The sale of industrial products has special characteristics that will be reviewed in this article:
Selling industrial products represents different challenges and situations for people who develop marketing strategies in a sector as complex as the industrial one. This article will explain some of the differences in the sale and purchase of industrial products compared to consumer goods.
Faced with the challenge of globalization, market specialization is an increasingly notable trend throughout the world, technological complexity and new scientific advances have created an increasingly segmented and specialized industrial sector, with new characteristics and new ways of promotion. Faced with the need to offer and make new technologies known, industrial marketing was born as a response to the current needs of the market for specialized industrial products.
Here are some differences between industrial marketing and mass consumption:
- Reduced number of clients: Industrial products are aimed at very small sectors in relation to the consumer market. Greater importance of the client: Since buyers are specialized, and the limited market, clients are generally more demanding, have high power of Negotiation and manage greater economic power. There are specific needs: Each company or industry faces different challenges and due to this the needs of the clients are usually detailed and very specific. Industrial solutions must be "tailored" to the buyer. Intermediate products: Industrial goods are intermediate goods, that is, they are in the middle part of the value chain, so it is important to highlight the added value that the product can offer. industrial in terms of productivity improvements, savings,technical facility etc.
Generally, industrial products require a post-sale support system where four fundamental elements stand out:
- Technical support: It is necessary to have specialized technical support in case of failures. Distribution of adequate supplies: Companies cannot stop their production due to lack of parts or supplies, therefore, the selling companies must have spare parts ready or "available", in in case of problems. Training: In many occasions it is necessary to train people in the handling of equipment, due to the complexity of the processes, in addition many times courses must be taken on "maintenance and good use" of the products.Monitoring: Companies must constantly monitor their products, not only for customer satisfaction but for their own internal processes of quality improvement, technological evolution and reliability.
When industrial products are sold:
- There must be adequate technical documentation (manuals, explanations, operating brochures, etc.), in addition, the seller must know technical terms and procedures so that the customer takes a serious image and has a broad vision of the product. drive by commission. (In order to promote the spirit and effectiveness of whoever is responsible for sales) The four P's (Price, Product, Place, Promotion) should not be forgotten even though they are handled differently from consumer marketing. company and the seller is a fundamental factor, due to the specialization and the type of buyer.
In the sale of industrial products, the relationship between the selling company and the financial sector is essential for the proper management of product financing. Elements such as installment payments, the use of financial leasing instruments such as leasing and other more complex forms of financing such as international credits, private equity funds, etc. are highlighted when the volume of business is very large.
To end:
Much of the markets have ceased to be stable and have become characterized by higher levels of complexity, uncertainty, dynamism and competitiveness. This implies transformations in organizations, in their ways of competing and in management, which implies a greater search for competitiveness.
Under these parameters, industrial companies must develop more aggressive forms of marketing in order to gain a larger market space and be able to survive global competition, an environment that creates a predatory market and where constant evolution, both in technological terms and in Marketing is essential for industries.
Companies must develop marketing strategies that allow them to satisfy their customers more efficiently than the competition without forgetting three fundamental questions:
- What is customer value? How to provide value? How to communicate value?
If these three questions are adequately solved, companies will most certainly be successful.
