Selling into the US from Germany before your first US hire
Dylan Breheny · Published November 4, 2026 · 5 minute read
For: owners and export sales leads at German manufacturers who want their first US accounts before they open a US sales office.
A German maker of inspection equipment for food and plastics plants brought us in this spring with an unusual problem for a new entrant: its machines had run in US plants for 25 years under a reseller's brand, and the buyers didn't know its name. Below: what US buyers ask a German supplier first, how to answer "we don't know you", which accounts to call first, and the US-facing setup the calls need.
Can a German manufacturer win US customers before hiring anyone in the US?
A German manufacturer can open its first US accounts before a US hire, provided a salesperson calls under its name from a US number and books each meeting onto its team's calendar. The buyer on the other end wants a US number to call back, a signature with US contact details and a person who speaks for the company, and a sales office can follow once the first accounts exist.
Germany's Federal Statistical Office reported that the United States became Germany's most important trading partner again in 2024 (opens in a new tab), with 252.8 billion euros in exports and imports combined, the first time since 2015. Manufacturers from Germany, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, India and Taiwan have hired us to enter North America, as our about page lists. If you're weighing a distributor or a manufacturers' rep firm instead, our note on who opens the accounts nobody knows yet sets the options side by side: manufacturers' rep firms sell into the network they visit today and aren't doing cold outbound.
What do US buyers ask a German supplier first?
US buyers ask a German supplier whether it holds parts and runs service in the United States, and the question comes by the second or third exchange. A German maker of inspection equipment for food and plastics plants told us at kickoff this spring that a buyer who sees a new name asks it: do you have parts, do you have service here? The client answered yes, with a US office in the Southeast and engineers in Germany who repair machines over a remote connection.
Price comes up after service. On our review call before launch, the salesperson assigned to the program warned that plant buyers ask more about the cost of repairs and after-sales support than about the machine price. The client chose to sell on service and leave the low-price end to others. So the script led with support: one service standard for every customer, remote diagnostics from Germany, and machines adapted to a plant's own line.
How should a German supplier answer "we don't know you"?
A German supplier should answer "we don't know you" with the US track record it has, naming the plants, the years and the partner brand the buyer recognizes. For this client, the record was 25 years in the US market under a reseller's brand. Visitors at its trade show stands had recognized the machines and named the partner. The client's reply was that it builds those machines and the partner sold them under its own badge, so the buyer's plant may run the equipment today.
The client set one rule for that conversation, and our salespeople kept it: never talk down the partner or a competitor. The client told us its European competitors in the US sell into plastics and have done little in food plants, so the client saw the most room for a new name among food processors. A buyer who says the plant uses another brand has given the incumbent objection, and our note on the we-already-have-a-supplier objection covers the one question that sorts a solved account from a timing account.
Which US accounts should a German manufacturer call first?
A German manufacturer should start with the US contacts it has met, then the integrators and resellers who could carry the product, then one regional segment where demand clusters. That was the order on this program. The salesperson started with the client's 2026 trade show leads, moved to a list of integrators, and saved a third list for nut and dried-fruit producers in California, where the client said the largest share of the market for the color-sorting machines it sells sits.
Plan for cleanup on the warm list. Some booth visitors had left a personal Gmail address to avoid marketing email, so the salesperson's first job on those leads was finding the business contact. The client's sense of fit narrowed the list again: a sorting machine at that price sells to almond and pistachio packers before it sells to a rice mill.
What US-facing setup does a calling program need before the first dial?
A calling program for a German manufacturer needs a US phone number, a US email signature, a sending domain kept apart from the main company domain and a calendar the salesperson can book onto. For this client we copied the email signature with US contact details. Follow-up email ran on a separate domain carrying the client's name, so bulk sending could not put the main company domain on a block list. Our salespeople dial from 20 carrier numbers under your brand, as how a Synapse calling program runs sets out.
The salesperson sent each booked meeting by email to Grant, our director, and to the client's sales team, and booked against a calendar the salesperson could see. Your engineers in Germany can run the technical second meeting once a salesperson in a US time zone has answered the parts and service question on the first call.
Which three questions should you take to your own call data?
- If a US buyer asks about parts and service, what does your caller say in the first sentence?
- Of this year's US trade show leads, how many has nobody called back?
- Do you know how many US plants run your equipment under another company's name, and does your caller know which ones?
Tell us where your machines run in the US today. We'll tell you who to call first.
Tell us what you sell and who buys it. If cold calling fits your market, our salespeople are dialing under your brand inside two weeks. If it doesn't, we'll tell you that on the call.
No pitch deck. No pressure. A 30-minute conversation with Grant, our director, about whether cold calling for manufacturers makes sense for your business.