Did you know that international markets can be A great opportunity to boost your business?
Due to inflationary pressures and supply issues on the supply chain, the Italian domestic market is experiencing a downturn, and many companies are increasingly struggling to find new customers and thus increase sales.
The latest data presented by SACE, in its Export Report 2022 last September, however, highlight how strongly export-oriented companies are responding better to the crisis than others.
And on closer inspection, the B2B sector is the one that is benefiting the most from this trend: according to Alibaba, a well-known Chinese e-commerce platform, Italian B2B exports worth more than 500 billion euros in 2021, with a growth of 15% over the previous year.
The secret to the success of B2B enterprises abroad is only one: a proper internationalization strategy over the medium and long term. This is why we can say with certainty that internationalization is now an almost obligatory step to see your business' turnover and profits increase.
But how can your company follow this trend, and Increase foreign sales in the B2B sector? There are numerous steps to follow: from the need for market analysis, to choosing the most suitable products by individual country, and developing a suitable marketing plan.
Therefore, in this article we will study together how to implement these steps: here is the B2B strategy manual for increasing foreign sales.
To effectively sell abroad, and increase your company's profits in international markets, there are certain steps to follow, which we will explain in detail in these paragraphs.
Broadly speaking, the steps to follow are:
Imagine you are in a completely new city abroad for a vacation or business trip. How would you feel at first?
No matter how much you may have studied the city map, Googled for information, and asked for opinions on the Internet-you will not be able to shake off, at least initially, that feeling of disorientation.
Here then is the same for your products when your company wants to enter new markets: the target country is completely unknown and new. And just as you need a period of adjustment, study and learning in a new city, your company and its products also need a period of studying the situation.
For this reason, To increase foreign sales in B2B starts here: study the market. In doing so, your company will need to engage with some market surveys.
It will therefore serve to inquire directly or indirectly On the preferences of potentially target companies, payment methods, requirements that machinery, products, or services must meet such as specific certifications or awards. We then need a competitive analysis, to try to understand the characteristics of the products of companies similar to ours in that country, and possibly understand what price they are sold at.
But how to do all this? One very useful tool is the Global Market Finder, a tool offered by Google that calculates numerous international trade data for the product and country you decide to include in your search criteria. In fact, for each keyword entered, Google will return a specific value, which the higher it is, the more interesting that particular product is in a given country.
Another critically important element for increasing foreign sales in B2B is. Offer only and exclusively on your company's flagship products.
In fact, too many companies make the mistake of offering the entire catalog abroad, without taking into account, however, that each country is unique: this means that products that are appreciated in Italy, might not be as successful in France, Brazil or India. Moreover, another risk that is avoided by offering only a few products is that of confusing potential customers with a lot of information and many proposals that are too different from each other.
At the bidding and negotiation stage then, it can be very useful and fruitful to Focus on certain variables of fundamental importance, such as the quality of Made in Italy products, which usually enjoy great success abroad.
Other factors to consider then are the unique features your company can offer compared to the competition, such as the solution to a specific problem, the aesthetics of the products offered, after-sales services such as customer support or the availability of official spare parts.
The third factor for increasing overseas sales for B2B companies is. The ability to select the right business partners.
In fact, their selection should not be limited to a mere choice of the most advantageous economic offer, but should consider elements such as international experience, knowledge of the target market, short response time and ability to intervene immediately should problems arise.
About this, If you want to find out in detail how to choose the best business partners for your enterprise, we recommend you read Octagona's article dedicated to selecting the right business partners: “Does your company rely on the right international partners?“.
In addition, discovering new business partners and establishing strong relationships with them, you can expand your networking. In other words, through specific knowledge, it is possible to reach new potential customers, thanks to which it is possible to further increase foreign sales for Italian companies.
And if you are an entrepreneur or manager of a B2B business, you know very well that events and trade shows are the perfect opportunity to expand your network. In fact, having a booth at a trade show is also very useful for a branding issue: being seen, getting to know new companies and potential collaborators, and giving evidence of attending the trade shows of greatest interest can definitely benefit your company's online and offline visibility.
Finally, the last element that your company should not miss to increase your B2B company's foreign sales Is the mastery and implementation of digital tools.
Already in the article we devoted to the success factors of the internationalization of Italian enterprises we had indicated this feature as fundamental, and here again we want to emphasize the concept.
Tools such as the International SEO can indeed increase traffic to your web, intercepting searches made by users in international markets. This practice includes all activities aimed at improving the indexing of your company's website on Google: in other words, with an international SEO plan is possible for your Site appear in the first search results of foreign users, consequently going to increase potential sales abroad.
In addition, to SEO techniques International you can put other digital tools side by side, such as an advertising campaign to increase your company's brand awareness and web reputation. One way to do this is to rely on Google AdWords or LinkedIn Ads tools. In both cases, these are very effective paid advertising campaigns when implemented on your company's flagship products: in the first case, the advertisements will appear exclusively on Google, while in the second case it is advertising that will appear on LinekdIn, known to be the most important social network for connecting businesses and professionals.
If you are interested in understanding the benefits of proper internet positioning through improving your business' brand awareness, I recommend reading the article devoted to online sales.
If you have read this far our Strategy manual for increasing foreign sales in the B2B sector, then you are ready to think, design and define your first strategic plan for foreign sales.
As you have seen, the secret to being successful despite times of crisis is. Combine offline sales with online sales, however always after thorough market and product analysis.
Precisely because of the complex nature of these techniques, especially with regard to digital marketing activities, we always recommend relying on an experienced web agency or internationalization consulting company And with demonstrable and proven knowledge.
Are you interested in developing your business abroad but don't know where to start?
Then contact us: Octagona is an internationalization consulting firm that for over 20 years has specialized precisely in offline and online techniques to increase foreign sales in the B2B sector. Discover our services of Digital Export, Temporary Export Manager o International Advisory.
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Apply for the Lombardy Region's Internationalization Line Announcement.
Apply for the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region's Internationalization Call for Proposals.
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