Part-time & Flexible
Germany is one of the largest markets of Europe, but also a conservative one and difficult to penetrate from abroad.
As of 2024, Germany’s population is estimated at about 83.25 million people. This represents a slight decrease in population growth, with a density of approximately 239 people per square kilometer. The country has also experienced significant immigration, including a substantial influx of refugees.
Germany is a major global economic player, renowned for its industrial output and robust economy. The country has a strong focus on manufacturing and export, especially in the automotive and machinery sectors.
Germany is home to tens of thousands of businesses ranging from small sole proprietorships to large conglomerates. In fact, a large part of the reason for the prominence of Germany’s economy on the world stage can be linked to the small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) of the Mittelstand. So be prepared for smaller and mid-sized companies with a family member as the director and a long-term vision.
Most German companies empower a few senior managers. Larger companies (AG & GmbH) are governed by a Supervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) which chooses the Management Board (Vorstand). The management board however is the final decision-maker on matters affecting day to day management.
Work and personal lives are rigidly divided, and Germans subscribe to the ideal that there is a proper time and place for every activity. Talking about personal subjects and politics should be avoided, and the focus should be on work-related things, even in the limited small-talk.
As Germans are very focused on efficiency, meetings may only be scheduled for half an hour and only then if it is clear what the purpose of the meeting will be. This requires a very clear and focused approach, in which you show that you have found out already something about the company and its challenges. Slogans are disregarded, proof is important.
Germans place a high priority on academic and technical education and business houses value the same. Mostly, companies are run by technocrats rather than lawyers and accountants. Meetings are often large with a designated specialist from each area involved in the matter under discussion. People are expected to contribute to the debate when discussions touch their area of expertise but are not necessarily expected to have an opinion on everything.
Germany has many trade shows which are an excellent way to showcase your products and to orient yourself on the market. However, due to the sheer size of these shows chances are small that a purchasing manager or decision maker will accidentally visit your booth. A dedicated business development approach may yield more results for substantially less than the costs of a booth.
If you decide to have your booth at a German trade show, be well prepared and have your message tailored to the European and especially German visitors. It might be a good idea to contact relevant prospects in advance and invite them to your booth.
We work with local teams, who already know the market, speak the language and know the business culture.
We can compare different markets and as we can help you in all of them, we only favor the market that may work out best for you.
We help you avoid cultural misunderstandings, compliance issues, and other risks associated with entering a new market.
The best way to learn about a market is to start reaching out and adjust your sales pitch on-the-go. This is what we do in our Scan-Launch-Grow approach.
1st month
We dive into your product and what sales strategy has worked for you in other countries. We show you offering to various potential customers to collect feedback. And we review your competition so that we can determine the best market entry strategy.
2nd month
Together with you we develop a first pitch for your target group. We extend our long-list of potential targets further and start reaching out, getting to the right decision makers and pitching your product. And we discuss the results with you, in order to optimise your strategy further.
3rd and next months
We keep searching for new clients and reach out to them. We also follow-up on previous contacts we had and on leads that you bring in. We introduce you to interested parties, but we can also support in meetings or close deals on your behalf. Every month we review our results.
Nouraldin Banaeinejad
CAN Home appliances
Francis Huang
Würth
Jing Zhang
Kamtec
James Martin
Brabantia
Mehmet Aksoy
RR Engineers
Vitello Benevetti
Harley Davidson