TL;DR — For find B2B foreign customers Italian SMEs use four levers: trade fairs, distributors, temporary export managers (TEM) or direct outbound on buyers. The first three remain valid in specific contexts (regulated product, need for local stock, relationships to be built in person), but have high fixed costs and long times before the first euro of turnover. Direct multichannel outbound — email, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and coordinated phone on foreign decision makers — costs less by contact, it is measured week by week and in two cases that we follow has generated over €345K of orders (Profood, export fruit) and €4,5M of pipeline instead of 6 hired export managers (Reliance Medical, medical devices B2B).
"We must grow abroad" is the phrase that I hear most often from Italian entrepreneurs who saturated the domestic market. The problem is never the will. It is that the classic playbook — fair, agent, distributor, maybe a temporary export manager part-time — requires five-digit budgets and months before you know if a market really responds.
Who is it? how to find B2B foreign customers in 2026 he usually tried a fair or a distributor and discovered two things: that the return is not guaranteed, and that no one told him how much it really costs before signing. In this article we compare the four main roads — with numbers, not promises — and explain when theoutbound multichannel direct on foreign buyers is the quickest option to test.
The four ways to find B2B foreign customers
Simplifying, an Italian company that wants to sell abroad has four levers, often combined with each other:
- International Trade Fairs — physical presence, direct contact, but high cost and return linked to how many meetings were already "hot" before arriving at the fair.
- Local distributors/ agents — grant a margin to obtain presence on the territory, local stock and after-sales assistance, but lose direct control over the final customer.
- Temporary export manager (TEM) — a part-time professional who analyzes markets, selects partners and negotiates for you, with a fixed monthly cost independent of the result.
- Direct multichannel outbound — contacts buyers, category managers or foreign decision makers directly via email, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and phone, without intermediaries.
None of the four is "the right one" in absolute. Depends on the product, the average ticket and how much budget you can risk before you have a market signal. Here's the comparison:
| Leverage | Indicative cost | Time to the first signal | Scalability | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| International trade fair | 5,000–50.000+€ per event (stand + travel + staff) | 1 event = 2–4 days, but must be prepared with pre-fixed appointments | Low — linear cost for each new event | Product that sells better "touched with hand", relationships to close in person |
| Distributor/agent | No fixed, but margin yielded (often 20–40%) | 2–6 months for selection and first order | Media — depends on the network of individual partners | Regulated product, serves local stock or physical assistance |
| Temporary export manager | 1.700–2.500€/month + VAT (part-time) | 1–3 months for market mapping and first contacts | Low — a professional, a limited number of manageable contacts | Needs an experienced negotiator for complex distribution agreements |
| Direct multichannel outbound | Low contact cost, scale with infrastructure | 60–90 days at first qualified meetings | Alta — add domains and mailboxes, do not hire people | Medium-high ticket, repeatable orders, you want to own the relationship with buyers |
The costs of fairs and TEM are market estimates (sources: industry guides on trade fairs and temporary export management — details in the FAQ), not Storm X tariffs: we do not sell stand or TEM services. We put them here because it is the comparison that every entrepreneur does before deciding where to invest.
Temporary export manager: how much it costs and when it makes sense
The temporary export manager is the most told figure in Italian internationalization guides, and for good reasons: if your product requires complex negotiations with distributors, local regulatory compliance or recurring physical presence on the market, an experienced professional is worth the cost.
The practical problem is that TEM is good at negotiate and structure agreements, less generate volume of contacts. A part-time TEM (2–3 days a week) can effectively follow a limited number of parallel negotiations — it is not meant to contact hundreds of potential buyers in a quarter. If your need is "find more companies that could buy", before a TEM you need a way to generate that flow of contacts, then possibly a negotiator to close them.
This is why, in a case we follow, a B2B medical device company (Reliance Medical) he was considering hiring 6 export managers to cover 8 EU countries in parallel — an estimated internal cost of €360.000/year. With a multichannel outbound system they contacted over 15,000 prospects, qualified 450+ contacts and built a pipeline from €4,5M with €300K of already closed orders, to a fraction of that fixed cost.
Distributors and fairs: why alone are no longer enough
Distributors and fairs remain valid tools — the point is not to eliminate them, it is to understand what they really do well and what not.
A distributor gives you access to a market you already know, often with local stock and immediate after-sales assistance. The price is a given margin — typically 20–40% — and the direct loss of control over the relationship with the final customer: if the distributor changes priority or stops pushing your product, you do not have a direct channel to intervene.
One international fair is effective to close and strengthen relationships already started, much less to find new ones from scratch. Who participates "to see who passes" spends €5,000–15,000 for a prefabricated stand, €15,000–50.000+ for a personalized, more travel and personal – and the return depends almost entirely on how many of the meetings on stand were already planned in advance. The way we use fairs with customers who make them is the opposite of waiting for traffic: the outbound serves before the fair, to fix the appointments that then close in person.
The alternative: direct multichannel outbound on foreign buyers
The direct outbound jumps the intermediary. Do not expect a distributor to introduce you to his contacts, do not pay a stand hoping that the buyer will pass right ahead — you identify the managers, buyers and decision makers of the target companies in the country that interests you, and contact them with a coordinated sequence on multiple channels.
