International trade requires local knowledge, language and presence

Your Country Manager sells credibility and increased sales potential in the German marked.

YCMG is a one-stop-shop, giving small to medium sized companies the tools needed to compete in the German marked on the same terms as companies already established in Germany.

Background.

Kim Michael Thon has lived, studied and worked in Germany for more than 15 years. Kim is fluent in German as if it was his native language, He has a great understanding of German culture and German corporate culture.

Kim has over 10 years of experience with counselling and assisting companies wanting to make business between the Nordic countries and Germany/Austria. During this time, he experienced the difficulties companies with no presence in Germany had versus the ones had an office there.

The importance of a presence in form of an office and/or representatives was validated through qualitative interviews with approximately 50 leaders and decisionmakers in German businesses. They all expressed scepticism towards possible suppliers or business partners not established in Germany. They put emphasis on long term business connections, a German speaking representative and the possibility of meeting in person. A lack of presence was interpreted as a lack of initiative/focus on Germany as a marked.

The conclusion made from these interviews is that having a office in Germany is crucial in order to attain the same possibilities as the competitive companies already established in the country. But opening an office, hiring a manager, possibly a secretary is connected with substantial expenses. And is too big an entry-risk for most small to medium businesses.

This is how the idea of offering offices and representation in a “time-share” model was born.

And this is the core idea and services of Your Country Manager Germany. Our goal is to increase our customers sales potential, avoid cultural missteps/mishaps, offer the required services based on need, all in one office, and doing it this at a price level that makes the German marked accessible to most small to medium sized companies.

The challenge:

Germany is a tempting marked in our proximity/neighbourhood. But it does have its challenges.

1.      It is third largest export country globally and the German speaking population consist of more than 100 million consumers. As a marked, it demands to be taken seriously, both culturally and linguistically.

2.      The German business culture is trust based, to a much larger extend than the Nordic. Potential customers use longer time in their selection of suppliers, and they are looking for long term business partners.

The largest challenge is that the competition is companies already established in Germany. And these have a free advance of trust just by being German suppliers. Foreign companies are often viewed with a bit of scepticism.

So how do we build this trust? The key is to show engagement, and to signal that this is serious venture, and a long-term presence.

The solution.

We have through many years of work experience and qualitative interviews with leaders of German companies defined some points and factors that are necessary to showing the expected engagement in the German marked. These have been put together in a basic package by Your Country Manager Germany/YCMG:

·       A business address that has been approved by the tax authorities, in a city fitting the industry you are in, and with access to representative meeting rooms.

·       German landline number and telephone secretary that answers in the client’s name.

·       Representation in Germany, in the client’s name if requested.

·       Strategic and cultural counselling.

·       Assistance with a sales organization.

In the startup, YCMG will also be able to provide help with registration in the registry of commerce, translation services and adapting homepages to German law (Impressum).

Scope and goals are set during the onboarding-process that also defines what additional services are needed. YCMG can cower a large range of services on the operative and commercial spectre through carefully selected partners.

Commercial services:

·       Strategic sales guidance.

·       Recruitment of salespeople

·       Recruitment of trade agents

Operative services:

·       IT

·       Legal services

·       Bookkeeping

·       Tax

·       Warehouse, logistics, fulfilment

·       PR, marketing, SoMe.

The list above is not exhaustive. And if the customer has additional wants or needs, YCMG will find a solution in their network.

Added value for our customers:

Your Country Manager Germany gives you all the benefits of having an office in Germany for a fraction of the cost of starting your own.

The marked sees/views our customers as established in Germany; they get the same trust in advance as the German suppliers and compete at the same terms.

All this gives a perception of a serious and long-term commitment to the German marked, and that increases the sales potential.

The counselling is based on a thorough knowledge to culture and business culture in both Germany and the Nordic countries, and an extensive experience in doing business with German companies. Through this we seek to avoid cultural missteps/mishaps in relation to the German business partners.

Representation will be done in German (as a native speaker), and the representative will if wanted to, appear as a part of the client’s organization.

Access to all necessary operative and commercial services through YCMG.

Lower financial entry-risk and exit-risk.