On July 31^st and August 3^rd, 2015, Paccloa was featured in the NIKKEI newspaper column  “Points of International Expansion for SMEs.”

1 Preparation

After the exhibition, inquiries from international customers will increase. In addition to responding in English, we will prepare the export environment within the company, including preparation of quotations, international transportation arrangements, payment collection, compliance with local import regulations, and intellectual property management.

2 Prepare yourself

There are two types of exhibitors.

The type that exhibits once and sees how it goes, and
The type that decides to take orders from the first time because it may be the first and last time they exhibit.

The latter is by far the most successful. International trade fairs are more of a business meeting than an information gathering event, so if you exhibit while unprepared for international business, you will be seen as less serious and will not get any good business inquiries.

Since there are many unexpected questions at business meetings, careful role-playing practice is essential prior to the trip to Japan. It is important to have enough ideas of what to talk about and from what angle according to the buyer’s demographics.

3 How to attract　

It is said that buyers have approximately three seconds to cross the booth. The key to success is how clearly you can convey the “buyer’s advantage (the reason why they should buy)” during that time. It is not a question of how high the quality, functionality, safety, security, or convenience of the product is, but how much the buyer is willing to pay for it. It is not about how high quality, high functionality, safe, secure, or convenient the product is, but about how much buyers will find merit in purchasing it. It is not how high quality, high functionality, safety, or convenient the product is. You can get hints by having many conversations with buyers.
Difficult to distribute
No use for it in the local market yet
Market development is expensive
Low competitive advantage due to high cost
We will also show our passion and willingness to work together to break through the barriers unique to these new international markets.

4 Cross-cultural adaptation

Relax, be friendly, smile, and be at ease in the exhibition hall, but be mindful of your distance from others.
Ignore greetings and touch the products first.
Silently passing by someone without saying a word even if they pass you by.
Asking a question to a staff member who has not yet made eye contact with you without waiting for your turn.
All of these behaviors are more impolite than you think.

5 How to get information

During the exhibition, don’t forget to visit your competitors. Although they are your competitors, there are times when you can exchange information with them in a friendly manner, and vice versa, and every response is valuable information.

On the other hand, when international buyers give you exaggerated praise in English, it is easy to stop thinking.

“(With a smile) Yet you don’t buy it now, do you? I would like to know the reason for that not buying ♡”.
If you continue the hearing honestly, without pulling back, and carefully, you will find the “next” mountain to climb.

6 Concentration　

There are situations where you need to deal with three or four groups at once. Do not panic, smile and say Hi, Hello, and mobilize your right and left hands like a thousand-armed Avalokitesvara.

I hand them a catalog and start explaining while giving everyone a look. International visitors were asking questions from all directions, and I answered them all with a wink and a gesture, not missing a single one.

Sample demonstrations and iPad videos are shown, you keep on serving the customer until you have confirmed the customer’s feelings of “I want to buy”, “I am not interested”, and “I will not buy for this reason”.

7 Energy and stamina

We will not stay up late at night for sightseeing until the last day of the exhibition.

During the exhibition, you will want to devote all of your energy and stamina to “serving booth visitors.

To avoid the pain of not getting any concrete inquiries after returning to your country and not knowing what we can do to improve, we will keep our antennas up at all times while we are serving customers, and we will use all of our energy and stamina to sow the seeds of new projects and make sure they will sprout.

Returning to the hotel, I take time to reflect on today’s situation and plan tomorrow’s strategy, which is a necessary time to look back and recover my strength.