small business

One of the reasons I love what I do at Exportia, is that I get to work on a daily basis with brilliant minds. Founders and CEOs of small companies (they are often both) are amazing to work with, they are passionate about their business. They inspire their team and they create a vision and direction for the business. This is why they often are the best person to articulate the sales pitch. They know precisely what problem their business is solving and they know what makes a person buy their product or solution.

Price is an element of the mix that is quite important when introducing a product into the European market. It will determine the level of profitability of this line of product for the years to come. I often have this debate with one of my customers, who is quite anxious to get early sales, but at the same time, his CFO and I keep telling him we don't want to discount. The CFO thinks of long term profitability and I just don't like to discount too soon and without a good reason. Here is why.

My world of export started with driving 10,000 km a month and through to doing a Paris/Frankfurt–Sydney flight once per month. That’s my export career in a snapshot. I started in this extraordinary industry 20 years ago and in that time, I’ve learnt a great deal. And that’s what I’m going to share in this article, but I also what I share in my books. 

Often in Europe, you have a set of norms and standards that are defined at the European level that you have to comply with. This is something that is set and you have to comply with these standards if you want to sell. To lobby for a change in a standard is a long-term undertaking. We, small businesses, need to generate revenue right here, right now. We cannot wait for this to happen before we start selling.