The international business landscape is a scary place but for the vast majority of Irish businesses it sooner or later becomes the only place. Let us make no mistake, the speed at which our economy recovers is tied in no small way to us regaining our abilities to successfully internationalise our products and services.

International investment will continue because we offer competitive corporate taxation, an English speaking and skilled workforce and a gateway into Europe.

We previously have enjoyed massive US backing but with so many emerging economies, huge new markets and globalisation, we cannot seriously expect this to continue.

Ireland is entering a brave new world, one with massive potential but one where global competition is fierce.

The new kingpin on this global block is called Speed. The pace at which opportunities will arise and be taken will be breath taking. Learning from mistakes is allowed so long as they are not your mistakes. It is about getting things done rather than talking about doing it. We are entering into an end game where results matter more than theory.

So what defining abilities will Irish businesses need to successfully internationalise?

My good friend Dave Brock talks about 4 and I agree.

Capability

Process

Capacity

Experience

Ok, these may mean slightly different things to an individual business but take away any one and the result is the same. You could say mistakes and to a large extend you would be right but the real killer in my opinion is pace or indeed lack of.

Waiting around to get it right means you risk losing the opportunity altogether.

The major advantage smaller businesses have over larger businesses is in their ability to make decisions and change quickly.

This principle could be equally well applied to countries and their respective economies. There is no reason why Ireland shouldn’t possess the ability to move fast. In fact, in my opinion a pair of fleeting feet should become a cornerstone in which our new economy is built.

With this is mind, I invite you to our Irish Software Internationalisation Events on the 29^th of Sept morning and afternoon. These are about giving Irish businesses the Capability, Process, Capacity, and Experience to Internationalise. It’s about results, it’s about speed…………Prepare to put the boot down.

Btb Guest Author

Dave Brock

Dave will be speaking our next Sales Leadership Ireland meet up “From the Buyers Perspective” on the 28th of Sept.

The other day, I was speaking with my friend, Niall Devitt.  He had invited me to speak at a conference focused on the issue:  It All Starts With The Customer.  It seems so simple and obvious, but too many companies have an inside-out approach to working with customers.

We tend to focus on our organizations, our products, our processes, our needs, and our policies.  Our efforts are focus on how we attract and motivate customers to buy our products and services.  Our strategies are generally driven by this inside out approach.  We launch products based on an inside out approach—and we fail to meet our launch objectives.  We build our channels and routes to market based on an inside out approach, then find that we aren’t reaching the market or touching the customers the way we should.  We focus on our marketing and our selling processes, rather than focusing on the customer’s buying process.

Wouldn’t things be simpler and produce better results if everything we did started with a customer?

What if we went to our key accounts and asked them, “How would you like us to be selling to you?”  We did this with a client many years ago—based on customer input, with our client, we redesigned the approach to covering key accounts, reduced the headcount covering those accounts by 60%, improved sales, improved customer satisfaction, and developed profoundly deeper relationships with these key accounts.

What if we look at our key customer segments, asking them, “How do you buy these types of products and services?  Who do you buy them from?”  Based on the input, build your channels so that you are aligned with how these customers buy.   We not only have the partners they want to buy from, but we have the programs and processes that are most attractive to them.  Instead, we build the channel from the inside out, hopefully built on some sort of targeting, but somehow driven by internal priorities and not by customer priorities.

What if we started designing our selling processes by thinking like buyers?  We might then design our process around supporting and facilitating their buying processes?  With a large office products manufacturer, we went to their customers and started looking at how they bought copiers and faxes.  We learned about how they identified their requirements, how they researched and got information, how they started selecting vendors to consider, and so forth.  We focused the client’s selling process to align with the key activities their customers went through in buying these products — both improving the efficiency of the sales teams, and aligning them more effectively with the customer—they were doing the right things, at the right time, with the right people.

What if we started focusing developing our sales strategies around what biggest problems problems we can help customers solve or how we help them improve our business, rather than focusing on pitching the features, functions, feeds and speeds of our great products?  A large software client went to their customers to understand how they designed airplanes.  They focused on the two biggest problems these customers faced then started talking to those customers about how they could solve those problems.  they focused their sales efforts only on customers with those problems—because they had done their homework, it happened to be most of the industry.  Their competition continued to sell features and functions, letting the customer figure out how those features solved their problems.  Within three years, this client had share leadership in that market.

What if we started designing our products and solutions, by collaborating with our customers—from the very inception of the product idea?  What if we put customers on our design review teams?  Would we have better success with our product launches, would we have fewer misfires?  With a large software supplier of data analysis solutions, we engaged a few key financial services customers in defining a new relationship management solution.  They were involved in the definition, at major milestones, and in all the testing.  The resultant product became indispensible to these customers.  Time to revenue at launch was reduced by 30%–because of the customer driven innovation.

What if we change the way we talk about customers?  Too often, I’m involved in discussions, where we talk about the customer in the abstract.  There seems to be a great distance between the “real customer,” the people who buy, and the way we talk within our organizations.  We tend to talk about issues, strategies, problems and solutions with customers being spoken of in the abstract.  We lose sight of specific companies and people.  Too often, this gives way to an attitude, “everything would be great if it wasn’t for those damn customers!”  We complain about them complaining rather than reveling in it because it shows they care.  We become unresponsive and indifferent.  We find ourselves having to invest more resources and more money in getting customers to listen to us.

I’m not naive, these issues are all part of what organizations do everyday.  Everyone knows about customer segmentation and developing programs targeting these segments.  Everyone knows about customer input as part of the product design and development process.  As sales professionals are trained in consultative selling.  But some how the context and prioritization doesn’t seem the same.  Too often and perhaps unconsciously, the customer moves out of the forefront of our minds, and we begin to focus on our internal goals, deadlines, processes.  We do things the way we have always done them?  The inertia of the past inward-out focus overcomes the focus on the customer — then we kind of forget about them.

