Thus, throughout the published editions, we have seen ways to motivate, to refute objections; ways to approach the potential customer and break the well-known initial resistance felt by the salesperson who approaches cold, in short, to connect.
At this point, I am not going to talk about these tools that the sales professional must know and master perfectly in order to serve the interests of a triangle: the company that buys the product, the professional himself, and the company for which he works. The subject I would like to deal with is that of a basic knowledge that must be mastered in the world of foreign sales, that of the export of agri-food products.
Anyone who wants to open up a market in the agri-food sector, apart from the specific knowledge that he must have about the quality of his product, its healthiness, its nutritional value or, for example, both quantitative and qualitative specifications, packaging, shelf life or transport care (like so many others) and that will make it possible to sell his product, must also know one thing that I think is very important: the price.
We all know that the fact of belonging to the European Union gives us innumerable advantages, but also the serious disadvantage of the cost of each product manufactured within it. This means that the European Union itself tries to alleviate this disadvantage for the European exporter by granting aid, known as export refunds, which are applied to sales made in countries that are not members of the Union (although it may seem surprising at first glance, Ceuta, Melilla, Gibraltar or Andorra are members).
This aid is granted by the Ministry of Agriculture and covers a very wide range of products, from cereal-based animal feed to pears in syrup, soft drinks or a good cured ham.
For this reason, those who wish to export their products to the European Union must have a clear idea of how much the sale of their products will cost them in aid, so that they know at all times whether they can lower the price or whether the operation is uneconomical.
The salesman who travels on God’s roads (usually by plane, but in the case of Ceuta or Melilla by ferry) must therefore carry in his briefcase, as “sales weapons”, those that he has been able to study in this publication, but also the knowledge that he can give in on the price at any time because of the aid that he can receive from the European Union and that can make the operation profitable, If not appetizing, to carry out the adventure that implies going out to the foreign market (think that even there are businessmen who have at the moment preference to sell their products in the nearby foreign market instead of doing it in the internal market, although this also depends on the amount of the aid).