Meeting with our agents #2

Our first interview with the Fartools agents gave us the opportunity to meet with Toni KIRIN and Toni JEREB, respectively executive manager and sale assistant for a Slovenia-based company, PROCHROM. International expansion is not always as easy as it looks and often companies face complex issues. Toni and Toni accepted to share with us their point of view, advices and perspectives for the development of Fartools on the Croatian and Slovenian markets.

Global stakes and issues

Working at international scale is not an easy task.

“After almost a year of cooperation between PROCHROM and Fartools, we still have to deal with the differences between our cultures”, explains Toni. Indeed, the way business works in Solvenia is very different from France. Fartools started to think “globally” from the beginning. The arrival of Mathieu Guibert strengthened this strategy and put an emphasis on developing lasting and profitable relationships with agents all over Europe.

“Working with agents is as obvious as necessary for Fartools. To develop a substantial business abroad with multinational companies such as Bauhaus or Merkur, they absolutely need people that perfectly master the national language, habits and tools. Domestic support also requires local people”, says Toni. Export is a balance between identity and adaptability held by humans.

Eastern VS Occidental Europe?

“Traditionally in Europe, the different cultures are more or less connected. Slovenia has always been quite far from France, geographically and even culturally speaking. People there mainly use German products. They generally choose Italian ones as an alternative when they look for better ratio quality vs price”, Toni explains. In the last decade, they became more and more opened to French products like cars. Of course, it is easier for a brand which already have a strong reputation abroad! Fartools consequently faces a triple challenge here: to emerge on a new market, facing different culture, while being unknown.

“If the new generation is more opened to new brands rather than traditional and local ones, our work is to inform and convince them that the brand is worth trying! The main issue for Fartools is to compete in front of the other international brands. This is a great challenge that we took up this year… which will be followed!”

Market keys

“To succeed, we first have to recognize that Fartools offers niche products. This understanding helps us to arouse the main retailers’s interest even though a lot of famous brands already flood the market.”

Innovation and price positioning are also keys to compete on the market!

“Fartools has a great potential thanks to products such as REX (115027) which is basically unique! Innovation is the essence of the brand which gambles and relies on it for the future. It is the best asset to compete with the other brands and guarantee sales durability“, he praises.

Advertising and marketing are leading parameters to enter a market, especially for a brand-new name. They cannot be forgotten.

“PROCHROM engaged a translation company to be able to supply quality technical and commercial information to their clients and customers. We invested time and energy on it but still have to work more on communications and exposition”, confesses Toni. “Last but not least, the ability of Fartools to listen to feedbacks is excellent! We are free to share what we experience and the request from the market. Legislation can be complicated and changing. Our work is also to inform Fargroup and warn the team about the obligations.”

From mono to multiple client(s) activity

When they first started, PROCHROM only worked with one retailer. They succeeded in multiplying their approaches and signed contracts with one of the most important players on the market.

“PROCHROM is now well-known as a distributor and agent for manufacturers. This is first reason of their success. It is the reward of years of hard work and investment. Retailers agreed to open us the door and give us a chance to offer the right product for the right market. It is a team work, a collective effort which allows us to perform, like some kind of fusion! Since the beginning, the positive feedbacks are very encouraging and promising. It is an assurance of success for the future development on the Slovenian and Croatian territories.”