Are you capable of overseas sales?
The number of overseas business trips people make varies greatly depending on the nature of one’s work, from once a month to once a year.
Compared to a major company with its sales force (and sometimes engineers as well) and route sales to existing customers by midsized companies, the overseas sales (new exploitation) coinciding with first-time overseas expansion by SMEs is like beating one’s way through the jungle with no clear path, and not many people apply for the position.
Introduction
If you did a search using the keywords “Overseas sale jobs,” you would no doubt be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of industry types. In reality, there are many SMEs looking to hire people for overseas business-related tasks.
However, small companies about to embark on international expansion have a weak position insofar as the employment terms they can propose compared to major companies, therefore even if they attempt to hire people, they tend to have few applicants.
It is costly to continue recruitment activities. In fact, there are many companies attempting international expansion for the first time who have given up on the very idea of recruiting personnel.
Naturally, it is several times more difficult to light a fire than it is to keep a fire burning.
However, it can also be said that only the person who lights this fire can savor the sense of fulfilment when, finally after one or two years of exerting a united effort to expand overseas and securing customers, you land an order for the first time, or when you see the zeros in your sales figures grow gradually over time.
Finding new customers overseas sounds hard. Can I do it even without experience?
Your first attempt at sales in English will no doubt be so nerve-racking you’ll break out in a sweat, however there is no difference between looking for new customers in Japan and looking for customers overseas.
Prepare a potential customer list and make contact. Utilize sales tools to promote your company and secure customers. Alternatively, present a quote to inquiries originating from exhibitions, sales talks, your company website, or advertisements, then wrap it up.
If you lack experience with sales in Japan, start here first. The reason for this is because there is a higher rate of success in finding customers overseas in the order shown below.
1st place Experienced salesperson who can speak English
↑
2nd place Experienced salesperson who can’t speak English
↑
3rd place Unexperienced salesperson who can speak English
However, even though the process of securing new customers is common for Japan and overseas, the business norms at the roots of this activity are significantly different. Please be sure to hone the abilities for international expansion, as well as your sales capabilities.
>7 Knacks for First-time Sales Activities in English
What should I be careful of when making a presentation in English?
Unlike presentations in Japanese, the order you speak in is not introduction → development → twist → conclusion, but rather conclusion → reasons → concrete examples → conclusion.
You must state the conclusion first, then give the reasons.
As such, don’t merely translate your presentation materials into English. Instead, the secret to success is first creating the presentation in English from scratch, adopting a layout to present the conclusion first, then refining the content carefully before translating into Japanese.
Please see here for more.
>13 points of caution to avoid failure when creating an English website
>Helpful English writing tips Presentation
Essentially, you should only address one topic per slide; specifically, what you want to say the most. As an approximate, limit the amount of information to half of what you’d normally use, keep only the essential message, and be sure not to pack the presentation full of too many details.
Ideally, you should leave around 50 minutes for Q&A after a five-minute presentation. Also, don’t have a one-sided presentation where you talk for thirty minutes to an hour. The audience is bound to lose their focus and start fiddling with their smartphones.
Make sure your expression is always animated when you talk, stand tall, and look the members of the audience in the eye. Relax your shoulders and walk with your sacrum raised.
Think about the types of answers you’ll be asked during/after your presentation and practice so you can answer them flawlessly. Your answers will be much easier to understand if you follow the order of acknowledgement → conclusion → reason → conclusion.
Example
“Thank you for your question.
In short, the answer is XX. The reason is YY.
However, recently emphasis has also been placed on the perspective of OO.
It is highly likely it may become OO in the future.
However, at this point in time, XX will be mainstream for at least the next 3 years.
But it was very insightful of you to raise the point of “What about OO.”
Thank you for asking such a good question.”
Your response doesn’t even need to be this long. You can merely say, “Thank you for your question. The answer is XX, and thank you for raising that important point.”
The goal of making a presentation is getting the other party to take action.
If the below situations arise, you can assume your presentation was successful.
- People in the audience ask questions
- People in the audience ask how to proceed to the next stage after you’ve finished your presentation (who your company’s contact person is, by when can they receive materials, by when can a particular task be completed）
- Potential customers request that you meet their superior once, or see their factory
- Potential customers ask if they can visit your company or request a quotation
What can I do for remote sales targeting overseas markets?
For every one thing you can’t confirm unless you meet face-to-face, there are nine things you can confirm without meeting face-to-face.
The times are gradually changing so that the above situation is true.
However, for an SME, it is not usual practice to engage in monthly sales activities.
Securing new customers at as minimal cost as possible has always, and will always be, a necessity for an SME.
Transitioning into a new era is not something particularly new for an SME aiming to achieve international expansion, however there will no doubt be opportunities to increase variations of “What can I do in this period that I’m not visiting the customer?” scenarios even more.
To ensure you are strong enough to motivate customers even when you aren’t present, be sure to achieve
- Factorization and stock-take of all elements you wish to convey
- Verbalization/ visualization
whilst incorporating English and intercultural adaptation aspects also. If you do this, you will be able to get rapidly closer to a world-standard communication style after your transition.
Delving deep into the customer journey and preparing the necessary digital tools requires significant time and effort.
But, by interpreting this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and aiming to break into new territory even if it takes time and effort, you may secure a future deserving of someone not because they are a major company, an SME, a Japanese company, or a foreign one, but because they were able to take a tough situation and turn it into an opportunity.
Paccloa sincerely encourages the businesspersons representing Japan’s SMEs to show what they are worth to the people of the world by standing at the same start line as overseas salespersons across the globe and not being afraid of participating on an international level, but rather striving to make every chance a victory such as picking up on the implications and vibe of an online business meeting from the audio and visuals, and steering a first-time meeting into a deal-sealing situation, etc.
I have sales experience in Japan, and now I’ve understood how to prepare for using business English for international expansion!
I’m starting to feel confident things will go well!
That’s fantastic!
Only when you take action proactively, fail, be objectively evaluated, confirm response, think, and correct your course, will you finally acquire real know-how for the first time. That eventually becomes genuine strength and experience.
But even know-how that you’ve toiled to obtain is difficult to reproduce if you only trace along the surface of what you see and hear.
In the “What’s the easiest way to become capable of intercultural adaptation?” section, we taught you how to communicate by predicting the other party’s actions, but doing this together with a partner is another feasible approach.
If that also proves difficult, please consider taking advantage of Paccloa’s services.
