HOW TO GET INTERNATIONAL SALES FOR YOUR BOARD GAME: 5 KEY TIPS
One of the biggest areas of our work as a leading Board Games Expert Consultancy is facilitating Export Sales for Games companies of all shapes and sizes. We have worked on growing international Sales for major iconic Games, and we have represented individual Game authors.
There are some underlying success factors which don’t change that much:
- Ask Yourself If Your Games Are Ready For Export, And If Not Make Them So!
Board Games are a cultural expression. Some types of Games and some Game themes will not work outside your home market. So the start point for growing your International Sales is to objectively assess if you are producing products with international potential. Many Games companies say they want to sell more outside their own country, but their actions in terms of the type of products they produce say otherwise!
- Build Long Term Relationships With Games Distributors Around The World
The key to success is this business is persistently building relationships and trust in those relationships. If you just sell as many units as you can to a distributor and then run away until the next time you want them to sell your new Games, then you are unlikely to maximise your success. These are your partners, and good partners try to make sure things work for their colleagues. Maybe they need more attention, perhaps they need to tweak their pitches, perhaps they just need constant communication to avoid losing focus on your Games, but either way you need to invest time, energy and travel budget in nurturing these critical relationships.
- Attend Key Trade Shows & Always Try To Get To One More Show Than Your Competition
It’s a cliché, but people buy from people. It’s hard to understand why some people would rather sit in their offices firing out impersonal process driven emails versus truly engaging with their distribution network. How will you find out what’s hot, which of your Games fits the current market trends best and which of your competition are doing good things unless you get out of your office and go and talk to people?
- Drive Your Own Success On Amazon & Other E-Commerce Platforms First Before Seeking To Expand Distribution
In this day and age there is little to stop you launching your Game around the world via Amazon and other platforms. If your Sales are low and reviews are terrible on Amazon, then why would anyone want to distribute your Game to other distribution channels? BUT if you have strong reviews on Amazon and good Sale levels, then for sure local distributors and their retailers will grumble about having to compete with Amazon, but at least they can see that there is strong consumer demand for your Games and that they are not unproven.
- Engage Experts In International Sales For Board Games
This does not just apply to our company, there are other International Sales Reps out there for sure, but we have been selling Games since the turn of the millennium. It would be true to say that we have been there and done it. We advise our clients on how to make their Games more export ready, we help to present their Games to many more distributors than they can reach themselves, and we use our 25 years of investment in relationships across the world of Games to get better feedback and to push for more Sales. There is a lot of grind involved in selling anything, but especially in Games where there is so much product to choose from. The reality is that we need to make a lot of presentations to make Sales. For many creatively lead companies working with International Sales specialists like our company can take away the sometimes soul crushing grind of repeatedly pitching product and failing to make a sale. Aside from our strong contact networks across the world of Games, it’s our willingness to hear ‘No’ a hundred times or more in order to get a Yes which creates our effectiveness!
If you’re interested in getting help with International Sales for your Board Games or Tabletop Games business, feel free to get in touch via the ‘Contact’ page on this website: https://www.boardgamebiz.com/index.php/contact-us/