One better product. €1 million inside Europe's car industry.
How a Korean manufacturer entered the European market — and what it actually took.
A Korean company made a desiccant used in car lighting — a small material that keeps moisture out of headlights. It was better than what Europe was already using, and it had no way into the European market.
The European product was more expensive, and it only masked the problem instead of solving it. It was also made in a way that cost more and produced a lot of by-products that harm the environment. The Korean product was cheaper, it actually solved the problem, and it was cleaner to make. On paper, an easy win. In practice, Europe's car industry is almost impossible to walk into from the outside.
Two walls stood in the way.
Convincing the Korean client to back the trip. They wanted a meeting booked before anyone got on a plane. But the right people in European car companies — R&D, purchasing, suppliers — don't publish their contacts. Emails to a general address go unanswered, or land with a sales desk that promises to "pass it on" and never does. To find the real contact, you have to go. Explaining that to a client who wants the meeting scheduled first is hard.
Once you're there, finding the person who can actually say yes. They're rarely the first person you reach.
We went anyway, and we didn't quit.
Fabio got on the plane and kept going back. The difference came down to a few things. He knew the product inside out, so every question got a straight answer. He studied the competition closely, so the product was positioned exactly where it was strongest. And he refused to quit. He was turned away more than once — sometimes by people who didn't know the product and refused on behalf of someone who would have wanted to hear it. He kept going until he reached the person who could decide.
From locked out to €1 million a year.
The partnership was signed, the product was accepted for technical evaluation, and the company was registered as an approved supplier.
Then came the part nobody advertises. In the car industry, a technical product doesn't go from approval to purchase order in a quarter. It goes through validation and testing with engineering teams, and that takes time. Consumer goods move faster. Technical components don't.
We stayed through all of it. Five years on, that product is still selling inside European car supply chains, at around €1 million a year.
If someone promises you a signed order in three months for a technical product, they haven't done this work. We'd rather give you a realistic timeline than an attractive one.
Others send a contact list. We get on the plane, walk in, and don't leave until we've found the right person. That's the difference between advice and access.