Exporting Your Services

Creating Credibility

The single greatest challenge you are likely to face if your firm is not known in global markets is being accepted as a credible provider of quality services. The following 14 questions and answers provide tips on how to build credibility for your service firm:

How can I establish international credibility for my service firm?
Why is a benefits message important?
How can I create an effective benefits message?
Shouldn’t our service’s excellence speak for itself?
What kinds of promotional materials will I need?
Why do I need print promotional material when we have a website?
What should my promotional materials contain?
What information do I need on my business card?
In this day of e-trade, why bother with business cards?
Are my promotional materials of an appropriate quality?
Do I need to translate my materials or can I use what I have?
How can media coverage benefit my firm?
How can I and my firm become viewed as experts in our target market?
How do I develop a reputation for my firm within a specific foreign market?

How can I establish international credibility for my service firm?

To build international credibility, there are three general strategies you can use:

  1. Evidence of your competence through:
    • Public presentations and speeches
    • A competitive online presence
    • Appropriate licenses/certifications for professional staff
    • ISO 9000 registration for your firm’s quality assurance system
    • Awards to your firm or professional staff for excellence
    • Publications by professional staff
    • Listing of your firm in well-known, credible directories
    • Positive media coverage of your firm’s activities
    • Strategic alliances with known industry leaders
    • Participation in online discussion groups

  2. Personal guarantees of your competence through:
    • Referrals from well-known contacts
    • Testimonials from satisfied customers
    • Industry association membership

  3. Presenting yourself and your image through:
    • Your “benefits” statement (see below)
    • The quality of promotional materials
    • Your sensitivity to cultural factors

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Why is a benefits message important?

You need to be able to tell customers succinctly what is unique about your service to leave an impression and get them talking about it. You also need to provide advocates and referral sources with quick ways of remembering and explaining your particular expertise. Once you have determined your target market and potential opportunities, you link your messaging to this niche.

How can I create an effective benefits message?

To prepare your benefits message, think about how to answer the explicit question of “What do you do?” while also answering the implicit question, “Why should I buy your service?” Your benefits message needs to be no more than three short sentences and address the following:

    The service we provide ...
    [a concise statement that will be meaningful]

    We are different from our competition ...
    [how you differentiate yourself]

    What this means for our customers is ...
    [the primary benefit(s)]

Remember, the other party likely won't be interested in “features” of your service or service firm until they are relatively interested in wanting to do business with you. If you find this a difficult exercise, try asking key domestic customers why they pick your firm.

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Shouldn’t our service’s excellence speak for itself?

Having an excellent service is just a starting point. People need to be able to trust you can actually deliver the excellent service – and this comes from developing trust in your firm.

What kinds of promotional materials will I need?

At a minimum, you will need business cards and some written description of your capabilities, the types of customers you serve, and the types of benefits you provide. Depending on how you usually acquire new customers, you may also need:

  • Promotional brochures
  • Copies of articles you have published
  • Copies of media coverage of your firm or yourself

Increasingly, customers expect to be able to learn about your company online so make sure your online presence is updated regularly.

Why do I need print promotional material when we have a website?

Even in the current marketplace where much of this is on-line, people may still feel more comfortable if they have a promotional package to review. Your marketing materials, including your business card, will stay with a person long after you are gone. Because it represents you and your company, it is important to ensure these materials demonstrate you are a world-class service provider, that they showcase past work and testimonials, and that you have pre-designed pieces for insert into media like newspapers or magazines.

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What should my promotional materials contain?

Remember that potential customers are looking for reassurance that you can successfully meet their needs. It will help to have culturally-appropriate content such as:

  • Benefit messages (“here’s what our service can do for you...”)
  • Competitive positioning messages (“here’s how we are different from others”)
  • Testimonials from satisfied customers, including government agencies
  • Capabilities of your firm
  • Experience in similar markets
  • Sample list of former customers
  • Awards you have received or prestigious appointments
  • Quality assurance certifications
  • Industry association memberships
  • Quotes from media coverage

Your website should contain similar information along with material that is educational or helpful to the visitor.

