Why Small Business Owners Are Both the Key to — and the Risk in — European Export Growth

In export, the small business owner is both an asset and a bottleneck. The CEO or the founder of the business is the best person to share the vision for the business to potential European buyers, whether they are European multinationals or distributors. When we conduct European business development projects for SMEs or start-up, we enjoy directly being trained by business owners. The message is clearly articulated. We can hear the passion from a founder. We can learn from the success stories and the failures. This is a great start for my team of European Sales Representatives. However, in the actual business development phase, when our European team approaches French, German or Italian prospects, they face a challenge that is common to many small businesses. If the business owner does not have a team behind her/him to support the European Sales Team, we don’t get the information we need to convince European customers or distributors. We run the risk of losing momentum.

If the business owner is the only person in charge of export, we often have this problem. Lacking time and resources to support the export effort is often what lets down small businesses entering the European market. You may wonder now why I picked this picture of a pufferfish. I now come to it. In my 19 years of working with small businesses, our objective is to create trust with European buyers. We bridge the gap between small US, Australian or Asian exporters and European distributors, multinationals or government institutions. We succeed in creating trust by demonstrating our customer is a well organised, agile, responsive and reliable supplier.

Domestic sales are the fuel funding the export effort. In option#1, the business owner can stay the face of the business, but needs to demonstrate it has a team to support him/her. In my experience of almost 20 years working with CEOs, I learnt that Option#1 may have some downsides. Without demonstrating there is a team behind the CEO, it may convey the image of a microbusiness in the eyes of European buyers. European customers may wonder: is this a one-man business? Is this business too small to be reliable? Is it risky to buy from them?

The International Sales Manager / Export Manager has authority and support from the entire business to be able to grow overseas sales.

To be a reliable supplier to European distributors or multinationals, both options can be successfully implemented. One condition: the business owner or CEO has a plan for delegating authority to her/his team. Delegating authority enables high responsiveness to European prospects. In the masterclasses I deliver to exporters and new exporters, I ask : “Are there any CEO or founders in the room?” and then I ask them: “ How high are you on the scale of control freakiness? “ I usually get their attention immediately. It can be hard to give some autonomy to teams, particularly in highly technical and complex industries. The SMEs we work with are mostly founded by teams of innovators such as engineers, or medical doctors. They often have founded a business based on a highly complex innovation. It’s important for them that customers get the right technical advice. Sometimes the scope and pricing of their solution can be complex.

Therefore, a successful delegation of authority comes with a clear process. As an outsourced European Sales & Marketing, we can effectively operate if we have some level of autonomy. The same applies to any business establishing a European Sales team. Creating autonomy for the European team is the only efficient way to build sales of highly technical solutions. Any exporter wanting to scale and grow their revenue in Europe needs to have these processes ready. These processes may include:

These processes help the European team feel autonomous but at the same time included in the the HQ. I have heard too many times European teams feel disconnected, let down. They feel they always have to wait for information coming from the HQ.

Clear processes also come down to the definition of ownership, roles and responsibilities in the team. In other words, to grow revenue in Europe it’s important to empower your team to support you as a business owner or your international sales manager. This should be made possible by clearly defined processes, roles and responsibilities. It will support your European revenue growth by creating an agile, responsive and responsive organization for your European customers and distributors.

Do you want to check if your business is ready to export to the European market? Take the test here.