a wide distribution coverage to all outlets that are possible.

Is your site not equipped with a "Where to buy?" section? Is there only a list of online stores on the page? Do you display only large chains of stores, and there are no addresses of regional outlets?

The situation needs to be corrected, the whole country should be covered with your stores and dealer branches. It's not too difficult, you only have to spend a few man-days. Equip the resource with a convenient tool for selecting regions, use a map instead of a list of addresses. It is advisable to indicate the opening hours of each point and its telephone numbers.

Make a description of the fastest and easiest way to get to the store, unless, of course, these are not small kiosks, but large shopping centers.

Equip the site with standard features: if desired, users should easily get directions to the desired point or print a map. Highlight store hours.

Give the applications received on the site to your regional partners selling sophisticated equipment. You can even give them access to the "admin panel" by region, but this is the maximum option. If the order came from this territory, then the company working there receives an order by mail, after which its employee calls and agrees on the sale.

Enter into an agreement withb2 c- an online project.

It's not at all difficult to implement. Consult with a digital marketer and choose a customer who has a good online store and online marketing works. Agree with the person that he will pay you for the traffic that leads to the sale of the goods.

Methods (without details) here can be the following:

UTM tags on links. Hide the phone for traffic with your referer behind the "Show" button - track in the analytics of viewing the phone and requests - payment for leads. The amount is usually 10-30% of the average check.
A tool on a partner site that records inCRM-information system that the order is from you - with the substitution of the phone number and the amount of "dirty" profit you brought.
Appeal to any thematic site hosted on one or anotherCPA-exchange. The staff of the resource cope with all the technical difficulties, of course, for the appropriate payment.

Keep in mind: the more topical your traffic is, the better it converts. If you want to successfully sell complex equipment, then a simple link like "This is our retail store' won't be enough. It is better to use the wording "(Section name) at retail." The same applies to products.

Move clients from b2c to b2b.

An example of an article in the blog of our client "SantekhStandard"

This system appeared on the domestic market not so long ago. People come together to buy goods at wholesale prices. It is likely that this trend will soon affect complex equipment and cars.

Customers will surely pay attention to your landing pages with a similar monetization scheme. Of course, you should not expect them to pay by bank transfer, and the delivery will be not one, but more. But you will begin to solve these questions already with visitors.

There is another option for trend clubbing - crowdfunding. If, according to this scheme, you start selling complex equipment or any other product, then the order will be single, that is, wholesale.

What profit will b2c bring you? Approximately from 3-5 large dealers, but only if your online store takes first place in the top. Remember that with volumes like that of one strong dealer, the margin will be several times higher.

Why selling sophisticated equipment over the Internet is difficult, but interesting

Many digital agencies, SEO firms and advertising specialists are used to working with the b2c segment. And they apply the same scheme even when b2b companies turn to them for help. The solution is standard: website + SEO + contextual advertising.

But if you work in the b2b segment, sell sophisticated equipment and hire such people, then in the very near future you run the risk of realizing that you are paying money for absolutely inefficient work. The traffic is non-targeted, the leads do not become customers, the conversion does not increase. Of course, the question arises: why is this happening?

There are several problems here. Such Internet marketing and b2b companies do not give the expected result for a number of reasons.

Lack of real professionals

There are few of them both on the part of the agencies offering their services, and on the part of customers. The work of marketers in b2b companies often consists of printing business cards and preparing souvenirs, at most organizing events and ordering advertising. How to really promote the company, almost no one knows, and this is often to blame for the youth and lack of skills of the staff.

There are not so many experienced Internet marketing specialists for b2b today. Few people know how to sell sophisticated equipment, and why, if you can promote an online store? Everything is simple there: I made changes to the resource, worked a little with advertising, and the result is immediately visible.

In the case of industrial machinery, the situation is different, the return is often visible only after a few months. This is a long period during which you can move to another position or even lose your job. In addition, this alignment does not contribute to the motivation of employees at all.

The decision on the transaction can take a very long time

The peculiarity of the b2b segment is that the process of concluding a deal can drag on for a very long time: from several months to several years. All this time, if, of course, you want to sell complex equipment to a client, you need to contact a potential customer, not let his interest fade away, and fend off objections that arise from time to time.

