Business Development as we understand it
Business Development is much more than just sales and plays an important role for foreign companies looking to establish themselves in the Indian market. Business Development includes product-oriented market and trend analysis, analyses of customer-requirements and the competition, development of pricing, sales and service-strategies, development of sales and service-networks, liasoning with product-management, key account management, etc.
Business Development is therefore a continuous process and allows a company to react quickly to market changes (in the best case, to bring out a new product in time with a new trend) and be a step ahead of the competition.
Good business development demands unconventional approaches, creativity and the ability to react quickly to new challenges.
Business Development in India
As in all other markets, the Indian customer demands trustworthiness, value for money and customer-service This is where Indian products are at an advantage over foreign ones. This statement has been confirmed by several reports and studies. The studies also reveal success in India requires a dedicated action and clear strategic roadmap. It also hints that a transfer of developed market strategies would rarely work in India and the almost continental complexity of the country remains a key challenge. It is therefore necessary to find answers to the market situation and the reality on the gound, if one intends to be successful in the middle and long term.
India is a challenge for western visitors. Not only the vastness of the subcontinent, the climate or the food pose the challenge; even the diversity in language, the differences in culture and mentality are equally challenging factors.
Foreign companies often appoint one person to cater to several continents (EMEA, APAC). This means that the Indian market can only be covered very superficially. Some Indian companies in comparision develop individual strategies for every state in India.
Foreign companies like to appoint reseller / sales-agents / distributors who are authorised to cover the Indian market and operate solely on a commission basis. This, however, means that such a sales-organisation will concentrate its activities primarily on such products that bring him the quickest and highest commission. Other products in their portfolio serve only as a "padding". Furthermore, such an organisation has hardly any interest in operating pro-actively on the market in the name of the principal, because this would mean investing money with no guarantee of returns.
Given the fact that the price and value for money plays such an important role in India, it could well be necessary to have certain services carried out in India. In such cases we would be pleased to locate such service providers and suppliers for you.