To enable you to maximise the value you obtain from this service and to help you create a great partnership between yourselves, your International Trade Advisor (ITA) and your OMIS team, we’ve pulled together our top tips for getting the best out of OMIS.

Top-level strategy

Before diving headlong into internationalisation, it is imperative to develop a strategy. Whilst you may not need to document your strategy in a lengthy tome, you should at the very minium have some form of strategic framework—we certainly wouldn’t recommend playing pin the tail on the country!

• Develop an overall vision of where you want your business to be in the future
• Create a business strategy that will enable you to achieve this
• Develop an international strategy that is aligned with your business strategy
• Identify your target country or a shortlist of countries/regions
• Set aside a budget for your internationalisation—include the costs of OMIS, travel, accommodation, marketing collateral, legal advice and documentation, etc.

Online research

It’s pointless paying someone else to find out basic information that a couple of hours or a morning spent on Google could give you, so don’t be lazy! You’ll spend as much time explaining what you want to a market specialist as it will take you to complete a quick, broad sweep of the landscape yourself.

• Start by doing some basic online research
• Where possible, find out about the market structure, size and potential within your chosen country
• Try to establish a basic profile of your industry: Who will your competitors be? Who might you be able to partner with? What is your customer profile within that country?
• Conduct an initial search to uncover key political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors that might influence your business overseas
• Don’t forget to search for other UK companies that are already trading in your target country as you may be able to learn from their experiences and/or to partner with them

Choosing your OMIS package

Having completed your own online research, you’ll have a much clearer idea of how OMIS can help you and will be able to strategically tailor your OMIS package to meet your needs. It’s likely that the closer you are to entering your chosen market, the more practical the services you need will be.

• Mix and match OMIS services to select those that best meet your needs and requirements
• Use OMIS for ‘value added’ services (i.e. activities that you are unable to easily do yourself)
• For market research, choose between depth and breadth depending upon your current level of understanding—you’ll want to dive deeper into the market if you already understand the broad brush strokes than if you’ve had difficulty establishing basic information
• Tie any activities you ask for to your next planned steps—all services will be part of a bigger process

Creating a clear brief

A good brief is vital to maximising the value you receive from OMIS—when requesting OMIS services, you’ll be asked to complete a standard UKTI form, which should provide you with the structure you need. Remember, you’re engaging the services of someone who doesn’t yet know your business, who doesn’t know you and who certainly can’t read your mind, so the more information you can give them about your company and what you are looking for, the better.

• Clearly specify your objectives
• Ensure you have understood who will be carrying out your brief and write it accordingly
• Define key outcomes and findings that you require from OMIS
• A clear focused brief = clear focused research and services
• Double check that you and your market specialist have a mutually agreed understanding of the research and services to be carried out

Ongoing engagement with OMIS staff

Whilst written communications are great, verbal communication can’t be beaten. Ensure that you maintain contact with both your ITA and OMIS in the same way as you would to get the best out of your own staff and suppliers. Misunderstandings can happen, especially across international borders, and you’ll save a lot of time and hassle if you make sure that everyone is on the same page from the outset.

• Maintain personal involvement throughout the OMIS process―phone conversations are best
• Relationship is important to getting the right results
• Conduct regular health checks on your OMIS services
• Use milestones and due dates
• Ensure that you obtain sight of draft/initial research so that you can be involved in final revisions/tweaks

Final sign off on market research

Once you’ve received a completed OMIS report, check through it to ensure that it meets your stated brief—don’t just leave it in your inbox gathering dust! If anything is missing or does not meet your expectations, contact your market specialist as soon as possible—they will quickly move on to their next project and it will be easier for them to revise your report whilst it’s still fresh in their mind.

• Once the research has been completed, make sure that you sign off on your brief and that you’re happy it has been met
• Prior to sign off, ensure that you obtain any final amendments that you feel are needed

Using OMIS to conduct a market visit

If you’ve correctly specified your OMIS report, you should now have a strong list of potential customers and partners who you may wish to meet with. Before you dash out on the next plane however, it’s vital to ensure that you’re thoroughly prepared and that you’re making the most of the support that OMIS can give you.

• Let the OMIS staff know when you’d like to visit your chosen country and what you’ll be hoping to achieve―again, a clear brief ensures successful outcomes for all
• Check with your market specialist to ensure that your planned dates don’t coincide with any public holidays or national celebrations
• Where possible, give your OMIS team plenty of notice about your intentions―OMIS’ in-country support can be hugely valuable but if you leave it to the last minute to liaise with the team, it’s highly likely they’ll be unavailable due to other commitments
• Prioritise who you’d like to meet with and explain to your market specialist why you’ve made these choices so they can arrange your meeting schedule accordingly
• If you’d like a market briefing, cultural advice or explanations of business etiquette, specify this when you choose your OMIS package―alternatively, if a UKTI trade mission is arranged for your sector and chosen country, many of these services will often be included

Turning OMIS into action

It’s now your turn to act! The key to unlocking the value of OMIS services is to be a proactive partner throughout your internationalisation journey. Whilst OMIS can help you to lay all the right foundations, at the end of the day it’s up to you to promote your business, to make a great impression with the people you meet, to build lasting relationships and to follow-up effectively. OMIS can generate huge return on investment if you effectively play your part.