Under these conditions, it is very difficult to measure the effectiveness of marketing. This means that it is not easy to make the necessary changes to tactical plans.

Segmentation of the target audience is quite complex

If the direction of the company's activity does not raise questions (for example, the production of valves for oil pipelines), then it is quite easy to determine its target audience. It is also clear how to communicate with potential customers.

And if the company works in several directions? Let's say that a siding company that sells it exclusively in bulk has to work not only with dealers and end customers.

It is necessary to conclude contracts with both construction companies and architects who include this material in their projects. Simple communication like “offered - bought” will no longer be enough here.

Too many decision makers

If a decision is made by several people and each of them is a specialist in his field (someone is responsible for finances, someone for the project as a whole, etc.), then there are practically no rash acts. The difficulty here is that if you want to successfully sell complex equipment, then each of these specialists must be convinced.

Let's take an example. V construction company"Alfa" addressed the secretary of the head office medical clinics. The company sent a presentation, informed the potential client about its projects, and announced approximate prices.

After the secretary received about 40 information packets from various organizations, she passed all the data to the deputy general director. He selected 10 firms, with which he held preliminary negotiations.

The owner of the network of clinics has already communicated with only two construction organizations. As a result, Alfa won, which was given the task of reconstructing a four-story administrative building into a hospital. But the decision of each of the people in this chain was based solely on their own criteria.

Goals are set incorrectly

B2b companies on the Internet can pursue several different goals: expanding the dealer network, strengthening the brand. Some are working on bringing a new product to the market, others want to reduce customer service and retention costs, others intend to make the brand more recognizable, etc.

In any case, using the Network only for the sake of increasing sales is not a very constructive solution.

Have you already tried many methods of selling complex equipment over the Internet, but the result is far from what you expected? Don't despair, we'll fix it! And our fruitful cooperation with you will begin with a free site audit.

When a customer buys himself, in fact, this is not sales, but service requests. But what if the client does not buy? And in many markets it has become just that. How to form a system that could generate sales? "Change or die" - this principle, many companies have put in the basis of the new strategy.

The industrial equipment market is no exception. After all, the bulk of companies producing and/or selling industrial equipment, used a purely reactive approach in her work. What does it mean?

The model looked like this. The customer's purchasing officer called potential vendors for the equipment he needed. Where did he get information about suppliers? Mainly from reference materials, advertising media: the Internet, specialized press and catalogs of the suppliers themselves, and later - from their own communication experience. A prospective customer's phone call was answered by a technical this species equipment. Together they discussed what equipment could meet the request and be provided, as well as the volumes, timing and commercial terms supplies. After that, everyone went to do their own thing: the consultant prepared the appropriate commercial proposal and sent it to the client, and the buyer continued calling in the hope of a better offer.

I must say that for the client this made sense. Firstly, due to the large flow of buyers, not all equipment could be obtained from the warehouse, some popular items had to wait more than a month, or even three. Secondly, for the same reason, the price of equipment could vary by 30 percent from supplier to supplier. In addition, the services provided by suppliers also varied greatly - from logistics to service and warranty support.

A fundamentally necessary change in business processes is their reorientation to the client when assessing own resources and proactivity, that is, the transfer of the initiative to build relationships to the supplier company. Therefore, responsibility for each client should be assigned to a specific manager who will solve all the client's questions and know everything about him.

1. Logistics

It is important to learn how to analyze the assortment, evaluate the sales potential of each item of equipment, make a sufficient supply of the most popular items and some stock of potentially popular ones. This is all the more critical since the supplier company cannot afford to freeze funds in illiquid goods. On the other hand, it is necessary to discuss with the production the conditions for reducing the terms of the production itself and / or the supply of the rest of the equipment on request, so as not to miss the client who is ready to wait. True, there must be a reason for the client himself why he is waiting. If it is rare equipment, then the expectation is logical. Otherwise, you should consider a profitable commercial offer: either at a price (which is highly undesirable - except perhaps a “game” with the course), or at additional conditions- installation by the supplier, training at the customer's site, free shipping, extended warranty period, 24-hour Help Desk and a number of other bonuses that were not there before.

