Relationships key to International Business Success

6 August 2013

Relationships key to International Business Success

Investing in relationship building is a well-known key ingredient to business, but one that is essential for international business success says Colin Hogg, General Manager of DesignA Electronics in Christchurch.

With the vast majority of his sales coming from overseas, Colin actively works to create and maintain excellent relationships with his customers and suppliers.

“My focus is to work with our customers for mutual benefit to ensure each party is successful,” he said.

DesignA has developed a unique range of electronic Snapper, single board computer modules that are the launching pad for many final products, adapted to suit a customers needs.

“In the telecommunication industry we supply units that form an interface between the old technology and the more modern. This means that our customers can make significant gains on data collection and revenue generation without having to upgrade their entire telecommunication system in one go,” Mr Hogg said.

DesignA’s customers include telecom suppliers in countries such as Brazil, Chile, Jamaica and Thailand, and in a niche area of the US aviation industry.

In some cases, relationships with these businesses and others, such as, Gulfstream, the global market leader in business jets, have been years in the making and according to Mr Hogg, it comes down to trust and honesty.

“Trust takes a long time to build and moments to shatter,” he said, adding that he aims to prevent the loss of trust through maintaining good relationships, “If you hit a ‘bump in the road’, a strong relationship makes resolving the issue much easier..”

“It’s also important to exceed a customer’s expectations, often by under promising and over delivering, especially when it comes to time scales.”

This tactic has been very successful, with customers such as one of Thailand’s telecommunications companies, TT&T, and Brazil’s, Logictel, now working closely with DesignA for the supply of high quality electronic units. These will replace existing tape drives to enable telecoms to keep the old equipment running and provide service while consideration is given to the next electronic generation upgrade.

Apart from maintaining contact via email and phone, Mr Hogg tries to personally visit his customers at least once a year. He met with Gulfstream in the US in June and has recently returned from visiting his customers in Brazil. This included a trip to Chile in conjunction with NEC. He is planning a visit to Thailand later in the year.

With over 24 years in sales, experience has taught Mr Hogg a great deal about customer relations and what works.

“I’ve learnt the skill of business relationships over time – you need to get the basics right and evolve from there. Ensure you understand your customer, their culture and customs, meet them where they are at, while holding true to yourself. Deliver clear, open and honest communication. Listen. Be your word, and always aim for mutual reward.”

General Manager of DesignA Electronics, Colin Hogg, at a recent visit to NEC Chile, with (left to right) Guillermo Cabrera, Product Manager, Wireless, Luis Munoz, Senior Engineer, Colin Hogg, Managing Director, DesignA Electronics
Nelson Cubillos Mancilla, Director

ENDS

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