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July and August are strange months in Spain, for a start if you want to get things done, contact people or progress business issues it seems doubly difficult than it is the rest of the year, and as we all know doing business in Spain is not always easy the rest of the year either! But in July and August it seems the Mañana syndrome slows down even more, much like a 45rpm record being played at 33rpm (for those that can remember vinyl)!

Then there is the extreme heat and increased humidity that makes many of us want to stay in our air conditioned environments, be they home, car or office, and I have spoken to many people recently who are feeling tired and jaded and in need of a holiday. Perhaps it’s watching all those tourists enjoying themselves!

Many ex-pat business people here in Spain seem to be finding business quite a struggle at the moment, even those that have been successful in the UK. So why is this the case?

Some of my conclusions are as follows: Most of us aim our marketing and sales campaigns at the ex-pat community. This is largely due to two things, one that the level of Spanish language spoken within the ex-pat community is at best quite poor and secondly that in general most non Spanish businesses don’t really understand how to successfully sell to the Spanish community, so generally don’t bother.

It is easy to overestimate the size and spend of the ex-pat community, firstly due to the fact that although statistics show that there will be over a million Brits living in Spain by the end of this year, this includes a fair percentage of retirees, children under working age and adults employed by Spanish Companies.

There is also a large population of Bar and Restaurant owners (long may they prosper) who have limited requirements for business products and services other than food and drink supplies. There are many working in the construction industry and in real estate, again with limited or defined needs for external business products and services.

So in summary we are setting up businesses here and trying to market and sell into a very limited community which is largely made up of small businesses with limited requirements and budgets, which varies dramatically to the corporate world that many of us were accustomed to in the UK.

So what we need to consider as business people is the need for business analysis and within that overall process look at the following issues:

What does my company do?

Who are my potential customers?

How can I get them to buy my products or services?

I talk to many people who have set up or bought businesses here in Spain without validating a genuine need for their products or services. This is similar to buying the food and drinks for a party without knowing how many guests there will be!

We really should research our target market to get a good idea of how viable our products and services are before we spend large amounts of money, otherwise we are effectively gambling with our money and a day at the races may in fact be more enjoyable, less time consuming and at least you know the odds in advance!

However we need to try to look at the community as a whole including the Spanish, after all we are living in Spain and it may not be as hard as you think to get some business from the Spanish community if you have competitive products or services and with a little translation work with your marketing and sales materials.

Another issue that is often overlooked here in Spain is Training.

So many times I see people with poor sales skills due to the fact that they have not been trained properly. This is a particular soap box subject of mine (as my staff will tell you) as I believe that becoming a good salesperson takes time and a high degree of training just as it does to become a good lawyer, doctor or accountant.

One of our company policies is: “To make sure that our people have the skills they need to do the job before they need to do it.”

How many times have you been in a shop, a bar or restaurant in Spain where the service and sales skills were virtually non-existent?

It’s a fact that training breeds confidence and confidence breeds success, plus trained staff are usually happier staff and happier staff stay longer, create a better impression of your business to the outside world and help generate more business for you!

I see so many companies here employing people and expecting them to know exactly what to do and how to do it and then wondering why they are not achieving the desired results, letting them go when they don’t succeed and then recruiting new people, and so the cycle continues.

Another key factor is of course the property market. The owner of a large real estate company said to me recently that six years ago you could put monkeys into estate agencies and they would sell property! We all know that this is not the case now and we are seeing real estate offices closing and companies collapsing every week mainly due to the fact that these companies have never known anything other than a buoyant market. For much of the past twenty years anyone could come to Spain and set up a real estate agency and sell property and to some degree this is still true, the difference is…..now it’s not easy!

In a way the situation is similar to the UK (and worldwide) recession of the early nineties and in financial institutions where the management teams in businesses were only used to working in a “Bull” market (where they needed to be “reactive” to sales) and then along comes a “Bear” market (where they need to be more “proactive” toward sales) and businesses don’t know how to deal with it.

This was a period where layers of middle and senior management were shed from companies, they became leaner and meaner with tighter controls on spending and to some degree where only the fittest survived.

This is I believe where we are now in regard to the property market in Spain and particularly the Costa del Sol.

Back to Business Basics!

 In conclusion then…… we have to go back to business basics, make sure that we research and validate the potential for our business, create a sound business plan, train our people properly and be proactive in our marketing and sales campaigns whilst keeping tight controls on the finances.

As the saying goes “no one ever said it was gong to be easy”, but I don’t think many ex-pats here in Spain expected it to be as difficult as they are currently finding it to make a living from a business in Spain.

If you are finding business difficult here in Spain we have business specialists with several years management consultancy and business development experience, so we may be able to help you! Just call 952 499 400 for a free consultation and ask for the “Costa Business Advice” group.

Information courtesy of David Fairweather, co-founder of http://www.barsinspain.com

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