How T o Succeed in International Business
Introduction Mathieu Nicodème 20 years of International Sales Worked in Europe, Latin America, US, Asia and Middle East Enjoy the field
T oday’s Presentation How to expand your business internationally A check list of important aspect to consider A few advices regarding the inevitable questions raised by international partners and distributors
A Journey
A Journey in 1987
A Journey in 1987 If you don’t go, you don’t know!
A Polish Company: Podróż Polish SMB less than 50 employees Successful in Poland right now Develop their own solution Consist of hardware and software Subscription/Service model possible B2B market Standalone solution Can be integrated
Podróż wants to go International How to make it work? How to make it worth?
Where to go SWOT What is the competition doing? What kind of price do they have? What is their distribution model? Identify the best potential Take advantage of incoming demands
Prepare Everybody must be on board Translate and adapt : ◦ Marketing material ◦ Sales material ◦ Invoices and certificate Specific norms / Usage? Define your first customer Sector / Type / Name Integration capacity (Manual, API, SDK) Local marketing event targeting your prospects
Why a local partner? Important for Support / Sales / Marketing Language and culture Customers from your target group Will assume part of the financial risk Will be instrumental is adapting your marketing and communication within the local market POS with other solution related
Contracts First contract should be simple and straight to the points Quantities should be mentioned Exclusivity: ◦ Time limited ◦ Territory/Sectors restricted ◦ Quantity/Success motivated
4 types of partners – part 1 Distributors ◦ To sell quantities over reseller and/or customers ◦ Will expect marketing investments and fast selling Integrator ◦ To sell solution within a project ◦ Could be one shot, could be with every project ◦ Hard work but rewarding eventually
4 types of partners – part 2 Local Sales Office ◦ Dedicate one or more Sales People to market the solution ◦ Usually ask for a retainer (3 to 5K a month) and kick back on sales ◦ Will ask for exclusivity => Can be a good solution to start a market but it is rarely a miracle solution. Be present, be active and do not waste time to reconsider
4 types of partners – part 3 VAR ◦ Real money via the integration and/or the support ◦ Should be interested in the subscription. ◦ Need a well documented API/SDK ◦ Will require good support for development => If the model is right this is a win-win situation
SELL !
T o sell Be close to the sales process to understand what is working and what is slowing you down Focus on a limited amount of sectors to have a good understanding of your potential If a partner is involved, join the party to visualize the process and the results.
Conclusion Specially in the EU context, it is easy to recruit customers outside of your usual areas of work It does not have to be expensive Do not believe in stereotype but know them Be open minded but not naive
Thank you - Dziękuję Ci Mathieu Nicodème Mathieu.nicodeme@gmail.com +358 40 500 5470
3 CASES
The Publisher goes to Middle East Invest in local marketing event and dedicate sales and technical forces to the market After 8 months, a customer is ready to buy, but it needs an Arabic version Cost for Arabic localization are too expansive, no common ground, the market is abandoned
Startup wants to recruit VAR Major account in France requesting a deployment of the solution within its organization VAR will do the integration, the translation and the support of the solution Software architecture forbid the insertion of a layer between the customer and the Startup Project is abandoned
Specialist goes to Germany Startup makes a market study to identify the biggest actors in the laboratory sector in Germany Using a local support, meeting are set with key actors of these companies Within 12 months 2 major actors are deploying the solution and 2 others are evaluating.
Thank you - Dziękuję Ci Mathieu Nicodème Mathieu.nicodeme@gmail.com +358 40 500 5470
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