16 Tips for Selling Your Books to Businesses
5. Prospect to find new buyers. Canvass your prospect lists to find new buyers. Approach current customers to find new ways to sell to them. Find new opportunities by researching marketers, C-level executives, human resources (HR) managers, sales managers and meeting planners. Ask for referrals in their company's other divisions and how they could use the content in your other titles. Ask if you could create original content for them.
6. Qualify your prospects. Not all prospects are equal in their purchasing ability. Some may be entrenched with competitive titles, have no budget or may have recently concluded a similar promotional campaign. A highly rated prospect is one that is easy to reach, has a need for your content and can afford it.
7. Sell to HR managers. They typically perform personnel functions, so they are interested in books that will help motivate, inspire, educate and recognize employees.
8. Sell to marketing people. Show them how they could reach their sales and profit objectives by using your book as a sales-promotional tool. Here are examples:
Coupons. There are several types of coupons, including dollars-off, in-pack, on-pack and near-pack. Each has its unique functions and benefits. For example, a pet food company might include coupons in bags of dog food for a discount on your book about dog care. It may place it on the labels of cans of dog food. Or, it could place coupons on counters in Petco stores or in veterinarians' offices.
Premiums. Premiums are free products given away with the purchase of other products to increase a company's sales. If the aforementioned pet food manufacturer instead included your dog-care book inside its dog-food packages, your book would be considered a premium.
Incentives. Many businesses offer incentive programs. A company might offer an incentive to the employee who finds the correct answer to a problem most quickly. Or, it may offer its customers punch cards that, once filled, can be redeemed for copies of your book.
- People:
- Brian Jud
Brian Jud is an author, book-marketing consultant, seminar leader, television host and president of Premium Book Company, which sells books to non-bookstore buyers on a non-returnable, commission-only basis and conducts on-site training for publishers' sales forces.
Brian is the author of "How to Make Real Money Selling Books (Without Worrying About Returns)," a do-it-yourself guide to selling books to non-bookstore buyers in large quantities, with no returns. He has written many articles about book publishing and marketing, is the author of the eight e-booklets with "Proven Tips for Publishing Success," and creator of the series of "Book Marketing Wizards." He is also the editor of the bi-weekly newsletter, "Book Marketing Matters."
Brian is the host of the television series "The Book Authority" and has aired over 650 shows. In addition, he is the author, narrator and producer of the media-training video program "You're On The Air."
Reach Brian at BrianJud@BookMarketing.com or visit his website at www.PremiumBookCompany.com
