On behalf of the eXpand International Consultancy GmbH Johanna Slamanig and Karin Gschweitl attended successfully the Online Trading Day on November 18th 2014 from 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm. Seven other practice firms, most of them from New York and one other from Graz also took part at the Online Trading Day.
Each practice firm had three minutes to present their company and their products including special offers exclusively for the Online Trading Day. Our presentation included a short overview of our practice firm, the location of Graz in the world map, the presenters, what products and specials we are offering and how to find our web shop. After the presentation on our company a Q&A-Session followed where other practice firms had questions on our products.
In total we sold 5 products so far, generating an additional turnover of USD 2.094,00 (approximately EUR 1.706,19) which is 35% higher than last year. In the following table the products sold are shown:
Quantity | Product | Price |
2 | Social Media Consulting | $ 597,60 |
1 | E-Business Consulting | $ 538,80 |
2 | Market-Analysis of Austria | $ 957,60 |
| Total | $ 2.094,00 |
Achieving this success required a lot of preparation in advance. At the beginning of the semester Johanna Slamanig and Karin Gschweitl formed the team responsible for the Online Trading Day. Both, being members of the marketing department, had great interest in presenting our practice firm and our products to other companies all over the world. They needed to request a new credit card for the Online Trading Day. Furthermore Johanna Slamanig and Karin Gschweitl designed a presentation that represented our company and products adequately and inform themselves on the products we are offering and create some special offers for the Online Trading Day together with the consulting department. Julian P. from Monitoring & Support helped with the technical equipment needed for the “Go Meeting” – the program that made a live meeting with all the other participants possible.
Before the presentation slot opened a last check had to be made to ensure that speakers, web conference-software and microphone were working and internet was connected. Aboutten minutes before the Online Trading Day started, the log-in to the conference was possible and the organizer greeted the participants that were already online.
At 3.40 pm the first presentation started, followed by a question round. The timeframe of three minutes for each presentation was not very strict, many other practice firms exceeded this timespan. After our presentation, which started at about 4.15 pm, a Q&A Session followed. Most of the other participants were asking very detailed questions on the products. In this phase of the Online Trading Day it was very important to focus on the question asked and to clarify if something might have been misunderstood. For an appropriate answer to the question it is essential to know the products offered very well.
The Online Trading Day is a good way of showing students how to manage business relations worldwide. Since there are almost no limits to communicate with the whole world via the internet, it is important to show how international meetings are being done. Nowadays there are almost no companies that do not make business with companies from abroad. For a business graduate it is essential to be able to communicate with foreign companies - to generate sales from exports or to purchase products from suppliers all over the world. These two aspects were exposed clearly at the Online Trading Day and the eXpand Consultancy GmbH had the chance to foster one of the key elements of the eXpand strategy: fostering internationalization.