Sales Oriented Businesses In Los

[ThaiPauly]

If you are either IN sales or OWN a company that makes it's money from Sales...how different do you find it from selling in your country of origin?

I ask this as there have been a few threads recently regarding different aspect of selling out here.

I know some people that have cracked it out here ..and some that have not

How much did you have to "Adapt" to make a living from your "Chosen Profession" out here, or did you just drift into it by chance and have no comparison to make!

What's Your Story?

[EVO]

I find sales here to be very difficult, especially amongst the foreigners here who were our initial target market. Many foreigners in Thailand think that nothing should cost more than 500THB, which can be quite frustrating to say the least!

Thais are easier to sell to, especially the younger, urban, educated elite, though arranging payment can be more difficult.

[mrpink]

I find sales here to be very difficult, especially amongst the foreigners here who were our initial target market. Many foreigners in Thailand think that nothing should cost more than 500THB, which can be quite frustrating to say the least!

Thais are easier to sell to, especially the younger, urban, educated elite, though arranging payment can be more difficult.

Exactly as EVO says, selling to Thais is much easier than selling to foreigners. Unfortunately "farang" in Thailand (excluding tourists) are generally broke, or will live way beyond there earnings leaving them with less disposable income.

I have 2 sales companies in Thailand selling 2 different products, one is mostly sold to Thais and one sells mostly to foreigners. The Thai one does much better out of the 2 !

My advice is be careful of people advising you to think of or sell "something new" or "different", this is not always the case with Thais and this is where they differ from foreigners, Thais will not buy anything they dont know much about, or never heard of !

Thais are also not the best sales people in the world, they will show you, but they dont know how to sell to you. I had one of my Thai reps in with me yesterday for a chat, his results had been very poor. I told him that he was showing his clients instead of selling them, his reply was " But boss, what different" ?

But I love being here and wouldnt change it

[jaiyenjohn]

I sell tv advertising in our show Inside Guide (www.insideguide.tv), and have had fairly good success so far, with foreigners and foreign owned businesses.

I've found Thai customers are more sabai sabai about the details, but much more mercenary about money coming in and profits, whereas the farangs are very detailed oriented, but understand the need for customer satisfaction and service better. This is how I tailor my pitches.

I've also found a disconnect about prices as well. Most farang and tourist businesses charge an international rate for their services, but expect Thai level prices for everyone they deal with here. I try to split the middle in our advertising rates. Global economy and all, wages tend to be lower here, but equipment tends to be more expensive than in the west.

Still the most difficult thing I have found in sales is hiring qualified sales-staff. I've hired both farang and Thai sales people, and most of them were completely flaky and unreliable. Conversely, everytime myself or my wife go on a sales trip, we come back with clients, so it's not the product or rate. It always comes down to staffing in the end, at least for us.

Ok enough of my ranting...