Providing India with optimal sales support is a special kind of challenge. A comment from the management consultancy Dr. Dr., who specializes in India. Wamser + Batra GmbH
Over 1,2 billion consumers live widely scattered in the multi-ethnic state on the Ganges. Only 15 percent of the total population lives in over thirty cities with more than a million inhabitants - including Delhi and Mumbai, two of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. The rest is spread over a geographical area of around 3.200 kilometers from north to south and 3.000 km from east to west. India is the seventh largest country in the world by area.
In the B2B sector, product marketing is (at least theoretically) analogous to other markets. Marketing and sales can be carried out by well-trained staff from (in the case of India usually) several sales branches. Products are sold either directly to the end consumer or to specialized dealers.
Most German companies use Indian sales partners or sales representatives (at least in the first step) to serve this huge market. Due to the size and complexity of the market, companies are often forced to work with different partners for heterogeneous markets (regions, target groups, segments) - a suboptimal situation. But finding a single suitable partner who offers optimal access and adequate market cultivation throughout India is rather the exception to the rule.
Disadvantages of working with sales partners
Sooner or later the disadvantages of a distribution partnership with external Indian sales representatives or agents become apparent. This is summarized by Mike D. Batra, Managing Director and Head of Market Services, responsible for sales development and optimization at Dr. Wamser + Batra GmbH, summarized as follows: “no direct access to the customer, lack of transparency in business practices, poorly trained sales and service staff, high fluctuation, no systematic market cultivation, no control of local activities, lack of focus, little influence on the Marketing strategy and your own brand in India”.
These symptoms are part of the nature of working with representatives and have nothing to do with “the Indians” per se. However, these “expected” disadvantages have a particularly strong impact in India: Indian sales partners know exactly how to withhold full transparency about your market and your business opportunities and “adapt” relevant information to their own goals. This can be found in the article “The Eleven Commandments for India“Quotes: “In India, truth means: adapting facts flexibly to the respective situation.”
Collaborating with and managing multiple sales partners is correspondingly laborious. And you would rather avoid conflict management with and between your Indian representatives altogether. If the cooperation is broken, you are usually back to square one with your efforts.
Your own sales network as a strategic competitive advantage
For reasons of sustainable and targeted market cultivation, you should ideally set up your own sales organization in India. The goal is to be able to serve your customers directly - without middlemen - and to build long-term relationships with your company/brand/products. You therefore solely determine the product and communication policy and can ensure that all processes run as you imagine: from marketing, through the sales process, to after-sales and service.
This means you can better control all relevant processes and have full transparency in your sales activities and the positioning of your brand in the Indian market. “Instead of quick successes and harvesting the “low-hanging fruit” from the sales representative’s personal network, you are only able to work the market strategically and in the long term through your own sales network – which is not always the strength of Indian dealers,” emphasizes Mike D. Batra.
If sales is a core process for your company (which we can assume if you have read this article this far), you should have this process in your own hands, especially in India - even if it seems more expensive in the short term. Because if you (have to) rely on others in India, you may be abandoned yourself.
WB Market Solutions® enables sustained successful market entry and strategic sales development for German and European companies in India. Existing sales strategies and structures are also put to the test and optimized if necessary.
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