What information do I need on my business card?

Your business card is your most important marketing tool unless you only work online. The type of information it contains not only helps people contact you but can reinforce your competitive image. At a minimum it should contain:

  • Your name, along with relevant professional designations or degrees
  • Your position title
  • Your company’s name and logo
  • Your address, including country
  • Your phone and fax numbers, including country and city codes
  • Your e-mail and corporate website addresses

Depending on the market, you may find it helpful to make your business card bilingual with your main language on one side and the major language of the target market on the other.

A word of caution: The bilingual format often used for Canadian business cards, which combines English and French, can be confusing in markets where potential customers do not speak either English or French as their native language.

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In this day of e-trade, why bother with business cards?

While there are certainly electronic substitutes, a business card is ideal when meeting someone, because it conveys the decision-making authority you have within the organization, helps others remember you, and assists in establishing a good first impression.

Are my promotional materials of an appropriate quality?

Make sure your promotional materials (including your web presence) convey a worldclass impression. To test them, you can do the following:

  1. Select sample service firms in your target market and review their promotional materials. Are yours at least as sophisticated?

  2. Show your promotional materials to colleagues familiar with the target market and ask for their opinion.

  3. Try to look at your materials as if for the first time. What impression do you get?

Be sure your materials are grammatically correct and printed flawlessly, are easy to read, and are in colours that are appropriate for your target market.

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Do I need to translate my materials or can I use what I have?

Unless the main language of your target market is the same as your current business language, you will need to get at least your primary promotional pieces translated. Try to hire a certified translator from the target market familiar with your industry, as business language and terminology differs from country to country. Also, keep in mind that you don't need to do a literal translation, but rather a translation that captures the spirit of what you are trying to convey. To ensure a quality translation, you can also pay to have the text “reverse translated” back into the original language to double check the translation.

There are now online sources for translation that can be excellent quality and quite affordable. For casual use or to check a term, you can use free online services such as Babelfish. For professional paid translation, check out e-marketplaces like E-lance or contract with a certified translator in British Columbia.

How can media coverage benefit my firm?

Media coverage can benefit you in most markets, and is particularly critical in fast paced markets. Keep this in mind when you participate in public events as you can use the opportunities to identify ‘newsworthy’ angles pertaining to your company. Another way to get coverage is to submit articles to trade journals, which you can distribute to heighten your profile as an industry expert. Make sure you have prepared a press kit that contains material about your company as well as a press release on what is newsworthy at that time.

How can I and my firm become viewed as experts in our target market?
  • Plan to attend key international events for your service industry. In addition, try to have a visible role in such events such as speaking engagements or product demonstrations.
  • Help to organize a local international conference or industry event in BC.
  • Become featured at regional or international conferences taking place in BC.

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How do I develop a reputation for my firm within a specific foreign market?

You will need to focus both on international credibility building activities and on activities in the target market:

General international strategies:
  • Speak at international or regional conferences attended by decision-makers from your target market.
  • Publish articles in the international journals consulted by persons in your service industry.
  • Win an award and publicize it.
  • Provide expert advice through an industry e-marketplace or a free advice website.
Strategies specific to the target market:
  • Develop a clear marketing message, appropriate to the market, that answers the question, “Think of us when....”
  • Adapt your promotional materials as appropriate to the target market.
  • Identify people you know who can refer you to decision-makers, potential strategy partners, or potential customers in the target market.
  • Join the service industry or trade association in your target market and participate on a committee.
  • Submit articles to local trade and industry media, including association newsletters, trade journals, etc.
  • Arrange speaking opportunities in your target market (e.g., conferences, graduate programs, association events, etc.).
  • Participate as an expert in online discussion groups on national or regional portals.