For Profood, Italian company specialized in the export of fruit and vegetables (focus on table grapes), we built exactly this: starting from the pilot countries up to the Middle East, in 90 days we profiled 4.750 contacts, sent 7.129 emails with an open rate of 34.6% and obtained 11 confirmed meetings with buyers, CEO and category managers of importers and distributors already active on the fresh. In the following 12 months that work produced more than €345.000 of orders, with 74 orders and recurring reorders on 4 foreign buyers — sign that the first order was not a hit of fortune, but a commercial relationship that has consolidated.
The difference between trade fairs and distributors is not only of cost. control and learning speed: every week you know how many emails have been opened, how many buyers have responded, what countries respond better than others. If a market does not respond in 4–6 weeks, you know it and you can correct the route without having already spent the budget of a whole fair.
Export manager or outbound: honest comparison
They are not in direct competition — solve different problems. TEM negotiates complex agreements with a limited number of partners. The outbound generates the volume of qualified contacts from which, if needed, a negotiator (internal or TEM) closes the most important agreements. Many companies that we follow use them together: outbound to open conversations on scale, an internal or external contact to complete the most structured negotiations.
| Criteria | Temporary export manager | Direct multichannel outbound |
|---|---|---|
| What's good | Negotiating agreements, managing local compliance, personal relationships | Generate and qualify volume of contacts on multiple markets in parallel |
| Cost | Monthly fixed, independent from the result | Scale with infrastructure, measurable for contact |
| Visibility of results | Periodic reports of the professional | Weekly data: openings, answers, fixed meetings |
| Main Limit | A professional follows few negotiations at a time | It still needs someone who closes the most complex negotiations |
How to build an outbound system for foreign markets
It is not the same as a domestic campaign translated into another language. Three practical differences really count:
Segmentation by country, not only by sector
A German buyer and one of the Arab Emirates respond to different levers — price and certifications for the first, relationship and reliability of the supplier for the second. Lists should be built and segmented country by country, not as a single "foreign" block.
Dedicated domains and mailboxes for area
The same rule we use for the cold email B2B domestic — never the main domain, always dedicated domains heated 3–5 weeks before launch — but for abroad it is advisable to separate the infrastructure by geographical area: a problem of deliverability on a EU domain should not burn the reputation of the campaign in the Middle East.
Local Compliance, not only GDPR
Within the EU, the legitimate interest of GDPR covers B2B communication in a relatively homogeneous manner. Outside the EU rules change country by country (CAN-SPAM in the USA, PDPL in the Emirates, among others) — it is not a detail to ignore if the volume grows. On regulated markets it always checks with a local attorney before climbing.
How long it takes for the first results
Honestly: not in the first two weeks. Those serve to build the infrastructure — domains, warmups, segmented lists by country — which makes sure everything that comes after. In the systems we build, the first qualified meetings with foreign buyers typically arrive in 60–90 days; it is the same time span of the 120-day pilot that we use to validate an outbound system before any long-term commitment. In the case of Profood, the first 11 meetings arrived exactly in 90 days — with concrete orders in the following months.
FAQ: Find B2B foreign customers
How much does a temporary export manager cost?
The estimates published by consulting companies for internationalisation (e.g. TradeCube, Metagorà) indicate a range of 1,700–2.500€ per month plus VAT for part-time commitment. A full-time senior export manager costs at least 3,000–5,000€/net month, plus contributions and transfers. The real cost rises if the company does not yet have translated materials or data on the target markets — that job becomes additional hours invoiced by the professional.
Do international fairs still serve to find foreign customers?
They remain useful to close relationships already started, less to find them from scratch. A prefabricated stand costs €5,000–15,000, a personalized €15,000–50.000+ (source: industry guides like Arweb), excluding travel and staff. The return depends on how many meetings were already "hot" before the fair: the most efficient way to use them is to get there with appointments already set outbound.
Better to sell by distributors or directly to foreign buyers?
A distributor makes sense when serving local stock, physical after-sales assistance or complex regulatory compliance — the cost is a yielded margin, often 20–40%. Direct sale via outbound works when the product sells well at a distance, has medium-high tickets and repeatable orders, and you want to directly own the relationship with the final customer instead of renting it to an intermediary.
How long does it take to find the first foreign customers with the outbound?
In the systems we build, the first qualified meetings typically arrive in 60–90 days, including warmup of domains and construction of lists by market. In the case of Profood, the first 11 meetings confirmed arrived in 90 days, with concrete orders in the following months.
Is cold email to contact foreign companies legal?
Within the EU, the legitimate GDPR interest in B2B communication applies similarly in most member states. Outside the EU there are different regulations (CAN-SPAM in the USA, PDPL in the Emirates) to be adhered separately. The practical principle remains the same: relevant contact, domain with clean reputation, clear opt-out. It is not a legal opinion — on regulated markets checks with a local law before climbing.
Do you need a multilingual site before you start looking for foreign customers?
Help but it is not a prerequisite for leaving. In the first few weeks there is more than one landing page in the target market language — what the buyer sees after responding to an email or accepting a LinkedIn connection. The complete translated site becomes priority when the outbound generates constant return traffic.
Related Insight: Case study Profood — export fruit and vegetables, more than €345K of orders in 12 months. For the technical infrastructure behind every international campaign, see Cold Email B2B: how it really works in 2026.