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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Jim Thomas
August-September 2016

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Global Sales

Most small to mid-sized enterprises may try to use the same proven successful sales process internationally as what they have used domestically. The sales process is fairly similar:

Conduct customer research pre-visit; do an in-house needs assessment; demo the product; present a product proposal; reach agreement and terms; deliver the product and follow-up.

In principle this theory is correct;

however, there is one important deviation from an implementation standpoint in most cultures outside the United States. The trust-building process leading to step 5, delivery follow-up, is quite different.

The American salesperson focuses on building credibility initially for the product. Then once product integrity is established, the company-to-company relationship is what stands behind the product with its policies and procedures. And then lastly a consultative relationship is built at the salesperson level. The product is paramount to success and is the key differentiator in the sales process.

The non-American salesperson focuses on building personal credibility initially for himself or herself, then for the company and lastly at the product level. The products can always change; however the salesperson is the key differentiator and acts on the customer’s behalf.

This process is further accentuated

when there is a third party channel partner in the sales process because it is a commercial intermediary. SMEs typically employ a third party channel partner because they do not have the financial wherewithal or expertise to sell directly in the foreign market.

At this stage of your business, it is usually best to have locals selling to locals because there is a lot of trust building for a new brand in a new market. Having a familiar voice with a familiar face makes the sales process easier for the customer.

I have written at length about how to find distributors in various markets—there can be some science involved. This type of process helps to start you with a target distributor list to research.

The best distributor candidates usually “sell” me. They are hungry. They have passion. They are frequently the business owners and see the customer possibilities in their market long before me. They recruit me with their enthusiasm. It is a hard attribute to measure, but you know it when you see it, and feel it.

How do they act?

       1. They are proactive. The background that you seek: basic logistical information, organization charts and marketing plans are prepared             and logical. They may not be polished and professional; they are short, concise and on the mark. They are actionable.

        2. They push me. They want product training and are willing to invest their time, energy and dollars at the early stages to get the                          projects started. They want product brochures and technical information so they can translate them for their customers.

They seek historic product application information so they can build a target customer list. They want a company representative to                    join them at local trade shows and customer visits to show that they have a partner and want to soak up all the knowledge they can.

         3. They see the possibilities in the alliance and devote the mind share toward a longer term relationship. They are driven by                             profitability. They are willing to price product to market and extract a premium for their service to support the product, but also                          optimize market share to give the brand visibility.

         4. They see the value in the leads that are provided and respond to these customers quicker than I would. They build my brand                          better than I could from afar.

          5. They are open and transparent. They share competitive pricing data, customer details and application information.

          6. They are focused on your product line. They systematically devote human resources and a distributor team to reach success.

          7. They are customer-centric. They offer the customer the best product option and solution based on the end users’ needs.

One simple, widely accepted test

to determine if they are committed to my product line is to ask them to complete a 1-2 page distributor information form. Ask them for contact information, organizational structure, a simple marketing plan and competitive insights.

If they don’t complete a simple form it is a harbinger of a lack of transparency or an inability to plan work. Contact me for samples if you need one.

I have seldom seen passionate partners fail, despite macroeconomic calamities, plunging exchange rates and economic crises. For the most part, though there is no quit in them and once they have their passion don’t try to break them.

Give them the best technical support, fair pricing, on-time delivery, marketing tools and effective product training and you will have a partner and enduring relationship for life.

 

Contact: Jim Thomas is the sales manager of Hollingsworth International,
an export management company based in Golden Valley: 763.231.1444;
jim@hollingsworthinternational.com; www.jimthomasintl.com.