There is a large trap that many businesses fall into when they are marketing to fellow businesses: they make assumptions.

One of the cardinal rules of marketing is that you do not make too many assumptions about your target market. In other words, you need to educate them and show them why you need your services. This is easy to remember when marketing to consumers; many companies (sometimes unfairly) look at their market as people who need to be brought up to speed. But fellow business professionals? They already get it, right?

Wrong. One of the biggest lessons that I see in every book or article about corporate executives is that they are real people, just like everyone else. As such, they may need to be educated on your services and why they are needed.

For example, say you run a company that develops computer security software for high-end corporate networks. Anybody who thinks about it can certainly agree that computer security is a big deal in today’s world. But is that knowledge enough to make the sale? Probably not. If you send them a sales letter detailing your encryption process or your SSH client, they’ll probably throw it away.

But, if you send them a sales letter showing the vulnerabilities that may be in their system, or tell them a story of what can happen if their network is not secure, then you have a much better chance of making that sale!

Just like marketing to consumers, marketing to businesses involves you getting into the mind of your target. Think about it from their point of view – what will make them jump through hoops to sign a contract with you?