2. Informing the target audience

In no case should you stop informing, which is subject to optimization, but not to reduction. Understand how you can communicate information to the client more actively, how to collect information and optimally redistribute the marketing budget.

Often, such a method of active dissemination of information as a visit (but not participation!) Industry exhibitions and other events of potential customers gives an effect. The purpose of the visit is to collect as many contacts and business cards as possible, to talk with the client's representatives. This information can be used further for the target contact. It is best for consultant managers to go to such events so that they can collect really useful information and call an already “familiar” specialist from the client side after a face-to-face conversation.

The collection of information about customers can also be carried out by the call center. Just do not force operators to engage in cold sales in any case !!! The result, as a rule, is a bunch of employees who are demotivated by the lack of results and a sense of the meaninglessness of their work. The task that should be set for them is only the collection of information about the current situation with the client, contact persons, decision-making levels and updating / replenishing the database. And if the operator accidentally stumbles upon a client with an actual request, then such information must be immediately transferred to the consultant manager.

3. Call Center and Help Desk

Now these are services not only of consulting and receiving calls, but also of increasing customer loyalty due to courtesy, efficiency and quality of solving requests, as well as a more attentive attitude to the needs of the client. In addition, incoming calls can be used to collect additional information (see above).
Why do you need to transfer the call center and Help Desk to work on extended hours - depending on the geography of customers. If the company's equipment works around the clock at customer sites, it is desirable to install 24-hour support.

4. Service center for warranty and post-warranty service

Now any service is an additional source of value formation in the eyes of the client. Therefore, you need to conclude contracts for the maintenance of your equipment with others. service centers, to develop their centers in places of congestion of customers.
It makes sense to think about extending the warranty period by the supplier company.

5. Active visits to potential buyers

Establishing a relationship with a client in person is much easier than over the phone. Therefore, visiting customers on their territory becomes an urgent task. The reason for the visit may be previously established contacts, already established contacts at a higher level, as well as incoming requests. Previously, such requests were processed exclusively by phone, but now the manager has the opportunity to catch on and offer an on-site visit to assess the situation - this will identify a much wider range of needs for additional equipment. Do not forget: often customers do not even assume that the supplier has not only those price list items that they are used to taking.

6. Summits

If the client does not stop production, then he must plan the funds for the material and technical base. Spare parts and consumables are always needed, because equipment failure does not stop with a crisis. The allocated budget can be spent on different vendors (as was the case before) and MUST be spent only on your equipment. That is the purpose of the summit meetings - to agree on a principled mutually beneficial cooperation, and then link the performers together so that they know exactly what to do when the need for equipment arises. The "summits" tool is very subtle. First, a supplier representative typically has only one chance of a successful meeting. Secondly, the performers must also be taken into account and "pleased", otherwise they can skimp on the management's agreements in the most innocent ways ("the equipment does not fit into ours!", "breaks", "inconvenient to work" and so on). Third, such relationships require informal support. All of the above suggests that such meetings should be attended by leaders from the supplier, and the preparation for such meetings should be carried out in the most thorough way!

You can increase sales of any product in standard ways - with the help of advertising, participation in thematic exhibitions and conferences, changes in the personnel motivation scheme, etc. But the sale of industrial equipment is a narrow industry with its own specifics. Knowing the features this direction, you can guarantee to increase sales by at least 20%.

Customer orientation

There are two types of clients that may require equipment. When selling a product, you need to clearly know who you are dealing with.

Customers who already have such equipment. Such clients are well versed in its features, they know all the problems associated with its use. To sell equipment to such a client, you need to know the technical nuances of its operation well.

You can find out such nuances on specialized forums by talking with people who use this equipment. If you already have customers who have bought equipment, you can visit their production facilities and talk to the technologist personally.

Clients who are just planning to open a business and purchase equipment of the type you sell. Such customers, most likely, do not yet know all the subtleties and nuances of its operation. Your task is to invite them to talk with a specialist who already has experience in operating the equipment.

