When it comes to exporting services, even the smallest of details can make a major difference. For those businesses willing to put in the time and effort to customize some of these details for global customers, the benefits can lead to huge returns in the long run.

With this in mind, here’s some advice from the case studies from the FITTskills Products and Services for a Global Market course that will help lead you towards the results you want.

1. See what potential new customers want – and give it to them

You may have refined your service offerings over the course of several years in your domestic market, but once you move internationally, it’s almost like you’re starting the process over from scratch. It’s important not to waste time, money and effort promoting a feature of your service that your new customers may not want or deem important. At the same time, ask yourself if there are aspects of your service that new customers may value more than your current client base. Are there ‘easy to add’ additions your new market will love?

The only way to find out is market research. What are your potential competitors doing, and how can you learn from them?

Talk to potential customers however possible – focus groups, surveys, response forms, etc. – to get the feedback you need to customize your offerings.

The results may lead to a simple tweak, such as emphasizing one benefit seen to be more valuable than another, or something larger, like adding or subtracting from your service offerings. Whatever it may be, if it will draw new customers without overextending your time or money, it will be a worthwhile endeavour.

2. Speak their language – both literally and figuratively

As we’ve discussed in other articles, translation can be a vital step towards attracting customers. This includes your website and any other marketing or written material.

Equally important is having the staff capacity to speak the local language. Whether your service is offered in-person, remotely by individuals, or otherwise, customers will likely want to interact with a person at some point, even if only for customer service. Do you already have staff capable of speaking fluently to new customers, or will you need to make some new hires to ensure those competencies are met?

Beyond language, there are also entire fields of specialized professional vocabulary, idioms, and cultural references to consider.

Does the language in your new market already have pre-determined words to describe everything you do, or will you be required to find new terms or ways of translating?

If the latter, you may want to consult multiple translators, as well as locals, to ensure your meaning won’t be lost.

Are there any references or phrases that may not make sense to customers in your new market because of cultural differences? It can be hard enough to avoid such confusion even within the same language: after all, if a person from Liverpool tells you to “get the brolly from the boot”, do you know what they’re asking for?

If a reference to snow, cold or winter won’t make as much sense to a customer in a warmer climate, find something else that will fit. Instead of using a stock image with the New York or Toronto skyline in the background, find one with local landmarks people will recognize, and may even see out their windows or during their commute. Once you’re in that mindset, finding other ways to tailor language and references to new customers will come easily.

3. Don’t get on the wrong side of the law

Whether you’ll have people locally on the ground or not, there’s a host of legal questions to consider. These range from privacy, anti-spam and IP laws to rental or service agreements, competition laws, labour laws and travel regulations.

If you’re big enough to have a legal team, putting them to work is a good start. If not, you may want to consult legal help to guide you through each issue.

Beyond that, speaking with other companies who have successfully entered that market or with trade advisors who assist companies with market entry issues on a regular basis are also productive approaches.

When in doubt, it’s often best to err on the side of caution and speak to a lawyer or government official to see if any changes may need to be made.

4. You won’t know how much you love it until it’s gone

Think about the last time you had a free trial for something – maybe it was Netflix, a gym membership, a new software or an extra feature to a service. Did you let it go when the free trial ended? Or did you pay to keep it?

If you’re in the latter camp, you’re far from alone. With that in mind, consider if that may be a strategy you can afford to try with your service exports.

While not an option for every business, giving customers a free trial can be a helpful way to introduce your offerings to them, get them used to your services, and reveal how beneficial they can be to their everyday lives.

Once they have access to a new service, it’s common for people to pay to keep what they already have, rather than allowing them to end.

The trick is to time the free trial to maximize your ROI – run it too long, and customers will become accustomed to not having to pay for your service, and then value it accordingly. The end of the trial then feels more like a price increase, and many customers will balk at paying for it. If you don’t run it long enough, customers may not be adequately attached to your service to pay for it. A 30-day trial is common, but it’s up to you to find that happy balance.

If you already have one service in a market and want to introduce another, bundling your new service for free with the existing one for a limited time can be an effective variant on that strategy. This strategy is often successful because you are offering a new service to customers who already have an established relationship with your company, and are therefore more likely to have an interest in your new offering.

