How do you find the best international sales channels for your product?

Have a cold emailing, digital marketing etc and see the responses. Do not tailor every process. Just determine where to start, what is the easiest way etc. On the way, you will find out many things which are not written anywhere. International sales must focus on only how to start. The rest is absolutely unique for every occasion.

Finding the top sales channels globally demands some hustling. First, research like there's no tomorrow. Dive into markets, check what's hot and what's not. Seek potential partners, distributors, or online platforms. Leverage trade shows, industry events, or B2B platforms to connect. Don't forget e-commerce giants; they're the real deal. LinkedIn? Oh yes! Network, find leads, and explore collaborations. Remember, it's about visibility, accessibility, and aligning with platforms where your audience hangs out. Test the waters, adapt, and keep the global sales game strong.

who will buy your product? why do they buy? when? how? if you can answer this, you can pretty much reverse engineer a job description for the ideal partner profile. the partner you want is selling something today, what you want to do is figure out what he is selling today (a non competing product) that is sold you your ideal end user, through a purchasing path that is similar to your product, at a price point similar to your product. if you can find that, you can find your ideal partner

In B2B markets, with a little change, all stages are the same.... you should consider that "PEOPLE" are the ones who finalize a deal in B2B markets too and you should consider it clearly that, your business must be familiar to these persons.

International sales should not focus on only one channel or strategy. According to budget they should try, try, and try. Cold email, newsletter, LinkedIn, Instagram, exhibition, face-to-face meeting etc. Then find out which channels, how much effective and where it is effective. By the time, sales find its own way.

If your target audience is on LinkedIn, this is a good place to start: it's easy to find prospects, and there is a slightly higher chance they'll speak English (which, still, isn't the case in many countries). Ideally though, you should've already identified the best ways to go to market with your local team (strongly advise in favor of hiring locals).

build an ideal partner profile - what competencies do they need? what price point should they be comfortable with? who should they be selling to today? what bandwidth do they need to cover your market correctly ? then go looking for them, don't be passive about this. there are probably only a few good fits in each market, and they are businesses, sales businesses, so they want their customers to be able to find them, you can find them. look for complementary products and see who the channel partners are. look at local trade show calendars in and see what distributors have the biggest booths and are selling complementary products

A trusted local consultant can identify for you the most suitable local sales channels in the new market. From our experience of 20+ of assisting foreign players in their expansion to the Emerging European markets, the most suitable and efficient sales channels can be easily identified through local research of the competitors in the local market, identifying the potential local business partners (such as importer-distributors, resellers, agents etc.) Indeed, if you are a big corporation you can carry out this internally or you can hire a top market research firm. How about if you are an SME or a new exporter and you can't afford a big budget?

You have to find the channels that work at this time, in that market for exactly your product. That ideal route to market solution is going to vary from one market to the next so trying to impose a "one size fits all" solution won't work

Of course there are technical requirements for who is the best partner for you, but you also have to remember that business is done between people. So if you can't bear to work with someone, it's mostly a poor basis for collaboration even if on paper they are a great fit.

When entering a new market, having strong partners is key - and can be a good entry point to sell into the market. Now, this is key: You need to sell a product that is complementary to theirs, and that solves one of their client's problems. The partner will benefit from client goodwill; this is stronger than giving a % incentive on revenue. In general, re-selling isn't a great approach in my experience. Work with partners who are complementary instead.

Find a partner that matches your industry, products, sales channels, values and size No sense in partnering with a big multinational local distribution branch if you're an SME Or with a part-time, freelance grad if you're already a SME exporting to several near by and far away countries.

The companies who sell on an EXW basis and just visit their partners once a year to see how things are going are less successful than those who work intensively (it's called a PARTNERSHIP after all) together with their distributors to get the best possible results for the brand

A long time ago, international sales was mainly selling stuff EXWORKS by the container and moving on to the next one. In the last 2 decades every industry has seen that the international channels and distributors need a lot more support. Training Marketing assets Customer service Lead sharing from global tools (such as websites, social media and expos) Probably one of the most crucial decisions to make: Be as generous as possible with the margins so they can invest in all the local marketing or Take into account marketing support, target bonuses, etc. in the quoted prices

Whichever channel you decide is most appropriate for your product or service, to get the best results you must consider them an extension of your own sales team. Communication, training and support are key to maximising sales and ROI.

Main goal to adapt and diversify your sales channels is to collects as much direct Buyers from different countries. That helps feel more comfortable at your market while you are in position to adapt globally if market sales trends changes geographically. Gather useful data insight during the regular conversations with all of them. Some of the traders think that Buyers dont want to share any insight and its sometimes hard to get even a price ideas but in reality all of them are human been. And in my experience they would be happy to share their insight every time when they get from you some rumors or trends indications from other markets that also helpful to them. Focus on such communication development to help yourself.

You may also analize Competitors' & Compensating Product Manufacturers' export market sales channel data; and try to figure out which countries they have prefered. Then, the simplest and fasted to revenue method will be coupling with the local distribution partner of a Compensating Product Manufacturer; whom will have the channel ready, but the missing piece (your product line)...

The way you choose to export your products can have a significant effect on your export plan and specific marketing strategies. A key consideration is the level of resources your company is willing to devote to your international marketing effort. Other considerations are: The size of your company Your tolerance for risk Resources available to develop the market Opportunity costs The nature of your products or services Previous export experience and expertise Business conditions in the selected overseas markets.