| Joanne Fern, Export Sales Manager at Clip Ltd, explains
why cultural awareness is vital to their export strategy. "Clip
Ltd is an international exhibition and display company based in Bristol. We have
been at the forefront of the European exhibition and display industry for over
twenty years and supply products and services all over the world. We have a comprehensive
range of products to meet all requirements from banner systems and graphics to
fully serviced exhibition stands. With a team of seventeen regionally based sales
personnel, three wholly owned subsidiaries in France, Germany and Belgium and
twenty overseas distributors, we are ideally placed to service exhibition requirements
worldwide. "As an international company, it is important
to ensure that we are able to fully support all our overseas customers and to
appreciate the cultural differences. These vary from preferences in colour and
design to business etiquette. We therefore recruit qualified personnel, usually
language graduates who have experience of living and working overseas. This coupled
with working with overseas distributors and visiting them in their marketplace
enables us to further enhance our awareness of their culture, how they work and
how business differs from country to country. We find that this 'hands on' approach
is essential in building and maintaining relationships and as a result we are
able to maximise our sales turnover in these markets. "In-house
language skills are instrumental in enabling us to communicate with our overseas
distributors both when they visit us here for training and when we visit them.
Regular contact together with advice and support by phone enables us to establish
strong working relationships, which have contributed to the profitability of our
company." - back Source:
RLN South West | 
