In a recent survey of 1,000 UK business decision makers carried out by Censuswide and TalkTalk Business, we uncovered that almost 1 in every 2 (46%) respondents believe that their business will expand internationally in the next 12 months.

• 59% of respondents in companies with 501-1000 employees stated that they will expand their business internationally.
• 33% of SME’s with 20-50 employees also thought their business would expand.

So how can you help your customers achieve this international growth and how can you share in their success?

This depends on the size of your customers business and if they already have an international presence or not.


If your customer has no international presence already:

The capital outlay of recruiting and training staff abroad is expensive, as is the infrastructure and new premises. It’s a big, high risk gamble, and for smaller companies in particular, this can be 'make or break'. It’s why many organisations look to different models of expansion such as finding a local partner in the country, or even setting up a franchise.

There is however another option that’s low cost, less risk and lets your customers keep more margin for themselves. Businesses can create a ‘virtual international footprint’ through clever the use of communications technology such as a good website and International Numbers.

International Numbers is an inbound call service using the local country area code which then re-directs to the UK. These numbers give the appearance of a local call, and are often enough to give people in that country the confidence to do business with your customers UK organisations. Businesses can also offer customers toll-free numbers which encourage more calls and sales leads.  

It depends on the type of industry your customer operates in but International Numbers can support most of their needs for international sales, operations and support, from existing infrastructure in the UK. It also gives your customer a way to trial international expansion at low-cost, opening up new markets.  

If your customer has an existing international presence:

Organisations that already have offices and staff in multiple countries, usually have slightly different needs. In most cases they want to simplify their call infrastructure, so that they do not need to manage multiple local communications providers. They will also want to reduce their international call bills. 

A service like World SIP allows your customer to fulfil both of these requirements. It simplifies their operations; it's one provider, one international tariff for all countries and one bill. It also significantly reduces costs, firstly by providing free on-net calls between international offices. Secondly, it provides a local breakout, enabling organisations to reduce the cost of calls to customers.

Now that you know how to help your customers, what do you do next?

• If 1 in 2 of your customers are looking to expand, do you know who they are?
• Do your customers even know that you have a great way of helping them exploit new markets with minimal cost and risk?
• If you haven’t already, tell them about how International Numbers and World SIP can help them.

If you need more information on these services and how they can help your customers, contact TalkTalk Business and benefit from our experience. We have a proven track record providing international voice services for over three years.

What other product set in telecoms is this sticky, has such great profit margins and latent demand?

For more information, watch our recorded International Numbering and World SIP webinar, talk to your Account Manager or contact me directly at steve.harrington@talktalkbusiness.co.uk