How To Get Your International Sales Offer Right In Today’s Economy

Cindy King — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:00:23 +0000

A good Twitter friend Rajeev, also known as @mintblogger recently wrote about blogging in saturated niches.

Saturated Niche: Why You Should Brush Aside This Term

Rajeev says that blogs in highly competitive niches survive because they generate unique content and have an aggressive marketing strategy.

This reminds me of a common problem some people have with international marketing. And this problem seems to be omnipresent with businesses trying to sell to international markets online.

No Unique And Compelling Offer

There are a few harsh realities. Business is business everywhere.

If you are trying to sell something no one wants to buy, you will not succeed.
If you do not make your offer compelling you will not succeed.
If you have a great product, but your offers is not compelling, someone else will make it more compelling and “steal” your clients.

You simply must have a unique and compelling offer in today’s economy. There is no way around it.

As Rajeev pointed out, this is the reason why some blogs survive, and even do well, in highly competitive niches.

Make A Unique Offer To Your International Market

Of course, your offer must be of value to your international markets.

I have often tweeted this article by Apala Chavin, which gives a great description of how your offer needs to be adapted to your international markets:

The Washing Machine That Ate My Sari – Mistakes in Cross-Cultural Design

Please read this if you are interested in selling your products abroad.

But beyond the value people find in your offer…

In order to get ahead in tough sales situations, you also need to find an offer that is unique. And an offer that is unique in one country may not be so unique in another country.

This is part of your success.

A unique offer creates the demand.

Make A Compelling Offer To Each Cultural Market

The other part of your success depends on how compelling you make your offer.

A compelling offer gets you the sale.

For international sales, the difference is that you need to find out how to make your offer compelling to your different markets.

Yes, that’s right…

Different cultures have different emotion buttons. Something truly compelling is probably something different in each of your international markets.

Aggressive Marketing

When Rajeev mentioned aggressive marketing, I first thought of volume. Taking massive action is important. But I think that an aggressive marketing strategy today is one with a truly unique and compelling offer. This is what really separates the winners today. You either have an offer that works for your market today, or you don’t. Either you make the sales, or you don’t.

The problem is that to find the unique and compelling offer for your product, takes work. And this work is multiplied by the number of countries you want to sell to.

The good news is that if you are aggressive in carrying out different marketing tactics this can help you. You can usually incorporate part of the process of identifying the right offer for each country over a period of time using different marketing tactics.

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How To Get Your International Sales Offer Right In Today’s Economy

What Is An International Sales Specialist?

Cindy King — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:00:25 +0000

International Sales Professions

Another useful question that came up recently here on CindyKing.biz. Definitions are always helpful to broad English speaking audiences.

So, without looking at a dictionary, here is my definition of an international sales specialist.

An international sales specialist is obviously a seasoned sales professional…with a specialty.

Most sales specialists qualify their specialty.

My specialty is in international sales.

So how can you become an international sales specialist?

In The Field International Sales

This is a skill you can only acquire through experience in the field. And you also need a wide experience in international sales.

You can acquire international sales experience through:

International sales based in your home country without travel.
International sales based in your home country and traveling to see clients in other countries.
International sales based in a foreign country.
International sales based in a foreign country and traveling to see clients in other countries.

International sales based in your home country, and without international travel, will not usually give you enough exposure to become an international sales specialist.

Obviously you can expect to develop more international sales skills faster when based in a foreign country and traveling to sell to clients in other foreign countries.

There are also a few other factors you need to develop a specialty in international sales:

Time Spent In International Sales

The amount of time you spend in international sales has a direct result on how good your skills are. The trouble is that the amount of time needed varies. There is no magical formula. It all depends on you. Do you adapt to other cultures faster than others? Or do you need more time?

For example, you can assume that a person who spends 2 years abroad in international sales and then returns to his home country will not be as skilled as someone who spends 4 years abroad. But this is not always the case. And I have encountered many people who live abroad for many years, work in international sales, and do not really make an effort to improve their international sales skills.

Cross-Cultural Empathy

I am sure you have encountered people who appear to have more “natural” sales abilities than others. In international sales you can also come across people who seem to have a “natural” ability.

These people usually have good cross-cultural empathy. They can relate to different cultures more than others. And they are usually better at international sales than others.

Cross-cultural empathy makes it easier to create trust in different cultures. Trust is essential to international sales.

More International Sales

Of course, an international sales specialist can increase your international sales. But this level of expertise is usually put to good use in high profile sales and to gain intelligence for international business development.

Most companies with high profile international sales often look for the best skills out there. There is too much at stake.

International sales specialists bring added value to businesses just opening new foreign markets. They can identify key marketing and positioning strategies for new markets. They learn how to find the best offer for new markets.

When developing new markets an international sales specialist always works closely with the company’s top executives in Marketing and Business Development. The information in from the new foreign markets will often define international business and marketing strategies.

My Journey To Become An International Sales Specialist

This is how I have become an international sales specialist. Over 25 years field experience in international sales, marketing and business development, within both European start-ups and large American multi-nationals.

It all started with learning one language in a foreign country…and being so keen on cross-cultural empathy that I went too far.

Taking cultural empathy too far leads to a road of personal discovery.

This road to personal discovery, while living in a foreign country, speaking in a foreign language and working in an international environment, allows you to develop strong cross-cultural skills.

Strong cross-cultural skills together with international sales and marketing teaches you:

How to go about identifying the best international business offers, even to open new foreign markets.
How to resolve the most difficult cross-cultural business issues.

What about you?

Do you have any specific questions related to international sales professions?
Do you have any other insights to share?
What do you like about international sales jobs?

Please leave your comments below.

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