Don’t Forget to Pack Your Sales Strategy When Heading Offshore

Acquiring new customers overseas is actually easier than you think, however, it does take planning and some effort. Foreign and domestic markets have one thing in common; you don’t sell to companies, you sell and do business with individuals. Focus on building and establishing solid relationships.
So, before you jump on that plane and head oversees, here are five strategic issues you should bed down:

1. Identify your ideal customer
Who would you like as a customer? Selecting and developing opportunities in foreign markets requires direction and purpose.

There are three techniques to finding your ideal customer:
1. Demographics – This refers to location, sales, number of employees, and types of industry
2. Psychographics – What is their attitude, culture and beliefs, and do they match your company’s own views?
3. Triggering factors – Are they doing well, satisfied with their current suppliers etc.
The good news is that this information is readily available in the public domain, publications such as Dun & Bradstreet, Hoovers and Infotrac are good places to start, and these publications are readily available at any good library. You should be able to create a solid list of names in about an hour.

2. Learn how to sell well
It may not be your primary role but it is something that you must learn how to do. Don’t let the word sell scare you, it’s simply about building relationships with individuals by helping people with a need or problem that your product or service can solve.

This skill is often neglected; with many potential exporters having to relying on others this can be very costly. The basic skills needed in this area are:

• The ability to build rapport
• Listening
• Asking insightful questions
• Presenting your story
• Presenting to groups
• Negotiation ( very valuable)
• Relationship management

Bill Gates - Microsoft, Geoff Dixon-Qantas, Richard Branson – Virgin are examples of successful global business executives who are good salespeople. Don’t let the size of these companies scare you as each of these organizations started as a small businesses.

3. Branding and positioning (what makes you different from everyone else?)
What is your unique selling proposition? You must be able to stand out in a crowded market place and offer something different from your competitors, if not then they have no reason to do business with you.

Here are some examples of excellent branding:
MYOB – “The easy business software”
Total Self Storage – “One call for a worry free move”
Lube Mobile “Honest Friendly Reliable”

Start by asking your customers why they use you, what was life like before your came along? There words will often provide the key phrases for your branding statement.

4. Knowing where to fish
Who are the main players and competitors for your products or services? It does not matter what country you decide to investigate the good news is that there are probably only a handful of main players and several smaller ones. Know the lay of the land and seek them out.

Example: in the Australian market:
There are 3 big auto manufactures, 3 airlines, 2 daily newspapers in each major capital city, 2 local papers in each city, 2 telecommunications company, 4 mobile phone companies and 3 commercial television stations.

It’s very easy to obtain the names of these players and with a little more work you can identify the industry association or body they belong to. This applies to all markets around the world and industry sectors; break it down and determine who the main players are. This is where you start fishing.

5. Develop your strategy by asking the right questions.
When you’re entering a new market it can often be a case of “you don’t know what you don’t know.” One way to overcome is to call upon a researcher’s six best friends:
“Who, what, where, when, how and why”

They will not let you down. Hear are a few examples of the type of questions to ask when conducting your initial research:
o What services do they expect?
o What are the important buying criteria?
o How do customers buy?
o How do customers use the product?
o Where do they seek information about the product?
o Where do they buy the product?
o When do they buy?
o Who buys from our competition?
The key to finding opportunities overseas is to turn on your radar, by asking insightful questions.

There are wonderful opportunities available for anyone wanting to acquire new business overseas. The ideas that I have outlined are low cost and easy to implement. Don’t engage in extensive research until you have done the basics which you can do from your office. It’s a big world out there! Pick your targets and have some fun!

Clifton Warren
Peformance Improvement International
Email: Clifton@pii1.com
Web: www.pii1.com