What is OMIS?

If you haven’t heard of it before, OMIS stands for Overseas Market Introduction Service. Provided by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), OMIS allows businesses to access the services of UK trade teams located in British embassies, high commissions and consulates across the world. Having used OMIS ourselves for several international client projects, we’ve found it to be a hugely valuable service and would recommend it to anyone looking to break into a new overseas market.

Why do we recommend it?

Internationalisation can be a daunting task, especially when there are differences in time zones, languages and cultures. OMIS provides a wealth of practical support, advice and key market information, supporting you through each stage of your international journey.

Whilst we’d always encourage you to begin the process of market research for yourselves, international research can be difficult when you don’t have contacts ‘on the ground’ and the research information you are looking for is in another language—Babel Fish and Google Translate only go so far! OMIS teams can prove invaluable in finding the information you need and you’ll be amazed by the caché that contacting organisations through the British Embassy brings—it really can open doors that would otherwise remain closed. Imagine sitting at your desk in the UK and receiving a call from an international embassy—you would certainly provide a warmer reception than for a cold caller. The call would probably get past your secretary too! This works in the same way abroad.

When it comes to actually visiting an international market in person, OMIS can be on hand then too. Booking meetings for a market visit and sending marketing material abroad can be time-consuming and frustrating due to the added complexities of tracking down the correct address in another language, dealing with international postage, sourcing meeting venues, and ensuring that you don’t book two meetings at opposite ends of the country on the same day! Using OMIS’ market specialists removes considerable stress and hassle both during the organisation of your visit and once you’ve actually landed in the country. We’ve used this service before and wouldn’t consider organising a market visit any other way.

How can OMIS help me?

OMIS provides a broad range of activities, each of which can be tailored to your individual requirements. You might be looking for more indepth information on a particular market, interested in identifying a new business partner for your services or looking to launch your product abroad with a splash: OMIS can help in any or all of these situations.

To give you a better idea of the types of services you can purchase through OMIS, I’ve put together a list of example activities that OMIS can undertake for you below (the list isn’t exhaustive but it is relatively comprehensive):

Market research

• Identification of market size, market potential and key trends within a marketplace
• Provision of localised industry and sector advice
• Analysis of possible routes to market
• In-country competitor analysis
• Assessment of the potential level of demand for your products or services
• Identification of opportunities and prospects

Introductions and partner selection

• Identification of possible business contacts and partners
• Assessment of the level of interest displayed by potential partners
• Background checks and partner references
• Provision of marketing material to partners of interest (including provision of cover letters in the partner’s native language and personal follow-up once the material has been sent)
• ‘Warming up’ of potential partners and contacts
• Organisation of local market introductions (for example, Chambers of Commerce, trade associations and so on)

During your international visit

• Organisation of meetings for your market visit
• Provision of pre-visit briefings and one-to-one mentoring
• Provision of local support to get you from meeting to meeting in an unfamiliar country
• Provision of translation, cultural advice and explanations of business ettiquette during meetings
• Organisation of a launch event hosted at the British embassy (with possible access to the British Ambassador or High Commissioner at the event)
• Invitation of guests and organisation of bespoke receptions, meetings and seminars where you can personally present your product or service
• Organisation of follow-up meetings and post-visit support

Sadly, not all activities are available in every overseas market as the activities are dependent upon the presence of UKTI market specialists within a given country, but where OMIS is available the market specialists are solely dedicated to supporting UK businesses (UKTI provides a full list of country specific information on their website—those countries marked in bold offer full local services).

What will it cost?

OMIS services start from around £225 and then vary in price depending upon your requirements, the level of support you are looking for and the country that you are looking to target. Overall, their prices are very competitive compared to commercial in-country support, especially when you consider the reduction of risk and the support apparatus around these services in the UK.

So what now?

Your first step is to get in touch with UKTI (look for your local contact by region) and to meet with an International Trade Adviser (ITA). Your ITA will become your key point of contact and will be able to offer additional advice on your internationalisation process. To enable you to access OMIS, your ITA will put you in touch with the right contacts, help you fill in the relevant paperwork and brief, and support you throughout the OMIS process.

Update 10 November 2011

If you have already started the OMIS process or are thinking about requesting their services, we’ve pulled together our top tips for getting the best out of OMIS in our latest article.

Having enjoyed the trip immensely, I just thought I’d give you a taster of it here, starting with the stats!

The numbers…

• 6 day trip
• 4 countries (if you include a transfer in Frankfurt airport!)
• 2 days of traveling
• 6 flights
• 3 hotels
• -1° Celsius average temperature
• 2 days of snow
• 4 days of meetings
• 3 Embassies
• 3 UKTI local teams
• 2 evening events
• 2 ambassadors met
• 2 government ministers spoken with
• 15 one-to-one meetings with interested parties
• 21 companies met with in total

The commercial opportunity…

Well now, that would be commercially sensitive information! Sorry to disappoint.

And a few pictures…

Click on the images to enlarge them