A Market Research Case in Turkey

A Business Case for Market research trip on site: Business Guidance in Central Anatolia

In the early morning hours of a sunny day in Istanbul I received a phone call from the Netherlands.

A family business specialized for over 40 years in the worldwide import and export market of agriculture machines. The company was supplying quality new, used and refurbished heavy machinery, farm agriculture machines, economically to broad and diverse worldwide customers. They already had some contacts through the internet and tried to communicate via phone and mails.

The company was looking for a trade partner who was familiar with the Dutch culture. The products they wanted to import from Turkey were used agriculture machines of specific brands and some agricultural machines.

For three years they had been searching for a partner who they could run their trade with. They had been facing problems however which were

the potential partner in Turkey did not speak a foreign language or they had no idea about the business and sometimes they did not behave in a professional manner..

For instance, if they knew a little English they made a research on the Internet for the local prices in the Netherlands and demanded 3 times more than they would demand from a local customer in Turkey. Due to the high volume of the products that the company wanted to buy the difference of the offered prices for different kind of customers made much sense. The language and the way of approaching the suppliers in this sector was therefore a barrier.

For this reason this Dutch company was not able to do business with Turkey although there was a big potential of the products they could import from this country. The company was in need to get in touch with some local dealers in several areas of Turkey who could deliver them the products they were looking for. These were specific kind of used agricultural machines and the client’s intention was to buy 500 products a year. Selling other kinds of these machines was also an option.

We started with the project and the client shared the contacts he already had made through the internet. Our systematic approach provided a comprehensive and accurate “long-list”.

First we contacted each potential partner by phone located in several areas in Turkey, gained more information about the market such as which kind of agriculture machines were used in which area, for which price etc. After gathering all the necessary information we evaluated the market size and position, identified some potential suppliers and possible local partners and set up some face-to-face appointments for in-depth interviews and meetings in several counties where the products were mainly available.

According to our findings and information provided, the client was convinced about the opportunities present in Turkey for developing their business. We would provide flexible and professional business support as an extension of the client. We would contribute by assisting negotiations that the client would have with the potential partners.

We started planning for a market research trip. Knowing the area, the distances, where the airports are, where to hire a rent a car made it very easy for us to plan the trip very quickly and cost effectively. We had only arranged for the hotel for the first destination. We met with one of the potential partners as they had offered to pick us up at the airport in Konya, one of the biggest cities in Anatolia. Something unexpected happened, the luggage of our visitor did not arrive and he was trying to communicate with the airport staff. It was not a good impression for Turkey at arrival although something of this sort may happen all over the world. The next day we solved the problem.

Our trip would start in Konya and continue to Adana, Yozgat, Samsun, Akşehir and end in Konya. A 2000 km trip. In Konya the primer dealer of a well known brand picked us up from the airport and next day from the hotel. While we had a meeting in the office of the dealer we were interrupted many times. As the dealer was an important businessman in town and preparing for a local fair, he was very engaged with other issues while talking with us as well.  He tried to pay us attention and answered many questions of my client, and was very polite but it was different compared with how my client was accustomed to be treated during a meeting. It took a bit more time than usual but the client got the interest he expected to have.
In the afternoon that day we went to the small business owners, the so-called agriculture machine galleries. During all the conversations we had with the other business owners, we conducted face-to-face interviews. The only concern of our client was complaining about having no privacy as there were also other people in the meetings who hadn’t do anything at all with our business. I tried to explain him that they also were friends besides being competitors. But there was a side effect of this situation for us. As we were negotiating about products and their prices, the business owners in the area were informed about a ‘foreigner’ in the area interested in some kind of machines and the prices immediately increased. We are experienced and familiar with Turkish business mentality which show difference according to the sector, area and kind of organization. I explained my client that how deeper into the east you go, how more you will see the attitude of the people are changing from a western to an eastern culture.

Each day we made some revisions to our previous plan depending on the desire of the client to stay more in the area of interest. Thanks to technology we were flexible, could cancel and make new reservations, change prior appointment while driving to the next destination. Being able to change meetings occasionally would have been much more difficult in Europe.

Every culture has its differences. What we had faced during this trip was: hospitality, every supplier offered us a lunch or dinner and wanted us to taste the specialties of their hometown. Curiosity about others business and feeling free to come and take a seat during a negotiation. Flexibility, we could easily make changes in our schedule. Everyone was so kind to provide all the information that the client wanted to have. These all were things we know, but there was one thing that I had not faced before.

While we had stopped underway and had our lunch somewhere in Adana, I left the client alone while going to the restroom for a couple of minutes. When I was back in the restaurant, one of the truck drivers came and starting talking in Turkish to my client. I requested him to talk to me, as he sounded quite angry. While I was away my client had blew his nose loudly as he had the flu. This was regarded as an insult in that area. I had to convince him carefully that he didn’t mean to insult him, as he was a foreigner. My client did not understand what was going on. Later on, I explained him what the concern of ‘that angry man’ was.

I was glad to know that the client found much more potential than expected according through their Internet research and phone calls prior to our exploration trip. The potential was huge but the bottleneck was operational.

Every potential supplier was ready for cooperation but they did not want to export the used agriculture machines themselves but wanted a local partner who would do that on their behalf. They wanted a confidante who could take care about the communication with the client, export the products and guarantee their payment. Especially the business owners of this sector were not high educated. Even the big dealers expressed the same concern and desire.

It is up to the client. They will be evaluating the outcomes of the trip. Abstaining from hiring someone for supporting their business will muddle away an enormous opportunity. The currency and timing of the business is of crucial importance. They should make use of the opportunity and capture the value before their competitors do.

Besides the opportunity for their business, our client was impressed by the country in general and told me that it was so much better than he had expected. At the end of the trip he had enjoyed four seasons in one week during his stay in Turkey.

Semiha Ünal
Business Consultants

29.08.2012