by Andrew Gazdecki

Let’s get started — selling apps. We know, we know: we’ve offered tips before. But we don’t want anyone’s approach to get too stale when it comes to our white label resellers. Many of you know how to sell an app by now. Selling apps to large companies, selling and app to consumers, and selling an app to small businesses are all three very different kinds of selling. While there are common issues, certain strategies that work in one context are actually harmful in the others. There’s almost always an opportunity to improve, or to test out a different sales method, so we keep jotting down our notes and writing up posts with our favorite tips.

Also read: How To Sell To Small Businesses (Infographic)

1. Join the Community

A stranger is viewed with a skeptical eye, but a member of the community is one step closer to being a friend. Don’t just hide behind your website and reach out only when you need to make a sale. Participate in community events, chamber of commerce meetings, get active in fundraisers, sponsor kids’ sports teams, and more. And be sure to show your activities on your social media profiles and website, so that people can get a sense of your commitment to your area.

These things are good to do all on their own, but the business benefits are nice, too!

2. Research Your Prospects

We often emphasize this point, but it’s critical. When you pick up the phone to call a prospect, it often pays to take a quick look at their website to see what the business is about. You might even spot a great opportunity that mobile strategies would be perfect for. The result is that you’re more well prepared to discuss your prospect’s business and to find a way for mobile to fit in.

3. Don’t Try to Drive the Conversation

The most important thing you can do is listen to a customer’s needs. Then you’ll know exactly how mobile can help them accomplish something that you know is important to them. If you’re too busy selling and driving the conversation toward a closing to hear these valuable pieces of information, you’ll miss out.

Also read: How to Overcome Your Fear of Selling

4. Work to Make it Work

Don’t try to mold the customer to your reseller business when selling apps, mold your business to the customer. Whatever you have, the goal will be to find the ways that it can deliver value to your prospect. This can take some effort, but you need to invest the energy to adapt the mobile world to suit the customer, not the other way around.

5. Treat the Customer Like a Person

Because, you know, they are.

Don’t treat your prospects like a sale. Instead, take a moment and put yourself in their shoes. What are they concerned about? How might they perceive a mobile app seller calling them up? What would help them feel more comfortable?

Your prospects are people just like you when selling apps, and it always pays to remember that.

6. Be Proactive When Selling Apps

You know as well as anyone that sales don’t make themselves (unless its your lucky day). You need to keep dialing and following up in order for good things to happen. Keep motivation strong (and check out our posts here and here for quotation inspiration) so that you can continue pedaling (and peddling) no matter what each day brings.

Also read: How To Create A Business App Sales Strategy

7. Don’t Make Them Feel small

Small business owners are independent people who take pride in their business and self-identify with it, often to a large degree. You might think it’s a great idea to try and show that you understand their concerns by talking about “small business” over and over again, but the word “small” is sometimes a word to be avoided. They’re in “business.” Sometimes it’s best to just keep it at that.

8. Title Isn’t Everything When Selling Mobile Apps

Small business teams are often tight-knit groups. Don’t be surprised if someone you think is low on the totem pole actually has the ear of a key decision-maker. Treat everyone with the same level of respect, just in case. (In fact, just do that everywhere, all the time, just to be safe!)

9. “Is this a bad time?”

If you’re cold calling, sometimes this phrase is a great way to show you know how busy people are. They’re still going to hang up on you left and right, but you just might score some humane treatment, even a lead, if you give it first up front.

10. Make Their Lives Easier

This is so obvious we feel a little silly repeating it, but it’s also so true that it can’t be stressed enough. If you want to get anywhere with small business owners, you need to remove difficulties from their lives, and save them time, money, or both. Always focus on how you can be helpful and transfer problems from their laps into your own.

11. You’re Not Fooling Them

Almost every small business owner is also a salesman. After all, at one point in the company’s history, they probably wore every hat on the rack. Don’t think you’re going to get anything by them in terms of slick sales tactics when selling apps. They’re more likely to backfire than not.

12. Be Straightforward When Selling Apps

Small business owners don’t have time for roundabout conversational routes. Be direct, respect their time, and you’ll be doing yourself a favor.

13. Simple Is King

On a related note, the simpler your offering itself is, the better off you are. Make sure that when you design products and services, they don’t contain needless complexity or extraneous features. Focus on your core offering, simplify it, and everything will become easier.

14. Make Transition Easy

On another related note, adopting your offering should be as seamless as you can make it. If you cause any troubles, the little bit of patience you gained with your successful pitch will rapidly be destroyed. Transition should be as unnoticeable as you can make it, so that the focus is on how hard things were before your company came along, and how easy they are now that you’re here.

15. Tread Carefully When Saying You Identify With A Small Business

Small business owners are often at war, and they live deep in the trenches. If you try to identify with their problems when selling mobile apps, you better know where you’re coming from. If you don’t live in their world, don’t pretend you do, or you’ll quickly be shown the door.

Wow! This stuff came off as fairly serious. But, as we know, selling is serious business. Don’t take these issues lightly, and you just might convert more small business prospects than you know what to do with! Stay dedicated, and success will follow when selling apps!