10 Laval SME Executives share their tips on how to effectively sell on the international market at a lower cost

During a recent meeting with a group of ten Laval SME executives, we discussed the best practises to cost-effectively pursue business opportunities in international markets. The objective of the meeting was to draw up a list of tips that we could share with SME leaders who wish to break into a foreign market but have a limited available budget.

The tips were classified under four (4) main themes:

Participating in foreign trade fairs;
Prospecting for clients or partners;
Hiring staff or foreign representatives assigned to developing international business;
Promotion and advertising.

Of course, the relevance of each tip will vary based on the company’s strategy, business model or field of business.

In Part 1, we will present tips relating to the first two themes.

Participating in Foreign Trade Fairs:

Share a booth and associated costs with a business from your network that offers related products;
Display your products in your distributor’s booth, which will allow you to feature the products, to take advantage of traffic at the booth, to reduce the cost of renting your own space and also to maintain your relationship with this distributor;
Take advantage of a trade mission organized by a government organization or an association in order to feature your products at Quebec’s, Canada’s or the association’s booth. This provides significant exposure at a reduced cost, and also generally allows you to benefit from financial support;
Attend a trade fair as a visitor. In anticipation of this visit, organize meetings with potential clients or partners who will be at the fair without carrying the cost and suffering the restrictions associated with having a booth. The visit will also allow you to assess whether it is relevant to be an exhibitor at this fair in the future.

Prospecting for Clients or Partners:

Use your network, ask clients or partners to refer other potential clients or partners;
Take advantage of trips to visit your foreign clients or, in the case of a service company, use the fulfilment of foreign mandates to do some prospecting in order to target new clients;
Use LinkedIn to specifically identify potential clients or partners and communicate with them without having to travel. Consider subscribing to the Premium version to benefit further from the opportunity to contact people directly;
Use videoconferencing tools like Skype to initiate and maintain long-distance business relationships;
For businesses that sell to other businesses (B2B), use databases such as Data.com from Salesforce to access lists of business leaders throughout the world;
Take advantage of international events being held in Quebec to build a network of foreign contacts;
Get involved with international associations or even local ones to broaden your network of contacts;
Ask each visitor to your Website to register and provide an email address to receive updates and promotions. This enables you to build a database of potential clients.