Innovation is great. It drives progress and change, facilitates growth and makes the world a better place. Yet, marketing and selling new and innovative technology is no walk in the park.
He arrives in his Volkswagen Passat, neatly dressed in a suit and tie. He does not look flashy, but instead makes a very trustworthy impression. He is a salesman and has years of experience with convincing potential customers. He does so with the help of an ingenious sales presentation, which involves explaining why his solution is the perfect answer to all your questions and problems. He appears to know your every concern, as well as how to alleviate them. After he leaves, you are either holding a free sample or the keys to your new car.
Marlise Mahieu is the co-founder of Soosr, an online platform that makes social recruitment easy, appealing and trackable. Wanting to scale up her business in a cost effective way, without taking too many risks, she decided to outsource Soosr’s sales activities. By doing so, Soosr was able to focus on its core competencies, and save a lot of valuable time.
Any company expanding internationally must take the target nation’s legal, regulatory, and cultural environment into consideration. Companies can thereby choose to build up their own sales force in the new, uncharted territory, or they can outsource (part of) the commercial activities to a specialized organization. Especially for suppliers of complex tech and software solutions, outsourcing the commercial activities may be an excellent choice or welcome addition to their international expansion plans for the reasons set out below.
Maaike is Aexus' Managing Director. She is passionate about sales related stuff and loves cooking good food and watching blockbusters.