Many companies know that before launching an international sales campaign, they have to prepare themselves at the marketing and organizational level, even if they often underestimate the resources that need to be invested to achieve significant growth results (see also ” Getting Ready to Export: What To Do Before You Leave”).

Companies that correctly tackle this development plan invest resources in the preparation of effective (both corporate and product) marketing material and, following a careful analysis of competing products already distributed on the target market, focus on exposing and enhancing the quality of their offer in comparative terms. We are talking about companies that, while taking these steps, show that they are aware of the challenge of international competition and have laid the groundwork for an effective sales action. However, entrepreneurs who trust that the outcome of negotiations with international counterparts depends on the effectiveness of their communication campaign (moreover strengthened with flexibility on the pricing policy) often do not achieve the desired results. Why? Because, like any other business project, after the “concept” phase (product preparation and marketing communication), the ability to reach the goal is measured under another variable: “execution“.

The purpose of this article is to illustrate how, in the international field, attention should not only be placed on resources but also on internal (commercial company organization) and external processes (purchase and/or product adoption path from the potential foreign partner).

In fact, the emphasis of the entrepreneurial action is often placed on the “sale of the product” phase, through an exaltation of the product’s characteristics and advantages, in order to convince the potential buyer over alternative products. However, to finalize the negotiation and/or to establish a long-term relationship with the foreign partner, the focus shifts to the next delicate phase, the “execution” phase. The execution phase is focused on the efficiency of the company in fulfilling the demands of the new customer, in order to meet its expectations and obtain full trust.

Attention to the correct steps is not only relevant in order to reach the objective (i.e. a stable and continuous export) but to obtain this result in the shortest possible time. This latter objective is because the shortening of time represents savings in the invested resources, avoiding the risk that the acquisition costs exceed the planned revenues, unless other evaluation factors take place (for example, that the new customer can be an effective lever to open the market and acquire additional customers).

Let us now see concretely, besides the marketing, the theme of efficiency is a crucial element in successfully managing the international sales campaign.

INTERNAL SALES EFFICIENCY

After careful market analysis, the preparation of marketing material, the deployment of sales resources in the field, the company launches the commercial campaign abroad.

Thanks to effective marketing action, the company has come into contact and is negotiating with a potential buyer. Always employing a correct balance of resources to invest in capturing this preliminary interest, the company must promptly manage requests for information, samples, technical supporting material, etc., for three primary reasons:

• A quick response time keeps the attention of a buyer (between his request and our answer, other suppliers can approach him with competing proposals)
• the timeliness and precision in the fulfillment of the request feeds the trust in the new relationship (critical factor in the international field)
• the shortening of the negotiation phase (thanks to the minimization of lead time) considerably increases the probability of sale and reduces the invested sales resources.

In short, it is necessary to prepare the organization for the foreseeable needs of the foreign partner and, therefore, to allocate or prepare the necessary resources for the management of the negotiation phase (internal efficiency). While this seems obvious, this stage is often underestimated by the exporting company: the request is ranked on a list, while many other operating activities are managed, and eventually the managers will care to respond. Nothing could be more wrong. The new contact should be managed with the highest priority in the context of current management activities, as the window of attention and/or interest of the foreign partner is often limited and is likely to nullify months of investment in commercial promotion.

To increase its response capacity and minimize the impact on its day to day management, the company must try to anticipate the requests before the launch of the sales campaign, and prepare the necessary materials in time, in terms of:

• translated documentation, prototypes/samples, packaging, logistics service, discount policies, components for possible product customization, etc. (pre-sales phase)
• technical support, product tutorials, training material, warranty, etc. (post-sales phase)

The preparation of the company should not, however, be understood only in terms of product/service, but also in organization: devote ad hoc people or instruct staff engaged in operational activities on the priority to be assigned to these types of requests.

EXTERNAL SALES EFFICIENCY

The efficient management of the entire sales cycle does not depend only on the company, which could be extremely dynamic, but proceed slowly due to external factors, such as suppliers. If the production chain of the company depends on other operators (suppliers of raw materials, components, packaging, etc.), as it occurs in the vast majority of cases, the company does not necessarily have to surrender to the reactiveness of third parties. Instead, the company can act on time to ensure timeliness on this front as well. How? For example, routing in advance useful materials for prototyping and/or preparation of samples, or acquiring all technical and commercial information in response to non-standard requests from foreign buyers. Or, simply, through the involvement of the supplier, ensuring full support in the execution of any incoming request (in practice, by making the trading partner aware of the importance of the sales campaign in the launch phase).

However, external efficiency also extends downstream in the supply chain, including potential customers. This is a field often not considered by the company as it is exogenous to its reach of action. On the other hand, how does a company convince a potential client to speed up his answers and decision-making process? For many companies, getting interest from a potential international partner is already a success.

However, there are margins to intervene in this direction too, such as:

• active contact management: being constant and precise in the follow-up, respecting the committed times, the agreed answers and actions, with the right rhythm, i.e. being present without becoming pressing (internal efficiency that translates into external efficiency) facilitating the decision-making process of the buyer;
• target identification: to be able to identify key people in the decision-making process of the client, to communicate with the right people and ensure that the message arrives as directly as possible (with the double benefit of shortening communication times and the reduction of possible distortions of the message);
• understanding of purchasing factors: getting the buyer to talk as much as possible, asking questions that lead to an explanation of his decision-making factors and his purchase path, investigating the main characteristics of the offer and any accessory factors that impact on his purchase decision. This is all in order to help the counterpart in his assessment and in the endorsement process by other internal members of the organization.

The following figure illustrates the synthesis of these elements in a single overview, with the bidirectional arrow of the supply chain aimed at indicating that the exchange of communication. Information and supply components must take place in a fluid and dynamic manner in both directions, with the exporting company as an actor (internal efficiency) and as an orchestra director (external efficiency).

CONCLUSION

In a business world that is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of adopting strategy and advanced marketing tools to win international competition, companies often underestimate the equally important organizational and operational variables of their sales campaigns on the foreign markets. The strong interconnection of communication, thanks to the development of new digital technologies, has increased the level of competition through the increase of supply options for foreign buyers. This has increased the value of strategic marketing, although we must not forget that effective communication is essential to attracting the attention of the foreign partner, but not enough to maintain it. Therefore, the staff dedicated to the execution of the sales and after-sales process, in support of the commercial team, plays a fundamental role.