Sales Eye: On the road in the EU
What follows are some lessons learned after an aggressive six-month campaign to expand the Lynka Empire outside the borders of Poland.
All markets are not the same
Many salespeople believe that the most important thing about selling in Poland is price. The same is not true, however, for every market. In Austria, quality is always the first thing our clients stress. In Finland, there is a big concern about deadlines and transport issues. Because of the distance and the water, the cost and time it takes to ship to Finland is much more than the rest of Europe. Finnish firms need to be certain the cost and the timing are reliable and cost-effective.
Personal visits
Customers don't want to order by phone from a Polish company. They are reluctant to trust Polish companies and still think of them as offering inferior products and services.
Testimonials and references
Prepare references and testimonials from well-known international clients in the language of the country you are selling to. Spend the extra time, money and effort to get it translated professionally, so there are no mistakes.
Visit tradeshows
We introduced ourselves at an international tradeshow in Germany. We had 1,000 visitors over four days to our booth from over 20 different countries. The task of following up from a show like this is monumental, and if there is no follow-up, there are no results.
Invite them to Poland
We recently created a targeted campaign to invite many of our top prospects in Germany to visit our factory in Kraków. They pay for the transport and we would cover their hotel expenses. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and almost every visit has resulted in business.
Don't screw up
You have to take extra precautions on any orders for export. If the order is not done according to what you promised, they won't accept it. You need to make sure that your customer service and internal operations take extra special care of any orders for export.
Poland should be invisible
If your business sells to resellers, you should realize that they might not want to advertise the fact that the goods are coming from Poland. That means there should be no Polish writing on the products or boxes.
Matt Lynch is international sales director and John Lynch is president of LYNKA Promotional Solutions. E-mail: saleseye@lynka.com.pl
All markets are not the same
Many salespeople believe that the most important thing about selling in Poland is price. The same is not true, however, for every market. In Austria, quality is always the first thing our clients stress. In Finland, there is a big concern about deadlines and transport issues. Because of the distance and the water, the cost and time it takes to ship to Finland is much more than the rest of Europe. Finnish firms need to be certain the cost and the timing are reliable and cost-effective.
Personal visits
Customers don't want to order by phone from a Polish company. They are reluctant to trust Polish companies and still think of them as offering inferior products and services.
Testimonials and references
Prepare references and testimonials from well-known international clients in the language of the country you are selling to. Spend the extra time, money and effort to get it translated professionally, so there are no mistakes.
Visit tradeshows
We introduced ourselves at an international tradeshow in Germany. We had 1,000 visitors over four days to our booth from over 20 different countries. The task of following up from a show like this is monumental, and if there is no follow-up, there are no results.
Invite them to Poland
We recently created a targeted campaign to invite many of our top prospects in Germany to visit our factory in Kraków. They pay for the transport and we would cover their hotel expenses. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and almost every visit has resulted in business.
Don't screw up
You have to take extra precautions on any orders for export. If the order is not done according to what you promised, they won't accept it. You need to make sure that your customer service and internal operations take extra special care of any orders for export.
Poland should be invisible
If your business sells to resellers, you should realize that they might not want to advertise the fact that the goods are coming from Poland. That means there should be no Polish writing on the products or boxes.
Matt Lynch is international sales director and John Lynch is president of LYNKA Promotional Solutions. E-mail: saleseye@lynka.com.pl
