Companies receive guests during the games to strengthen relationships
Sports are not the only subject in a FIFA World Cup™ host country. Despite the "Yippee Yippee" of the games, holidays and commotion that such a major event caused in our country, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), entities and companies, together, commercially took advantage of this great opportunity, through World Cup Project, which brought 2,300 buyers, investors and foreign trensetters to Brazil to conduct business agendas and follow the games of the World Championship through their sectorial projects, including, Brazilian Health Devices.
The companies associated to ABIMO and who are part of the project, prepared a special agenda for their guests, distributors, partners and prospects, from countries such as: Germany, Algeria, Bolivia, Chile, Spain, India, Mexico, Peru, Russia and Turkey to watch the World Cup games and attend business meetings and technical visits.
Among the invited buyers, there were some who were negotiating with the Brazilian companies, and some who were already customers and representatives. In both cases, buyers had a great surprise when visiting companies. They were surprised with the manufacturing processes and the high regulatory standards which companies are involved by Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency – Anvisa.
Bio-Art, engaged in manufacturing of articulators and one of the winners of Apex-Brazil Award for its excellence in exporting, received Praveen Malhotra, Indian purchaser from IDS Denmed Pvt, in the market for almost 21 years and customer of Bio-Art since mid-2003.
"During the meeting, we tried to maximize the information about the market and what is the current scenario of selling," says CEO Isabel Piccin. "Our aim was to strengthen the partnership with the client through an engagement in order to perform a job together to promote Bio-Art products in India".
During the visit, the executive could gather information which helped us to understand the market and the customer profile, in addition to getting an order. "India is a focus market for Bio-Art and we had already proposed a partnership to perform a job together, but we were unsuccessful, since the communication with the customer was difficult. We believe that after this visit, relationships will strengthen and based on actions that have been agreed, we will achieve better results in the country, "concludes Isabel.
Malhotra pointed out to the entrepreneur who really liked to have been to Brazil and watch the match between Chile vs Netherlands in the group phase, in Sao Paulo: "It was an unique experience that marked my life," he celebrated.
Two Spanish guests visited Traumec, manufacturer of medical products. They are potential buyers and the company believes that it can generate good business with the visit, especially with the results of the relationship after an invitation to them to watch the semifinal game in Sao Paulo.
Another BHD company, World Cup Project participant, was Baumer, company who provides a portfolio having more than 5.000 solutions in hospital laundry, sterilization and infection control, orthopedics and dentistry. Baumer received a guest from Russia, awarded at the Medica Trade Fair, in order to strengthen their business relationship and ensure a great partnership for the coming years in the Russian market. The client visited the factory and saw Germany clinch the World Champion in the final against Argentina.
To Flavia Carvalho, HP Bio, ABIMO's work through BHD with this kind of action is essential: "I believe that after the distributors come to Brazil and experience our culture, their enchantment with us is inevitable", she says. “The made in Brasil is never simply summarized to made in China”, she says.
HP Bio was already negotiating for a long time, a partnership with a german distributor Spiegelberg, with whom they had had contact during the Medica Fair two years ago. "Since then, we nurtured this partnership with a lot of negotiation and product adaptation actions".
The contract has already been signed and the orders are already happening. To celebrate, the representative Ingo Distel can go to the final game of the FIFA World Cup™, in Maracanã. "If you come for a World Cup final is nice, imagine coming to the one who brought you the tetra championship. Needs no comment, "celebrates Flavia.
Distel agenda continued after the game, at the headquarters of HP Bio with trainings. "Knowing our factory, seeing the production, understanding the technical details makes it emotionally one of us - not just laying there in Germany. Exactly what we look for in a distributor", concludes Flavia.
The Peruvian guest was from Fanem, Brazilian multinational company leader in selling incubator and Health Innovation Prize winner (promoter by ABIMO).
We brought guests who are already customers or representatives from Fanem to consolidate the relationship and strengthen partnerships recently signed", says the company president, Djalma Rodrigues. In addition to games, they visited the national customers, the factory and Fanem office. According to Rodrigues, the results are taking place already with requests from Peru, Ecuador, South Africa and Egypt.
Dabi Atlante, company in the field of dentistry, received a Bolivian and Peruvian at its headquarters in the city of Ribeirão Preto. The guests visited the factory where they were introduced to the company releases such as 3D Tomography for dentistry. The purpose of the visit was these customers closing deals in these product lines, with Bolivia, one of the largest buyers of the company. Both watch the match against Netherlands in Sao Paulo.
Scitech intended to demonstrate all the investment made in its new manufacturing structure of drug eluting stents, the development of new products and high quality standards employed in local production to Chilean visitors who received: Alejandro Martinez, Professor of the Hospital of the Catholic University of Chile and Alejandro Villegas, from CMS Chile, distributor of its products. "We decided to bring to Brazil, beyond our distributor, a Chilean doctor who, besides university professor, is a very respected trendsetter in the academic environment (he is a former President of the Chilean Society of Interventional Cardiology and Hemodynamics)" explains, Paulo Roberto Rosario, export manager at Scitech.
Villegas was impressed with the size of the stents factory located in Sao Paulo: "I did not think that Brazil had such technology in the medical field," said.
"We are very pleased with the result and the good impression that the doctor had of the country, the organization of the World Cup and of the trade agenda," concludes Rosário. "We have good expectations that in the future we can do good business in the neighboring country." Unfortunately, visitors saw his country losing to the Netherlands in the game that they watched in the Arena Corinthians in São Paulo.
In order to expand business in autoclavable cases, Fami received at its headquarters in São Caetano do Sul, Pawel Bartkowski, representative of Comercializadora Mavero, Mexican distributor with which it has business since 2000. "Our intention was to strengthen our business relationship, providing the customer to meet the facilities and processes at our plant and receive updates about new products and strategies to expand our market in Mexico," says Jussara Marques, from Fami export department. He also visited a hospital in the city and watched the match Chile vs Netherlands.
Reference manufacturer for products for health care in the areas of first aid, surgery, therapy and hygiene, Cremer received a distributor for a meeting which detailed its performance with the current line they sell, and to find ways of working with new lines that will be included in the selling portfolio of this distributor.
"This action was very important to provide this opportunity to our distributor to watch FIFA World Cup™ match, Chile and the Netherlands, in Sao Paulo and it was very well used to assess the opportunities for sales growth with the expansion of our product mix", celebrates the company's export coordinator, Elisabeth Zimmermann.
The business expectations for the coming 12 monts between the foreign buyers and the Brazilian companies is US$ 200 thousand.
"We see in projects like this an opportunity to put the industry in a showcase, helping the Brazilian Health Devices project in building the country brand for the sector and the perception of the attributes that we want to highlight in the Brazilian industry," said ABIMO business intelligence coordinator, Katherine Guimarães. "The World Cup project provided through football and informal atmosphere of the games that our companies could show to their buyers that the Brazilian can be at the same time cheerful and friendly and comply with their commitments."