Who Should Attend

Commercial directors, export directors, sales directors and managers responsible for the international development. Any personnel charged of recruiting and motivating the international sales forces.

Benefits of Attendance

The objective of the seminar is to significantly improve participant's ability to identify, organize and manage an international sales network. By the end of the training the participants will have acquire key competences to :

• Recruiting international agents and distributors
• Finding how to make them join
• Elaborating an annual action plan
• Integrating the cultural differences to keep the network up
• Setting and controlling the sales objectives
• Following up the results

Training Approach

• • A cross-cultural approach of international trade
  • Exercises based on the experience of the participants and cases studies experienced in the company
  • Personalized action plan and international negotiation strategies
  • Access to the Nomad’ Network, an exclusive online tool for Akteos’ clients and experts: find resources, exchange experiences, knowledge and insight

Programme Outline

Module 1 : Adopting the best export development strategy

1. Selecting the appropriate structure

• Understanding the dangers of exportation
• Identifying the markets, the products and the adequation between market and product
• Assessing the motives of the firm and of the export network
• Studying the direct solutions (representative office, affiliate) and indirect solutions (appointed agents, importer-distributor)
• Analyzing the comparative strengths and weaknesses

2. Choosing your way of implanting 

• Finding the data
• Analyzing the structures of competition
• Evaluating the existing agents (compared with the key success factors)
• Establishing the articles and conditions 

3. Establishing the distribution contract

• Measuring the importance of the contract
• Defining the respective obligations
• Identifying the aims
• Organising the reporting

4. Setting the structure

• Operating the transfer of competencies
• Setting a shared structure or a dedicated structure
• Choosing a brand strategy or a portfolio strategy
• Adapting the sales gambit and the objection-handling

Module 2 : Managing an international sales network

1. Setting up a sense of security

• Understanding cultural dimensions
• Making the distinction between emotional and cultural intelligence (Mosakowski)
• Identifying values
• Knowing the different modes of operating

2. Communicating and negotiating

• Identifying one's own style of negotiation
• Convincing one's interlocutor
• Applying techniques of communication in an international context: written forms, remote meetings, reporting, on-site meetings

3. Developing network performance

• Making a clever use of Hofstede's model
• Analysing the antagonism between the objectives (brand logic vs. portfolio logic)
• Making the objectives clear
• Acquiring motivation tools according to cultural data

4. Controlling the results

• Reminding the initial strategy pattern
• Setting the action plan and fixing the budget
• Building the tools and the reporting
• Selecting the evaluation criteria