Go the extra mile to make your customers happy

Any steps that can be taken to customize your service export offerings for international markets could have a major impact. When customers see what they want presented in a way they’re familiar with, they’ll be more likely to warm up to your brand and take the next step in their customer journey. Before too long, those little changes will add up to big results, and you’ll be glad you took the time to make them!

The post 4 ways to tailor your service exports to win new customers appeared first on Trade Ready.

Detailed compliance policies help keep companies on the right side of the law.

But this needs to be balanced with an understanding that no policy can ever contemplate every possible risk. They need to proscribe behavior that is not permitted, while recognizing that few decisions fall on one side or the other of a bright line.

Employees should know more than just “why” compliance is important. They should know who presents risks of improper payments (like government officials), what kinds of requests are inappropriate, where the company faces the most risk, when to involve others in a transaction and how to decline an improper request.

That requires a compliance program that provides practical information that is relevant to employees in an interesting and engaging way. It’s a challenging process, but it can be done.

Here are some strategies to develop a compliance program that does more than simply reiterate the rules:

1) Create cascading compliance

Management tone is crucial to the success of a compliance program, but it is not enough for the C-Suite to tell employees that compliance is important. Top-level executives should communicate with employees about the company’s values, why compliance is important and that the company is prepared to walk away from bribe-tainted deals.

When employees see that the C-Suite is committed to compliance, they are more likely to share that commitment. Institute and enforce mechanisms whereby employees are encouraged to disclose compliance issues.

When employees see that candid communication is valued, they will be more likely to share information.

2) Make it practical and relevant

In addition to bright-line rules and prohibitions, help employees recognize risks, coach them on appropriate ways to respond to improper requests and support them when they avoid potentially improper situations.

This can be done through practical, scenario-based training, with realistic case studies that employees can work through in teams. Encourage employees to discuss why they chose a particular response and why other responses might not be appropriate.

When providing the best response, explain why other responses were less good. Case studies should be relevant to the industry you work in and the locations in question. Employees in pharmaceutical sales in China should not be trained using case studies about freight forwarders in Nigeria.

Everyone relates more easily to information that is relevant to what they are doing and where they work.

Carefully selected examples will also demonstrate that headquarters understands the local challenges they face.

3) Find the weak spots

To ensure training is relevant, visit foreign branch offices and subsidiaries regularly and speak with the employees. Discussions with employees out on the front lines can be a tremendous source of valuable and timely information.

They will know which government officials are demanding bribes, if any, or if other companies are offering bribes. Find out what the challenges are in specific locations. What do employees believe to be “reasonable and customary”?

What techniques have they found useful in the past for circumventing extortionate government officials? Do they believe that an industry-wide initiative might bolster their efforts? What positive suggestions do they have to address the problems they face?

And then tailor your compliance programs to address those specific risks and embrace the best of these suggestions, thereby improving your program and assuring employees that their concerns have been heard.

On a similar note, conduct exit interviews when employees are leaving to provide them with an opportunity to voice any concerns they may have been unwilling to address while still employed.

4) Keep it interesting

Employees will be less engaged in a compliance program based on strict rules.

There are many ways to make a compliance program interesting, engaging and effective.

Periodically send employees short videos on specific topics to re-enforce training or provide practical advice between required training sessions.

Include compliance quizzes in communications. Hold town-hall meetings or lunches to discuss hot topics and trends in compliance, and encourage employees to ask questions. Schedule team-wide exercises that incorporate contests or other activities related to compliance.

These strategies will keep employees interested and engaged and contribute to a stronger sense of community and a better culture of compliance. While a rule based program tells employees what not to do when choices are reasonably clear, prescriptive programs fall short when choices are less clear.

In these situations, employees need to be confident in their ability to apply good judgment based on candid discussion and scenario-based training. They need to know who they can approach with questions. And they need to know that their company will support them on the legitimately close calls.

How do you communicate the grey areas of your compliance program?

The post 4 strategies to overcome the grey areas in your compliance program and avoid corruption appeared first on Trade Ready.