Choosing a marketing agency for an export or import business
What to ask a marketing agency before hiring them for an export business, and the signs they understand international B2B buyer behaviour.
4 min read
Export sales pipelines often span many time zones simultaneously, which makes timing-aware automation genuinely valuable — a follow-up that lands during the buyer's working day gets noticed far more often than one sent at a convenient time for the sender only.
What to track for every enquiry
- Destination market, product interest and stage (quoted, sample sent, negotiating, won, lost).
- Buyer's approximate time zone, to schedule follow-up sensibly.
- Source of the enquiry — website, marketplace, trade fair, referral.
Automating time-zone-aware follow-up
Scheduling tools that send follow-up emails at a set local time for the recipient, rather than a fixed sender-side time, materially improve the chance of a follow-up actually being read and acted on.
A perfectly written follow-up email arriving at 3am the buyer's time is competing with an overflowing overnight inbox for attention.
Reporting across a global pipeline
A monthly view of enquiries by region and stage helps identify which markets are converting well and which need a different approach, rather than treating the entire global pipeline as one undifferentiated pool.
The takeaway
Schedule automated follow-up emails to land during the buyer's working hours, not your own — a follow-up arriving at 3am the buyer's time is easy to miss among overnight email.
Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.
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