At the stage of entering the business, the client cannot appreciate the importance of after-sales service, because he does not understand what difficulties he will face in the future. When buying equipment, many do not even think about how exactly and how often it will have to be serviced. Your task is to convey this information to the buyer. And also explain how the purchase of products from you will make his life easier, and what problems he will get rid of.

Detachment from competitors

When selling equipment, you need to know your competitors well and understand what they offer to the buyer. To convince the buyer to contact you, you need to understand why your conditions and products are better. It is worth paying attention to:

The cost of products that are similar to yours. If a competitor's product is cheaper, you should figure out why the price is reduced. Maybe you can make a discount too?

Technical features of the equipment competitors. Feedback from both your customers and competitors' customers is extremely important - find out what they like, what they don't, what problems and difficulties arise during operation. In extreme cases, you can get technical information on specialized forums.

Service maintenance. What do competitors offer? What is their warranty period? What is the monthly/yearly maintenance cost? Why is your service better? What interesting things can you offer the buyer?

The cost of operation. The cost of operation is the amount of money that the client will have to spend on the maintenance and service of the purchased equipment. This indicator is especially important when selling expensive equipment that is not easy to replace. If you sell cheap equipment, you can also play on this. Prove to the client that your equipment is so cheap that in the event of a breakdown it will be easier to buy a new one. This means that the client does not have to invest in its repair or endure forced downtime due to a malfunction. There will also be spare parts.

Business characteristics of products. The technical characteristics of the equipment are not sufficient for its successful implementation. To increase the marketability, it is worth calculating its business characteristics, such as line maintenance costs, the number of products that can be produced per unit of time (day, month, etc.) and the like. Technical characteristics are important for engineers, but for management and owners - numbers confirming the profitability of the purchase. If the business performance of your equipment is superior to that of the competition, the customer choice is clear.

Compatibility. If you know that the majority of potential customers use a certain brand of equipment, it is important that your equipment is compatible with it. Then your chances of luring buyers to you will increase markedly.

For instance:

There are machines from three manufacturers on the market: cheap Chinese, expensive European and high-quality domestic-made machines of the middle price category. How can a manufacturer of Russian machine tools sell their goods?

Firstly to inform potential customers about the existence of their products.
Secondly, offer a prompt replacement of parts / consumables, which competitors cannot offer due to the location of production in another country (for example, a maximum of 3 days).
Thirdly, to prove and clearly show that the quality of his machines is not much inferior to the quality of machines from Europe, but his service and price are objectively better.

Additional services

It is possible to achieve an increase in sales of equipment through additional services. Offer the customer not a "naked" product, but bonus benefits.

Installing and configuring equipment. The more complex the equipment you sell, the more important its installation and initial correct setup. Other things being equal, the client will always choose the company that will solve his problems with installation and launch.
Service maintenance. Service can be both paid and free. You can limit the number of free calls per month or offer free warranty service for a specific period of time.
Training. When selling equipment new to a client, one should simultaneously offer training for employees who will work on this equipment. Training can come as a bonus, or maybe for an additional fee. In any case, you will remain in the black: right job with the equipment will bring the customer more high profit and the absence of problems is a moral pleasure. A satisfied customer will certainly come back to you again.
Expertise. If you become for the client not only a supplier, but also an expert in marketing his products or building a business, then the features and conditions for selling your product will seem less important to him. His loyalty to your company will definitely increase.

In addition to the equipment, you can offer the client:

"sales department", which is able to sell the goods produced with the help of equipment;
customer base in need of products to be produced with the equipment.

Such data can be obtained from different sources. Alternatively, you can create your own Internet portal dedicated to the equipment and the product produced with it, which will collect applications for products in various regions.

Customization. Customization is the adjustment of equipment for a specific client. For example, adding an additional handle or key on the machine, marking or the customer's logo.

Customization allows you to personalize the equipment, adjusting it to the requirements and desires of the buyer. The main thing, when trying to please the client, is not to overdo it: before agreeing to any changes in the basic type of equipment, check whether the client is sure that the additions are necessary - perhaps this is a momentary “Wishlist” that is actually not needed at all.

Peculiarities of selling equipment: who, to whom and how?

