International Trade: Integrated Results eyes expansion

SPECIALIST business-to-business marketing and sales services company Integrated Results is utilising lessons learnt trading in Yorkshire and the UK to expand internationally.

Integrated Results provides its clients with bespoke sales services with multi-currency and multi-language support, among other tailored products.

The ambitious Skipton-based company, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, counts IT giant HP among its clients and has already established a strong presence in Western Europe – particularly France and Holland.

It intends to achieve further growth by launching its services in Eastern Europe – in addition to the emerging BRIC nations – over the next three to five years.

In-depth analysis on Yorkshire companies trading overseas and on other key issues regarding international trade can be read in TheBusinessDesk.com’s major new supplement, produced in association with Cobbetts and Grant Thornton, and which is available to download.

Founder and managing director of Integrated Results, Chris Brooks said: “Our experience of entering overseas markets is that you’ve got to understand what your customer wants and which geographical markets are suited to your product.

“It’s also very important to use staff who have the language and cultural skills to be effective in those markets.

“But in this day and age of technological advancement, it’s also possible to run your operations from your UK head office in order to be capital efficient.

“It’s also very important to be able to employ the right professional services teams – and we employ Grant Thornton.

“We are now also of a size when we can now take our services to the emerging BRIC markets.”

Integrated Results employs 35 staff at its headquarters.

Phil Whaley, Grant Thornton Leeds’ Associate Director for Corporate Finance, said: “Having learned from their expansion into overseas markets, the team at Integrated Results is now looking at more distant shores.

“The same underlying principals apply – know what your customer wants and how to give it to them, use talent that is familiar with the local market place and keep a watchful eye and guiding hand on activities.

“Integrated Results has also considered the financial ramifications of dealing in foreign currencies and is mindful of how changes in exchange rates can impact their pricing, cash flow and profits. 

“For businesses looking overseas for the first time, this is a factor that is overlooked at their peril.”