Assignment as Temporary Export Manager within the Steel Industry

The Company's Need

The company manufactures machinery and finishing lines for long steel products, with most of its production being custom-made. Despite having excellent references to showcase, the company remained relatively unknown in the global market.

The company was aware of its main weakness: the absence of a structured worldwide sales network. While there were several intermediaries in different countries, they effectively constituted a dormant network.

The company was seeking an experienced Business Development professional in the steel industry. The choice fell on me, even though I did not have specific experience in the sector. A positive impression from the initial interactions, combined with my professional background, likely played in my favor.

Objective of the Temporary Export Manager Assignment

I was tasked with building a commercial network essentially from scratch. The goal was not just to promote the brand but to identify projects related to the construction or revamping of finishing lines for steel products, enabling the company to participate in tenders.

The company had a clear understanding of its priority target regions: North America, CIS countries, and India.

Work Context

The Temporary Export Manager role was carried out exclusively within the company. I dedicated two days per week to this assignment, effectively becoming a new resource within the commercial office. I reported directly to the CEO, with a secondary reporting line to the President.

The work was conducted with complete autonomy, without receiving input from management—if anything, the approach was more consultative in nature.

Throughout the assignment, I engaged with all major company functions. From a relational standpoint, there was always a spirit of collaboration in a cordial and positive environment.

Phases of the Assignment

The activities were carried out in the following key phases, in chronological order:

• SWOT analysis of the company and identification of its value proposition

• Study of the global steel market

• Analysis of competitors and their sales networks

• Evaluation of the existing commercial network

• Development of valuable content for the company

• Execution of an editorial email marketing campaign, issuing three high-value quarterly newsletters

• Engagement and coordination of ICE (Italian Trade Agency) offices for intermediary scouting

• Extensive research of intermediaries through web and LinkedIn

• Creation of a large worldwide intermediary database

• Reformulation of the Agency Agreement standard

• Negotiation and assignment of marketing activities to North American intermediaries

• Preparation for the TUBE Düsseldorf trade fair

• Various consulting activities supporting the Presidency (unrelated to business development)

Challenges Encountered

The main challenge was obtaining engagement from the more than 100 identified intermediaries. The response rate was quite low, albeit in line with similar scouting activities.

The U.S. and Russian markets (before the embargo) proved particularly difficult. The U.S. market posed challenges in finding intermediaries that met the required criteria, while the Russian market lacked accessible information online.

For this reason, we decided to leverage ICE offices in the target countries, giving the partner search an institutional framework and accessing channels that would have been difficult to activate remotely.

In some cases, intermediaries who had initially expressed interest later backed out, requiring us to restart the search process from scratch.

Risks of the Activity

The nature of the work was not strictly sales-oriented and therefore did not yield immediately quantifiable revenue results. While this was clear from the outset, over time, commercial expectations could naturally arise.

Another significant risk was the time factor. Building a global commercial network requires time, and often the initially identified intermediaries are not the final ones. The risk lies in time passing without visible significant progress.

A strong relationship of trust with the client is considered a key antidote to this risk, helping to offset the inevitably slow dynamics of such a process.

Successful Actions

The most effective strategic choices included:

• Engaging ICE offices to scout intermediaries outside the EU

• Implementing highly appreciated email marketing campaigns, achieving good open, click, and call-to-action rates

• Conducting intermediary research via the web, particularly on LinkedIn

A noteworthy aspect of the email marketing initiative was the creation of dedicated working groups for content development—including visual materials—for the campaigns. Such collaborative efforts had never taken place within the company before.

Results Achieved

The activity led to the identification of intermediaries in India, Turkey, CIS countries, Mexico, and the USA.

In particular, in North America, a complete mapping of target operators in the Oil & Gas sector was conducted. Their engagement was entrusted to newly appointed intermediaries, designated as "Country Managers."

On the marketing front, a segmented database of 600 contacts was built, and a structured process was established for executing email marketing campaigns according to an editorial calendar.

The company successfully participated in two tenders through the identified intermediaries.

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