As a small business, I believe in general, that you need three qualities to succeed in export and in particular in the European market. You need to display persistence, agility and confidence.
There has never been a better time for small and medium-sized agile Australian businesses to export. I know this is not what you would expect to hear in the middle of a global pandemic! Since March 2020, I have been ‘stood’ down. From monthly commuting between Sydney-Frankfurt, I have switched exclusively to international Zooming. And I have to say, it has happened very smoothly and very successfully. My team and I have transitioned towards an online lead generation and sales process. The pandemic’s impact on international business has been unexpectedly amazing. I have come to the realisation that small businesses, that are smart and agile, are best positioned to make the most of these challenging times.
It is December and time for you to finalise your 2021 goals/objectives and plans for the European market. The EU business year is from 1 January to 31 December. By early December EU business people are busy completing business for 2020 and formulating planning for 2021.Sales people will concentrate on completing as much business as possible before the end of the year, making sure they reach their sales targets. Your distributors or sales channel partners will also be busy in this mode. Department managers are finalising their plans for 2021, sales managers are finalising their sales targets and purchasing managers are now finalising key budget allocations for 2021.
Before COVID-19 hit, I used to commute between Australia and Europe on a monthly basis. That was one of my core activities visiting European clients and having face to face meetings with their sales teams on behalf of my Australian customers. When COVID-19 hit I had to stop travelling abroad or risk being stuck overseas far from Australia and my family.
This 17th of November at 3:30 PM. We'll have the pleasure to interview Delphine Coppens of Jextern on succeeding with the French Market. Join us on our 30-minute session and learn the following...
Recruiting a network of Sales Agents is a great way to accelerate sales in Europe. It is also a low risk option that offer a lot of advantages for small businesses!
Over the years, I have found that small businesses get confused and sometimes intimidated by their European distributors, which are trying to dissuade them from having direct contacts with the end-users. It’s a very common practice, as distributors are trying to protect their key clients relationships.
This is the September update of our Webcast, How exporters can survive COVID-19 and then PROSPER. Our objective will help for you to better understand the challenges that SMEs are facing and start planning to reconfigure your business sales process and approach to take account of the new reality. Now the constraints related to COVID-19 have been integrated, and it’s time to build long-term business resilience and more sustainable international growth for your business, as we are uncertain when the crisis will clear. This event will also focus on successful overseas customer/business partner engagement strategies and supporting SMEs to prosper in COVID-19 times and beyond.
Are you hiring a professional out of corporate to join your fast-growing small business ? Are you a professional out of corporate considering working for a small business expanding rapidly in international markets?
Over the years, I have seen small businesses being blurred by the expression “it’s all about the contacts!”. And so they would think that they really needed to find the person who had all these contacts and by magic it would give them a lead way into a new country or a market. To be honest, it always rings alarm bells, when a customer comes to me and tells me if he/she is about to recruit a senior person based in Europe that has all the required contacts.