I’m also not an idealist, believing the customer is always right or that we need to support every customer and every need.  We need to run our businesses to be profitable and achieve our goals.  However, we need to root our decisions in the customer and how we most effectively and efficiently reach and support our customer, and this process starts with them.

To help accelerate this change, let’s surround ourselves with customers.  Imagine what might happen if every conversation started with “I was talking to Jill at XYZ Company and she ….”  or “We met with these customers at the conference and they are talking about this….” or “I was watching how the people at ABC are using are products and they suggested….”  Imagine how our decisions might change if we actually had pictures of our customers—not just their logo’s, but pictures of people scattered around our facilities–simple reminders to everyone about who pays the bills.

——————–

Dave Brock works with organizations to help them achieve the highest levels of performance excellence. He helps them identify and execute new business, sales, marketing and customer service strategies. His goal is to have a profound difference on the lives and results produced by his clients. Dave is the founder and CEO of Partners in EXCELLENCE, a leading business consulting company. He has held executive roles in IBM, Tektronix, and other large technology companies. He is an investor, advisor, and director of several high technology start-up companies.

Btb Guest Author

John O Gorman

John will be joining me to host our next Sales Leadership Ireland meet up “From the Buyers Perspective” on the 28th of Sept.

To borrow from the lyrics of the popular song ‘buyers are doing it for themselves.’ They are ‘’standing on their own two feet and…’ identifying their requirements, defining the solution, writing the specification and building the business case. All this often takes place before they ever meet a vendor!

This reality leave the salesperson looking for a new role in terms of shaping the buying decision.

John O Gorman is a Director at The ASG Group and has sold and marketed software on a national and international (UK, Germany, US, Canada and South Africa) basis. John is trained in marketing and international selling methodologies. He returned from North America in 2003 and completed an International MBA in The Michael Smurfit Business School.

Internationalisation is the biggest single challenge facing the Irish Tech Sector today. Having ambition in Ireland, means you’re looking international quickly. Irish Tech companies almost immediately face great challenges to make their business successful.

On Tuesday the 29th of September 2009, between 10am to 2pm at the Hampton hotel in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, we invite CEO s of Irish Technology Companies to join us - Register Today, limited to 30 attendees.

The event will present talks from leading International and Irish experts, case studies from successful indigenous Irish Technology companies, and an opportunity to discuss the challenges and pitfalls of the International business landscape with your peers.

On the back of their recent partnership announcement Donagh Kiernan of Maidsfield Associates, Niall Devitt of Beyond the Boardroom and David Brock from Los Angeles based Partners In EXCELLENCE along with guest Kevin O’Leary CEO of Qumas, the internationally successful Irish software company, will present and discuss how Irish technology companies can to succeed in international markets.

The Partners In EXCELLENCE, Beyond the Boardroom and Maidsfield Associates Strategic Partnership’s focus is to help Irish Technology companies accelerate the results they achieve through their Internationalisation efforts. The partnership brings together experience and track record in helping companies successfully expand globally. Leveraging the capabilities to access new regions, markets, develop new channels and alliances; this partnership will help Irish Technologies improve the results they achieve in competing in a global market.

Whether your organisation is seeking to go international or already trading abroad the internationalisation partnership can assist you to ensure you achieve the highest levels of performance and the best results possible.

Together, Maidsfield Associates, Beyond the Boardroom and Partners In EXCELLENCE have helped Irish and other organizations achieve tremendous results in Internationalising. Organizations like Qumas, InnerWorkings, Decare Systems Ireland, Helix Health, Dolphin Software, Enterprise Ireland, IBM, HP, Canon, Motorola, Ericsson, Dassault Systemes, NCR, and others.

Timetable

10:00 Arrive, Coffee and Registration
10:30 Welcome and Introduction - Donagh Kiernan & Niall Devitt
10:40 Corporate Partnering into Markets - Donagh Kiernan
Guest: Kevin O’Leary, CEO Qumas
11:20 Hi Tech Globalisation Options - David Brock
11:50 Internationalisation Workshop - facilitated by Niall Devitt
Breaking into roundtables / groups and discussing internationalisation challenges and potential solutions
13:10 Lunch and Networking
14:00 Close

Attendees are limited to 30 - register today

Confidence in Action is a company specifically formed to address the problems and questions individuals and businesses have about their current situation in these challenging times. The company will run a series of nationwide recovery forums, the first of which takes place on Thursday 10th September in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin from 8am to 8pm.

Co-founders of Confidence in Action, Helen Fahy and Mary Jennings both from business consulting backgrounds, formed the company after an original idea about a redundancy event evolved into something more encompassing and holistic.

The nationwide recovery forums, entitled “Routes to Recovery” will offer practical solutions to current issues like reducing overheads, pension security & maximisation, job opportunities, re-skilling, start ups, as well as offering some alternative advice on stress and time management, relaxation therapies and business coaching. The forums will feature a host of guest speakers, agencies and companies from a wide range of sectors including economists, retailers, financial advisors, educational institutes, entrepreneurs and television and radio personalities.

Speaking about Confidence in Action, Helen Fahy said, “Our philosophy is to provide direction for positive change. We see Confidence in Action as a vehicle for development, to provide people and businesses with the skills, knowledge and abilities to be confident, to motivate and to increase self-awareness in these extraordinary times. We are encouraging people to take the initiative and figure out their next step.”

Commenting on the reason behind these recovery forums Mary Jennings said “The key theme is solidarity, raising awareness that you are not alone; there are people in the same situation as you. Everyone has fears, stresses and questions that are personal to them – why not house, under one roof an event that covers all areas and offers practical advice and solutions to current issues”.