How to boost internationalisation with an agile sales strategy

How to boost internationalisation with an agile sales strategy

Sep 9, 2022 | Insight

Successful sales strategies for internationalisation are built on agility and continuous learning

Pandemic. War. Unpredictability and uncertainty. Does this mean long-term planning ends up being wasted effort?

If we mean stable and detailed elephantine long-term plans telling people exactly what to do, then the answer is a clear yes. When we talk about having long-term goals and a vision as the ultimate destination, then no. Strategies that are agile, adaptive, responsive, as well as action-oriented, are very much needed to align all your ongoing efforts with the big picture.

An agile sales strategy is the foundation of internationalisation, especially when you invest in new and unfamiliar markets. An agile sales strategy is your guiding star at the crossroads to success. An agile sales strategy enables your operational plans to address emerging needs.

Agile sales strategy for internationalisation is for makers and doers

Who will benefit from creating agile international sales strategies? Based on Intolead’s experience and expertise, companies that are considering entering culturally different markets. People who are makers and doers, people who believe in hands-on approach and learning by doing.

Intolead recently worked with Mesh Work Wireless on creating their agile sales strategy for a new market. Based on the vision created, an Objectives and Key Results (OKR) focused actionable plan was created during four sessions taking place within a month. The key goals for the agile sales strategy in this case were:

  • Help local customers understand the offering
  • Minimize misunderstandings along the sales process
  • Shorter sales cycle
Ingredients for a successful sales strategy for internationalisation

The ultimate goal of your sales strategy should be progress-making action as quickly as possible. Action should always override perfection. The focus should be on market needs, not on product features.

An ideal sales strategy partner not only knows the target market but also accelerates your sales efforts. Your sales strategy evolves based on actions with potential customers. Your sales culture, sales processes and platforms will resonate with the needs of the new market you are about to conquer.

Towards scalable business with digital academy

Towards scalable business with digital academy

May 20, 2022 | Case studies

Case Study

Towards scalable business with digital academy

Deep Lead Digital Academy

Deep Lead is a Finnish company founded in 2002, specializing in management, executive coaching, and goal-oriented interaction coaching. The company’s mission is to coach clients to develop leadership and goal-oriented interaction into a measurable success factor. The coaching is based on the Deep Leadership® coaching methods, which have become widely known through Deep Lead’s coaching and training events. More than 30 000 people have been trained in these coaching sessions and the number of respondents for Deep Leadership® profiles has already exceeded 400 000.

 Challenge

Digitizing a traditional coaching program

Deep Lead’s coaching has a background of 25 years of scientific research and 20 years of active practical development. The aim was to deliver a 9-month coaching program in a fully digital format to achieve profitable growth, new customers and scalable business.

​

 Solution

The Digital Deep Lead Academy

Intolead helped conceptualize the digital coaching program. Ease of use, perceptiveness, inclusiveness and insight are at the heart of the implementation. Crucially, the process requires virtually no input from personal coaches. Intolead was responsible for the selection, set-up, learning design and content production of the digital learning environment. Intolead also sparred with Deep Lead’s key stakeholders in building the Academy’s sales and marketing strategy.

 

 Results

An effective digital coaching program to support skills development and culture change

Through an automated, 9-month coaching process, the entire staff of even a large organisation can be coached in about a year, achieving maximum impact on the culture of the whole organisation at minimum cost compared to the work done by personal coaches. Another interesting feature is the AI-based virtual coach who spars with participants along the learning journey.

Inspiring and pedagogically high-quality tasks and interactions, a downloadable workbook and communities support assimilation of knowledge and peer learning. The digital coaching program was implemented simultaneously in both Finnish and English, allowing for immediate international scalability.

Intolead’s strong expertise in digital learning solutions and content as well as growth and internationalization has brought clear added value to the development of the Deep Lead Digital Academy and has helped us build an effective digital coaching package. Our cooperation has been smooth and effective from the very beginning!

Vesa Nissinen,
President / Deep Lead

Insight vs. Foresight

Insight vs. Foresight

Nov 30, 2017 | Design

Data and information are quickly becoming abundant, and often more disruptive than forward taking. Information overload prevents us from taking decisions or actions because we feel we have too much information to absorb and apply. That’s why need for insight and foresight are rapidly increasing.

INSIGHT VS. FORESIGHT

Both insight and foresight are needed in order a business successfully build a future.

Insight is the capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of someone or something happening now. Insight is something that answers question WHY? What matters now and why?

Foresight is the ability to accurately predict outcomes of proposed decisions and actions. What WILL happen or what will be needed in the future? What matters next?

FORESIGHT VS. TREND

Foresight sometimes gets confused with trend. Whereas foresight is an ability to predict, trend is a general direction in which something is developing or changing. Foresight is more about intuition, imagination, creativity, and out-of-the-box-thinking with ability to detect weak signals.

INSIGHT VS. HINDSIGHT

In practice, insight often gets confused with hindsight: understanding of a situation or event only after it has happened or developed. Despite bad reputation, hindsight often plays a valuable role in learning. What lessons can be learned?

ROLE OF AI ON ALL SIGHTS

Artificial Intelligence will have an impact on all levels of understanding. Instead of fearing the inevitable, for whatever reason, we can focus on opportunities.

Human value on data and information has already nearly vanished. It’s rapidly vanishing on insight and hindsight. Some of us are hoping it will not vanish on foresight and see AI as something that will allow us to focus on those added value parts: understanding, deciding, creating, imagining, and acting.

Foresight will be there to challenge existing norms, truths, mindsets and roles. To take us as individuals and businesses forward.