International Sales with AI

How can AI help you identify international customers more precisely, understand them better, and approach them more efficiently? The Export Academy “Smart International Sales” provides practical guidance on how to use AI for international sales processes. Based on your own company and a specific target market, you will develop an International Sales Playbook step by step—from defining ideal target customers and conducting lead research to culturally appropriate outreach, AI agents, and automated sales workflows. The program and further details will be announced soon.

What to expect

Clearly define target customers: Which companies, segments, and decision-making roles are relevant for your offering in the target market?
Find leads and sales partners: Use AI to research, verify sources, and assess and prioritize potential contacts based on transparent criteria.
Take cultural differences into account: Reflect on communication, expectations, and decision-making processes—tailored to your specific sales situation.
Approach prospects in a targeted way: Tailor emails, LinkedIn messages, trade fair contacts, and conversation openers to the company, person, market, and occasion.
Prepare sales meetings: Develop company briefings, guiding questions, and arguments, and work through potential objections.
Build AI assistants and workflows: Further develop proven prompts, connect work steps, and define clear review and approval checkpoints.

Who is this workshop suitable for?

For sales and export managers, business development teams, and entrepreneurs from export-oriented SMEs who want to enter new international markets or make their existing sales activities more targeted and efficient.

You will develop your own International Sales Playbook: with target customers, research and qualification criteria, prioritized leads, cultural check questions, and templates for outreach, meeting preparation, and follow-up.

For a selected task, you will develop and test an initial AI prototype—such as a research assistant or a workflow for meeting preparation. This way, you will take away tangible deliverables and a plan for the next implementation steps.

Links & Downloads

Terms of Participation, Program & Company Profile

Organizational Details

To ensure the high quality of this workshop, the number of participants is limited to 12, and participants will be carefully selected based on the company profiles submitted.

Participation Fee

This high-quality qualification seminar can be offered free of charge as part of the ERDF project DiGEM.

Bonus: Follow-up

After this seminar, each participant has the opportunity to take advantage of a free, virtual, one-hour follow-up consultation with Lothar Lackner.

Speaker

Lothar Lackner

Managing Director of IFDT GmbH

Lothar Lackner is an expert in digitalization and the practical use of generative artificial intelligence in companies. As Managing Director of IFDT GmbH, as well as a lecturer and program director at universities and renowned educational institutions, he combines in-depth expertise with many years of implementation experience.
Since 2016, he has supported companies in digital transformation, and since 2023 with a particular focus on the strategic and operational implementation of generative AI. For him, it is not only about making AI understandable, but about identifying concrete potential and integrating it sustainably into business processes.
His aim: to use artificial intelligence in a way that creates measurable value for companies.

DiGEM is co-financed via SFG Steirische Wirtschaftsförderung with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Further information on the IBW/ERDF & JTF program can be found at www.efre.gv.at

Cross Cluster Event

Good to know

This high-quality qualification seminar can be offered free of charge as part of the ERDF project DiGEM, as the regular costs of around €300 net (guideline value; de minimis aid relevant!) per participant are financed from funds of the European Regional Development Fund. Further information at www.efre.gv.at.
After this seminar, each participant has the opportunity to take advantage of a free, virtual, one-hour follow-up consultation with Lothar Lackner.
If you would like to participate in this Export Academy, please send your completed company profile (see the download section on the event page) by Thursday, November 26, 2026 to lmk@ic-steiermark.at. To ensure the high quality of this workshop, the number of participants is limited (max. 12 people). Participants will be carefully selected based on the company profiles submitted. Please note that if you cancel your participation after November 26, 2026, a cancellation fee of €150 will be charged.

Please bring your own laptop. Work with approved documents that are as anonymized as possible. Alternatively, a sample company will be provided for the exercises. You will receive information in advance about the AI access required.
Please note that the automatically generated registration confirmation does not yet constitute a confirmed place. You will receive a separate email to confirm your place.

The Export Academy is part of DiGEM (Digital Gateway Emerging Markets). DiGEM is co-financed via SFG Steirische Wirtschaftsförderung with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Further information on the IBW/ERDF & JTF program can be found at www.efre.gv.at.