In the blog serie doing business in Germany, our International Trade Consultant Suntke Kröger will guide you while doing business in Germany. The third blog is about the experience on the German market entry. Did you know that there are also regional differences as well as cultural expectations within the country? 

The first project, which was aiming to enter the German market provided me with a lot of experiences, as well as surprises throughout the project duration.  The overall task for me was to create a connection between the Dutch company (the client) and the companies operating in the target industry, located in Germany.

This project set-up was very convenient for me, as I was able to be in direct contact with the Client as well as communicate to the potential partners for the client in my mother tongue. This provided a certain sense of confidence in creating a long-lasting relationship for the client.

However, expectations are not always met. While at the beginning of the project the communication to the client was on a good level, the potential partners were not able to extend their product range due to financial restrictions caused by the corona crisis. Moreover, some companies were simply not interested in venturing into the specific products, which were offered by the client.

The contact with the companies located in Germany was very diverse in many aspects. Regional differences as well as cultural expectations needed to be considered when contacting any company. However, only a few outliers were unable to react in a friendly way upon contact. This was understood, and not taken personally, as some local and regional companies in Germany were very much affected by the financial situation. On the contrary, the remaining companies were getting more interested in the product as well as a potential partnership.

With increasing interest from the German companies, the path was clear for the client to get in specific contact with these potential partners. However, the specific information required to be provided to the German companies wasn’t available and the communication with the client decreased in quality and quantity. After multiple attempts to get the information from the client to share with potential partners, it was discovered that none of the advertising material was available in German. All the client provided was a few “all-Dutch” flyers, which was not perceived as good enough to the German companies. Additionally, the website was only available in Dutch, which prevented some Companies to read through the available information.

Ultimately, if the client would have been more cooperative, the project would have been very much a success for them. However, due to the lack of information, communication and time invested in the project by the client, the opportunity of entering the market with partners located in Germany decreased immensely.

To understand the cultural implications that need to be considered when entering Germany, another entry will be made for this blog.

Suntke Kröger

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