We are undoubtedly entering a quieter time in European business. Many companies view this as a slower time. However, for those looking to expand across Europe, this period offers a strategic advantage: a unique opportunity to refine your market approach, deeply understand your ideal customer and develop localized outreach that truly resonates. Plus, it might be the best time to stand out on social media. Or even the right time to finally negotiate and close that deal.
Fact: Late July/early August is a golden opportunity to lay the groundwork for explosive growth starting in September.
I talked to our CRO and data guru Gavin Page about what you need to know to take advantage of this downtime to hone your international sales strategy and shift leads down the funnel toward DEAL.
It's true that summer can bring a quieter period across Europe. Different countries observe distinct holiday patterns, like Sweden often slowing down in late July, or France in early August. This doesn't mean your efforts need to cease. In fact, people are often more active on LinkedIn during these times, and more receptive to engaging in exploratory conversations — plus those working often have more time to themselves to review sales proposals. And that really solid lead that’s been leaving you on the back burner for months? They just might have the time to discuss their niggling doubts.
This is an excellent period to revisit your messaging, refine your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and build out segmented data for more relevant outreach.
Rather than a lull, consider the summer a dedicated time for internal refinement and strategic development. This allows you to emerge from the quieter months with a robust, hyper-personalized strategy — that you’ve already started testing out — ready for dynamic growth.
Successful European expansion hinges on a meticulously defined ICP. This isn't a one-size-fits-all exercise. It requires adapting your ICP to each local market.
Expanding into new European markets requires more than just translating your existing materials — though you should do that as well, especially for any frequently asked questions. It demands a deep understanding of local nuances, market dynamics and customer pain points. This is where working on your ICP and developing localized messaging becomes crucial.
Generic messaging is ineffective. This summer, focus on building personalization into your outreach by ICP and buyer persona. Use the insights gained from refining your ICP to tailor your messages.
For example, if you are a SaaS integrator targeting financial services, when addressing a CFO, focus on their strategic concerns like cash flow optimization, risk management and data-driven decisions. Highlight how your solution can alleviate their fears, such as inaccurate cash flow forecasting or inefficient manual processes. Your outreach can leverage common pain points.
One of our current clients Nomentia provides cloud-based treasury and cash management solutions. We target on their behalf different ICPs on finance teams that struggle with real-time cash visibility and time-consuming manual forecasting. For treasury professionals, discussions around optimizing treasury operations without the complexity of traditional systems can be highly effective. If a prospect has recently received an investment round, they are more likely to want to revisit their current setup. Our BDRs might reach out to ask: Are areas like liquidity planning, risk management or trade finance optimization on your radar? Or, if a lead recently boasted publicly about a profitable quarter, we might ask: With that scale, are payments, bank reconciliation or real-time cash visibility on your treasury radar?
This sets up a marketing qualified lead to become a sales qualified lead, which can be passed onto our team of local sales execs or yours to close the deal.
You also don’t want to waste time repeating the same thing. You need to stand out from the din online. For the loyalty and customer engagement consultancy Collinson Group, one recent outreach email we sent reads:
Subject line: Loyalty is only valuable if you can prove it
Email preview: 62% of companies can’t accurately measure the profit from their loyalty programmes. Are you one of them?
Body: Most brands run loyalty programmes. But few can say, with confidence, how much profit those programmes are really driving. In fact, 62% of companies struggle to measure incremental value.
That’s a big problem—because without clear insight into what’s working and what’s not, you’re flying blind. This quick read reveals the five critical elements every business needs to measure loyalty effectively. Learn how to:
If you're ready to move beyond gut feeling and start proving the real value of your loyalty programme, this is your next step.
No matter where you are in your sales cycle — from lead to MQL, from SQL to opportunity, to customer up for renewal — summer is a great time to reach out with relevant, value-added messaging.
Data is the foundation of effective outreach. We use Cognism sales intelligence platform at this stage for up-to-date B2B data.
