Article · 18 August 2020 · 3 min read · Katarzyna Kucia

How to find and establish foreign business contacts

Building contacts with foreign trading partners is the basic way to reach potential buyers of goods or services abroad. But what can you do when industry events move into the digital world and the benefits of networking shrink almost to zero? How do you find foreign business contacts and successfully start working with a foreign partner? There are several options.

How do you find foreign trading partners on networking sites?

You can look for potential trading partners on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Xing, but lack of experience, time or language skills can wipe out their potential.

LinkedIn, Facebook, or perhaps Xing? Why not: these sites are well worth combing for potential trading partners. However, lack of experience with online tools, lack of time and sometimes language barriers can wipe out the huge potential that professional networking sites offer for building contacts.

Bear in mind, too, that how much you can learn about others depends on factors such as the number of connections on your profile and how much information you share about yourself. This applies in particular to LinkedIn, where you may also need a premium package to contact users.

How can industry associations help you find buyers?

Knowing the organisations active in your industry is the shortest route to potential buyers. Find them all and make use of what they offer. Your competitors are probably already members of at least one industry association or organisation. But that is not all.

Is it worth buying a ready-made company database?

There are several dozen providers of contact databases in the Polish market, but databases built on PKD codes alone, without checking what each company does, are very ineffective.

You can also use ready-made contact databases. There are several dozen providers of such databases in the Polish market. A single database can contain tens of thousands of records. The question, however, is whether those tens of thousands of companies listed in the database you ordered actually match the profile of the businesses you are looking for.

The fastest way to build such databases is from PKD codes (Polish Classification of Activities). But companies often register far more codes than their actual activities justify, which distorts the picture of individual industries. Take training companies. If a training company provides accommodation and lunch during its courses, it must also register PKD codes for accommodation and food service, in addition to its training codes.

The example below is an extract from the National Court Register (KRS) for one Polish training company. Look how many PKD codes it has, and not all of them fit in the screenshot:

Source: http://ekrs.ms.gov.pl/

A database built on PKD codes alone, without checking what each company actually does, is quick to prepare, but as a set of sales leads it will be very ineffective.

Another problem with such large databases is how up to date they are, even though this is often a selling point in their advertising. Bear in mind, too, that the General Data Protection Regulation, now in force for some time, affects how detailed such databases can be. Do not count on email addresses belonging to specific people, such as Adam.kowalski@nazwafirmyx.pl, or the phone number of such an employee, because these are personal data protected under the GDPR. If they do appear in a database, remember that you must meet obligations such as the duty to inform. You can read more about the legal aspects of purchased databases here.

What is the most effective way to find foreign trading partners?

The best option is to hire a company that finds information to order, because the list will include only entities that meet the criteria you set.

A much better option is to hire a company that finds such information to order. In this case, the list of potential trading partners in the selected country will be more accurate. Why? Firstly, because only entities that meet the criteria you set will appear on the list. For example, the database can include only direct importers or distributors.

Secondly, because we can immediately check the companies we find for credibility and financial standing. This protects you against possible fraud attempts and dishonest trading partners.

Which sources does MarketHub use to find trading partners?

We use not only information from public sources and commercial databases, but also our own information sources and the personal contacts of our foreign market experts. In addition, we carry out research and market analyses that provide essential knowledge about your target market and the competitors already operating there. We find potential trading partners abroad for your goods or services, based on the criteria you specify.

Need a list of potential trading partners abroad? Write to us.