In the United States alone, there are over 17,000 local, county and state law enforcement agencies. These agencies sometimes require vendors to offer innovative solutions to life – and – death problems.
And despite the constant moaning about lack of funds – which they do because they’re by necessity frugal with taxpayers money – they still spend a reasonable sum on necessities and external requirements. Selling to these law enforcement agencies and agents can be challenging, but if you learn their needs, and can be creative with how you sell it, you can do very well.
With perseverance and strategy in your corner, it is possible to break into the industry and capture your share of the marketplace.
There are basically three types of law enforcement agencies, local, state, and federal. Local law enforcement agencies include police and sheriff departments. State agencies include the state or highway patrol. Federal agencies include the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service.
Note that these are agencies whose mission is to provide a law enforcement function and there are also agencies that have a law enforcement department or component within a larger agency.
Indeed there are various ways to market your products to law enforcement agents and businesses. Coupled with personal contacts, advertisements in relevant media combined with online marketing techniques notably increases your ability to promote your products to prospects and existing customers.
Most businesses in this industry sooner or later understand that direct marketing makes a difference in marketing to law enforcement agents and agencies since it is a non – threatening way to get their foot in the door with new customers.
A well detailed direct marketing campaign is expected to start with acquiring a lead list from an established third – party provider. From there, you can customize your direct marketing approach toward your company’s strengths and perceived needs in the marketplace.
Having user – friendly website is the crust of all of your other online sales and marketing activities. It may also be worthwhile to integrate email advertising, SEO, social networking and other techniques into your sales and marketing mix.
No business is identical, and type of agents and agencies you will market to will change depending on what you sell or the services you render. Nonetheless, the 10 tips and Strategies outlined below will go a long way to improving the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.
10 Tips and Strategies to Sell to Law Enforcement Agents
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Identify Target Buyers
If you haven’t already, the first step is to develop several buyer personas for your services. Likely you will have one for the Sheriff’s department, and other for the military, and maybe another for Human Resource Department. Just know what their goals and challenges are, what kinds of content they prefer, and how they prefer their solutions.
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Personalised Slides and Leave – behinds
The human touch remains a very important part of the buying experience. Note that most decision – makers in the law enforcement industry expect an in – person, face – to – face demo when making their final buying decision. These people want to see your product in action, and they want to be able to ask your salespeople any questions directly.
This is probably why in – person requests are up to 34 times more successful than those made over email. Law enforcement decision – makers want to see your product in action and get a feel for how it works – simply describing the tool is not enough.
Most businesses in this industry have some form of demo or free trial option available these days – customers will simply go with the competition if you fail to offer something which is now standard.
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Hiring Staff
Have it in mind that your sales force is your most important sales asset. Every first – rate sales strategy is ineffective if your sales team is unable to do their jobs effectively. Most law enforcement agents and businesses appreciate the value of sales professionals who are informed and prepared.
When these customers have a problem with an order, they typically reach out to their sales contact so it is imperative for your team to be trained in techniques for service after the sale.
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Original Video Content
Video content as a marketing tool is becoming extremely prevalent with law enforcement agencies, especially when dealing with technologies and new concepts.
They don’t always have enough time to go through a product or company datasheet, but almost everyone has the time to watch an entertaining, engaging two or three – minute video about a solution that might be of value to them. Just because you’re marketing to stern looking individuals doesn’t mean that your videos should be dry and technical.
In fact, the exact opposite is true. Creating videos that are particularly funny, humorous or entertaining will help you stand out from the crowd.
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Analytics
Have it in mind that marketing has reached an inflection point because everything, from offers and ads to technologies and channels, has become traceable. It is very easy for smart marketers to analyze the loopholes and problems in their advertising strategy as long as they have an analytics program handy.
The law enforcement industry is a fast moving industry that is so very adaptable to change. If you are to meet and acquire a market share, you also have to move with industry trends.
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Leverage Social Media
Brand awareness or website content can be increased through social media activity. Links can be developed through this heightened familiarity.
Through social media, it has become possible for businesses to expose their name to a wider target audience. Notwithstanding, the overall awareness of the brand can be enhanced, which means that more and more people will search for it.
When search engines notice that the search queries for a particular brand have increased, the brand is considered popular and is therefore given a higher ranking in results. But, this depends on the query that’s being searched.
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Talk Only When Necessary
When leveraging social networks as a business servicing the law enforcement industry, make sure you talk only when you think it is most needed. First, know what your overall impression on your fans and followers is. Secondly, know the kind of work, profession, business or organization you are associated to. It doesn’t mean you are not allowed to have fun and joke “at times”.
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Attend Industry Related Conferences
Being at the right event can lead to a huge boost in leads for your product. You might be surprised by the proportion of attendees who are interested in your product, so it is a worthwhile investment to attend a couple of industry events per year. Thoroughly research any event you plan to attend and ensure the right kind of buyers will be in attendance.
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Avoid Arguments
Always give response to a question or inquiry but not try to argue, especially with social networks. Some users will just argue with you to provoke you.
Many businesses have lost their reputation and actually stained their image by getting into unnecessary arguments. The law enforcement world comes with some restrictions and ethics, there will be critics and there will be harsh words said about and against you.
But the moment you start arguing with people for not liking you or criticizing you while the entire world is looking at comments from both sides, you have taken a wrong step.
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Be Present
Aside the fact that punctuality is a thing for law enforcement agents, you have to make sure that you have a presence on almost all the major social networking platforms. Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, and Twitter are the most renowned online social networking platforms and you just can’t have enough presence online unless you have your company pages and personal profiles on these social networks.
Also note that you can always have marketing specialists do this job for you. Hand over the responsibility of managing these pages to a professional who knows how to handle social networks.
The good majority of law enforcement agents and agencies in the United States have lean financials and demanding schedules. To succeed in the law enforcement business industry, you will need to closely adhere to a handful of sales fundamentals.