Just remember that these contact lists are just your starting point. Use this slower period to clean up and augment your data. While data provides the raw material, layering AI and other data tools creates the insight needed for personalized messaging — always with a trusted human at the helm.
Ensure your data is accurate and comprehensive. Utilize advanced data tools to help differentiate your outreach and provide a more targeted approach. Or partner with lead generation specialists that have this robust toolset in place.
One thing to note is when and where to use AI. At Sales Force Europe, we have a precise AI usage policy. AI is great for top-of-funnel brainstorming. It can be a powerful way to better research your ICP within the context of different verticals, country markets and job roles — always validated by our clients. The right AI tools, like Clay AI, can also help with data acquisition and enrichment, alongside hyper-targeting, both by location — within 5 miles of X — and for complex queries — automotive manufacturing companies with heavy equipment in Y location, that have recruited sustainability job roles in the last 12 months. We also use AI to keep our BDRs on track with outreach cadence.
We look at AI as an enabler of BDR and sales teams but should not replace them. Surely you’ve gotten haphazard LinkedIn DMs or emails that are so obviously from a bot that you blocked the person. Don’t burn your leads in the same way.
Especially for sales execs, we fully believe that relationships have become more valuable in the age of AI. AI is incredibly useful for back-office work, but you cannot replace human contact in discovering prospect motivation and matching a product or service to your lead’s needs. We believe that human touch is still necessary to close B2B deals.
At Sales Force Europe, we work with you to do all this and more and then turn it into a comprehensive playbook — your guide for navigating new markets. It's a living document that defines and then hones key aspects of your outreach strategy, including:
Some things to consider...
Discovering the Unique Selling Proposition is often the most challenging aspect for companies, answering: What truly differentiates you from competitors in a specific European country? Do you know what did in your home market?
For example, we worked with a ride-sharing app that originally wanted to target Germany, which of course is the European automotive leader. However, through the development of our playbook, our team discovered a government initiative in France that incentivized ride-sharing, providing a unique selling point for that market. The USP is not always obvious and may require deep market research and testing, but working with locals and business development specialists can help you identify it.
These are vital for demonstrating value and building trust in new markets, but something many companies overlook in their push to sales. Which is a shame because it’s only human to compare. Case studies and use cases highlight how your solution has successfully addressed similar challenges for other businesses.
A good habit is that, as soon as you hit a milestone with a customer, especially in a new market or vertical, you reach out and check how they are doing. If they are happy, that’s a good time to ask for a testimonial. As you progress your relationship, you can ask for a case study. Or for a quicker win, see if they would hop on a LinkedIn Live for 15 minutes where you mostly plug their product. Organically, they will likely mention you in a way that’s quotable and they feel good because you are promoting their services — win-win!
Your playbook is not static. ICP, messaging, outreach and cadence should be reviewed almost weekly, adapting based on market feedback and new objections that arise as you engage with prospects. This continuous refinement ensures your messaging remains effective and relevant.
“Newsjacking” gives you a great excuse for a touchpoint. This is, unfortunately, most common in the cybersecurity and data protection space where there always seems to be another attack or breach dominating headlines.
One topic that is evergreen for lead outreach is EU regulations. First came the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which still deeply matters, especially in sales outreach.
More recently, we’ve been reaching out on behalf of an environmental, social and governance (ESG) tool to companies of more than 250 employees with a balance sheet total of more than €20 million, as this ICP is eager to comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD.)
And certainly working out how to comply with the EU AI Act is also at the top of all businesses’ minds, which will come through in our conversations with leads on your behalf.
Instead of viewing the summer as a complete pause, consider it an invaluable period for strategic preparation. It's a time when you can:
By dedicating the summer months to these crucial strategic initiatives, you can ensure your European expansion is not just a hopeful endeavor but a well-prepared, insight-driven campaign ready to hit the ground running in September.
Just don't forget to relax and spent time with loved ones too!
