Excel at Export Promotion

Title

Excel at Export Promotion

Location

Duration

4 days - 1 day over 4 weeks

Price

€2,495

Training delivered each Tuesday for 4 consecutive weeks. Discounts available for 2 or more employees. Please enquire for detail on dates.

Program Director

Sinead Lonergan

Sinead has over twenty years experience working directly with companies to plan and implement their export sales plans. Sinead has worked as an export promotion advisor (in the US) and country manager (in France) for the Irish government agency Enterprise Ireland. She has first-hand experience of advising companies, in a range of diverse sectors, on their market entry plans and successfully securing buyer introductions and export sales contracts for companies in international markets. Sinead has extensive track record in planning and delivering export promotion events including Presidential and Ministerial-led trade missions on behalf of the Irish government.

 Program overview

This program is a 4-day training designed to equip participants with a thorough understanding of the techniques, tools and skills required to implement effective export promotion strategies for their country and sector.  The program includes 12 modules (set out below) with 3 modules delivered each day.    Over the course of the program participants will;

  • Learn how different governments organise and implement their export promotion agencies and services
  • Understand the difference between export promotion and exporter development
  • Develop an awareness of the market entry and growth strategies used by companies to grow their export sales 
  • Lean how to assess exporter readiness and how to work with companies to develop export action plans 
  • Understand key principles of international marketing and the importance of differentiated value propositions 
  • Learn how to manage a portfolio of exporter companies and client engagement methodologies for effective client and portfolio management 
  • Learn how to establish and build business relationships with sector and company contacts in international markets
  • Understand how “in-market” export representatives plan and manage their work program –  i.e. key duties and responsibilities of in-country teams
  • Discover the full range of trade events used by high performing EPOs and how to plan and deliver effective group events and trade missions
  • Learn what financial instruments governments are using to stimulate and support company export plans 
  • Understand how to set effective input and output KPIs needed to contribute to your organizations export performance targets

Who is this program for?

  • Export Promotion Organization (EPO) managers responsible for planning and delivering export promotion and exporter development strategies 
  • Export Promotion Executives responsible for working with companies to plan and implement export plans in new or existing international markets
  • Export Promotion Representatives based in international markets to explore and deliver export opportunities / business matching services
  • Officials working in government Ministries responsible for export promotion policy,planning and organizing VIP-led trade missions and events
  • Commercial Attaches working in Embassies or Consulates with a focus on trade and export promotion
  • Trade Advisors and Export business development representatives working in Chambers of Commerce or in sector representative bodies
  • New employees, managers and board members of Export Promotion Organizations seeking to develop an understanding of export promotion and exporter development programs
  • Professional and business advisors responsible for providing market development of export promotion services to Export Promotion Organizations and their client companies

What is covered

Module 1 - Role of the EPO and benchmarking international approaches
  • Introduction to the Role of the export promotion organisation
  • Inside the high performing EPO - how are successful EPOs organized to support their clients?
  • Key services and interventions used by EPOs to increase export sales
Module 2 - Knowing your client
  • Why export?
  • Introduction to exporting companies - level of maturity and ambition
  • What is different about exporting and what is needed in order to export?
  • Building a client portfolio around exporter ambitions, sector and geography
Module 3 - The fundamentals of international market development
  • Market Planning – Export Business Canvass
  • Market Validation – researching your market
  • Who are your competitors and what are they doing?
  • Value Proposition - understanding the importance of differentiated value propositions
Module 4 - Knowing your market
  • Market intelligence – continuous customer insights
  • Customer Segmentation - understanding the importance of segmenting targets
  • Selling – Sales execution
  • Resources and activities required to support exporting plans
Module 5 - Finding and managing channel partners
  • Understanding the different channels to market
  • How to find the right partner fit
  • Useful tools for managing channel partners
  • Case Study
Module 6 - Managing your work
  • A week in the life of an export promotion executive
  • Managing stakeholder relationships
  • How to work with local trade consultants
  • Building your network - being visible in your market
Module 7 - Engaging with your Client
  • Why client engagement is vital to having impact
  • The client engagement model
  • How to do a deep dive on clients needs related to sales and marketing. Identifying and prioritising clients' strategic issues
  • Accessing a clients sales and marketing capability and developing an action plan
Module 8 - Engaging with your network
  • How to manage buyers, influencers and press relationships in your market
  • Buyer outreach - how to get that crucial first meeting with a buyer
  • How to maintain strong relationships with local companies
Module 9 - Effective use of technology
  • The role of technology in managing contacts and projects
  • CRM systems for pipeline management
  • How to use social media to communicate and develop business (WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)
  • The power of LinkedIn for building networks and building your brand as an EPO
  • Online optimization for building a market presence
Module 10 - Intercultural communications
  • Understanding how intercultural communication affects business outcomes
  • Understanding the cultural environment you are working in - values and expectations
  • Working effectively transnationally
  • How to manage a meeting with different cultures and languages
Module 11 - Trade events
  • The reason for trade events
  • Introducing the different type of trade events
  • Effective planning of trade events
  • The do's and dont's at trade shows
  • Networking at trade events
  • Follow-up after trade events
Module 12 - Setting targets & measuring performance
  • What does success look like? Setting and monitoring EPO performance targets
  • Setting input and output KPIs to ensure export promotion executives are focused on activities that will drive results

Enquiry Form