Equipment should be sold by a manager who has a basic understanding of the product and owns sales techniques, and a technical specialist who is able to correctly explain technical information, who knows the necessary terminology and numbers. Please note that the techie, before “going out” to the client, also needs to conduct basic sales training, he must clearly know what can and should be said and what is not.

To increase sales of equipment (used or new does not matter), you need to understand who in the client's company makes the decision to purchase. Most often this is done: a procurement specialist or an engineer (technologist).

Procurement Specialist

The buyer is indifferent to your service, equipment and other additional services. It is important for him to find equipment of a given marking. If your company received an incoming request from a buyer, the manager’s task is to reach out to the person who initiated the purchase with all his might. How to do it?

Start asking the buyer highly specialized questions about equipment so that he himself “sends” you to the technologist.
Make a cold call to the client's company on your own to get to the right engineer and explain to him that your products are objectively better and the request to the purchasing department should be changed.

Engineer (technologist).

Engineers are often guided not by the cost of the equipment and not even by the technical characteristics. They prefer to work with equipment they know well. Moreover, the more expensive the equipment, the more difficult it is to convince them to switch to a new one. Why? Yes, because they do not want to take risks: expensive equipment is not a cheap brush that you can change if you don’t like it.

You can convince the engineer, but for this you should demonstrate your equipment to him in work and allow him to talk with technical specialist who has already tested it before. How to organize it?

To allocate a special room and equipment for such tasks, which is not always possible.
The ideal option is to build a relationship with an engineer who already uses your equipment and is willing to demonstrate it to your client in action. If you are just entering the market, it is important to make at least one sale and agree with the client (for a discount, additional service or a separate fee) for a follow-up demonstration.

When selling equipment that is new to the region/country, try to post information about it on the Internet. If a potential customer starts looking for information about your product and does not find anything, chances are that he will not risk making a purchase. Nowadays, the lack of information about the brand looks suspicious.

Work with the client as much as possible. How more problems you close with a client, the higher the probability that he will purchase goods from you and return again in the future.

Any questions? Contact us! We will help you increase sales by 20-60% and establish stable operation of your enterprise

To succeed in the market industrial enterprise must be strictly observed required condition A: to stimulate the development of the company and production. This implies, among other things, the timely expansion of the technological park and the replacement of equipment with a more adequate, modern and relevant to the needs of the market.

We buy used industrial equipment

Our organization will help you to modernize production at the lowest financial cost. You can sell used industrial equipment to us. This will allow you to free up significant additional funds.

We buy a wide range of used industrial equipment, including large-sized, atypical and obsolete ones. In each individual case, we will evaluate your equipment and offer unique price. We can consider your offer even if you want to sell used industrial equipment in the form of industrial lines.

Currently, RuSkupka is purchasing industrial equipment used:

— metalworking machines;
— presses, forging equipment;
- forklifts;
— rolled metal;
- laboratory equipment;
- electric motors;
- gasoline generators;
- gearboxes;
— compressors;
— non-standard stationary equipment;
— non-standard mobile equipment;
— hydraulic equipment;
— hydraulic units, hydroblocks;
– industrial tools and special equipment;

If you did not find your equipment in the above list, please contact us by e-mail or by phone (see the Contacts section), and we will consider your case as unique.

Dismantling and removal of industrial equipment

We practice an individual approach when considering each proposal, as industrial equipment is not in high demand. You will save yourself the trouble of finding a buyer, because it can be very difficult to sell used industrial equipment. It is even more difficult to find one buyer for the entire line.

In the case of the sale of small industrial tools and equipment, we are ready to consider both small (usually our competitors refuse to consider them) and large lots.

We buy used industrial equipment, both domestic and foreign.

We can independently organize industrial equipment, but the cost of these services is negotiated separately and deducted from the cost of your equipment. When selling industrial equipment, you should take into account that dismantling can be quite an expensive procedure, especially in fire, explosive production or workshops. continuous work where it is necessary to take out the equipment without stopping production process. It is often much cheaper, safer and faster to dismantle this type of equipment by in-house specialists. No one knows your production better than your employees.

Terms of payment, export, terms of the transaction, we are ready to "adjust" to your needs.

We help grow your business.

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