what your product-centric approach tellls your export customers

3 Things your product-centric approach might be telling your export customers about your company.

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Did you know that your product-centric approach might tell your export customers more about your company than your P&L accounts, your annual turnover, the technical specifications of your products, or even your equity structure? As a sales professional, I have spent an extraordinary amount of time looking for, and researching, new prospects. When companies decide to go international, the first thing they do is look for new export customers, so my role has been to spearhead new customer acquisition. And to do that effectively, you need to research prospects to ensure your offering will add value to their companies. This … Read more

errores en exportación

5 Reasons behind export failure and how to avoid them

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Between 2010 and 2013, there was a boom in the number of Spanish SMEs that went international, according to data provided by the country’s tax and customs authorities. Still, a mere 32.5% of all companies selling abroad can be regarded as regular exporters, and it is they who generate 93% of total export revenue. Although the reasons behind this uninspiring export performance can be diverse, here I single out the ones I personally feel play the biggest role. 1. Exports are not a long-term strategic goal, and therefore, senior management is not committed to sustain them long-term. This approach treats … Read more

Nation Brand Index

Brexit: an outsider’s view on its impact on the UK’s country image.

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The EU referendum and its likely implications on the UK’s country image. In the recent EU referendum, the majority of British people voted to leave the EU, but what does this decision entail for the UK’s country image? The implications of the leave vote on the UK’s country image stretch far beyond the actual decision. Key considerations include: the leave and remain campaigns before the actual vote, the arguments they made to support their cases, the actual people (and their personal brands) supporting either side of the argument, the way the British public related to either camp, and most recently, … Read more

domestic vs export sales

Why aren’t our export sales growing as planned?

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The differences between domestic and export sales (from a Spanish perspective). Some time ago, during an informal talk with a highly-qualified and talented Managing Director, I was surprised with the following statement: “In our company we are doing the same with exports as we are at home, but we still aren’t growing as planned”. After asking him a few questions, I learnt that his company was fully committed to developing their export sales – he himself was leading the project – but they were unaware of having made any mistakes in implementing their export plan. That conversation inspired me to … Read more

Siesta

It’s siesta time, isn’t it?

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During a recent break at a business meeting, and while my customer was pouring a second cup of coffee, I was hit with the siesta question. Again. I had been thinking of writing a short post on the subject for quite some time, so after this incident I decided to get started. In fact, there are few words in the Spanish language which are this well-known across the world – siesta is right up there with fiesta, mañana, and probably cerveza. (Funnily enough, you could place them all under the same category of “leisure,” but this is a subject for … Read more