Imagine a small wooden furniture manufacturer in Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil (an example). Through a chamber of commerce, the owner is invited to an international business round with importers from a neighboring country. The date is set, but the questions come right away: which language to speak, what price to bring, whether to send samples beforehand, what to say if someone asks for a full container. The first thing to prepare is your introduction, because it opens every conversation. Write yours in the Pitch Generator in your own language, trim it until it is short and only then translate it.
Decide whether an international round is your next step
An international business round follows the same logic as any other round: short conversations, with a set time to start and end, between companies that have a reason to meet. The guide on how a business round works explains the format. The difference is on the other side of the conversation: a buyer, distributor or agent from another country, who compares your offer with suppliers from many places and decides with freight, exchange rates, import duties and arrival time in mind.
That is why an invitation is not enough. Before you sign up, answer honestly: does the company have a finished product, the capacity for an order larger than usual and someone who can lead the conversation in another language? If the answer to any of these is no, the round may be a good learning experience, but it is unlikely to bring an order. The article on types of business rounds shows where the international kind fits among the others and when it makes more sense to start with a domestic round.
Who runs them: promotion agencies and chambers of commerce
In Brazil, the public reference is ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency. On the agency's website (checked in October 2026) there are three areas that matter to companies that want to sell abroad: courses, practical guides and content for those starting to export; market intelligence dashboards, studies and webinars; and fairs, events and opportunities to promote the company abroad. It is worth checking the site often, because that is where these opportunities are announced.
Bilateral chambers of commerce are the other door. Each one brings together companies from Brazil and one specific country and usually organizes trade missions, meetings with importers and business events between the two sides. Membership is not always required to take part, but it often gets you the announcements first. To see every path, including the domestic ones, read where to find business rounds.
A note about this platform: the online rounds on its calendar bring together Brazilian companies from any city in the country. They do not bring in foreign buyers. They are a place to practice your introduction, test your price and talk to Brazilian companies that may be your way abroad, such as an export trading company or a distributor that already serves another country.
Requirements: check them before you sign up
Organizers of international rounds usually select the companies, because the foreign buyer has set aside time, and sometimes traveled, to be there. Each organizer has its own criteria, so read the rules carefully. In general, what is expected from applicants fits in the table below.
| Requirement | Question to check | If the answer is no |
|---|---|---|
| Finished product | Is the product already sold regularly in Brazil? | Consolidate the domestic market first |
| Production capacity | Can I fill a larger order without delaying current clients? | Work out how far you can grow without hurting delivery |
| Company paperwork | Is the company in good standing and cleared to operate in foreign trade? | Talk to your accountant or a customs broker |
| Country requirements | Do I know which certifications, labels and standards the destination country asks for? | Research before promising any lead time |
| Language | Can someone at the company lead a sales conversation in English or Spanish? | Hire an interpreter or choose rounds with translation |
| Export price | Do I know what it costs to get the product to the agreed delivery point? | Do the math before you quote any figure |
None of these items needs to be perfect. But each negative answer becomes a question the buyer will ask, and one you cannot answer yet.
Prepare the conversation in another language
Your introduction
Write it first in your own language, short and concrete: who you are, what you sell, to whom and why someone should switch suppliers. The guide to the 60-second sales pitch shows the structure. Then translate it with help from a fluent speaker and rehearse it out loud until you no longer need the page. Short sentences work better in a second language, both for you and for the listener, who is often not speaking a native language either.
Supporting material
Bring a translated spec sheet for each product, with measurements in the system the country uses, weight, packaging, production lead time and minimum order. Good photos are worth more than a long catalog. Keep a personal glossary of your sector's technical terms in both languages, too: that is usually where the conversation gets stuck.
Interpreter or translation
If nobody at the company speaks the language with confidence, ask the organizer whether there will be an interpreter. If you bring your own, agree on the technical terms beforehand and ask for a sentence by sentence translation, with no summarizing. And speak while looking at the buyer, not at the interpreter.
Arrive with your price and sample policy decided
Export price
The price you charge in Brazil is not a direct starting point. Part of the domestic taxes usually does not apply to exports (check with your accountant), and costs appear that do not exist in local sales: packaging for long transport, paperwork, international freight, insurance. Who pays each part depends on the agreed delivery term. Incoterms are the international rules that say where the seller's responsibility ends and the buyer's begins; the same product has different prices depending on the term chosen. Bring a price worked out for at least one term and say which one it is.
Decide on the currency as well. Quoting in dollars or euros exposes your margin to exchange rate swings between the proposal and the payment; quoting in Brazilian reais passes that risk to the buyer, who may not accept it. To build the base of the calculation, use the Pricing Calculator and review the reasoning in the guide on how to calculate a selling price. Include the cost of money tied up until payment, which tends to take longer in exports.
Samples
A foreign buyer almost always wants to see and test before buying. Decide before the round how many samples you can send, who pays for shipping, how long it takes to arrive and which documents go with the shipment. Some categories, such as food and cosmetics, have their own rules even for samples, so check before you promise. In the conversation, be clear: "we will send the sample by this date, with freight on us" is better than "we will sort that out later".
In the meeting, ask the questions that save months
The foreign buyer is also weighing whether importing from you is worth the effort. Use the time to understand their operation, not only to present yours.
- What volume of this kind of product do you buy, and how often?
- Which delivery term do you usually work with?
- Which certifications or registrations does your country require for this product?
- How do you usually pay for purchases from abroad?
- Who handles the import: you or an intermediary?
- What would be the next step to evaluate our offer?
Write down the answers right after each conversation, with the name and role of the person you spoke to. In an international round, conversations come one after another and blur together quickly.
After the round: proposal, samples and patience
Reply first to those who asked for something concrete: a price, a sample, a spec sheet. Send it in the language of the conversation, within the deadline you yourself promised. The Business Proposal Generator helps you lay out the offer on one page; then translate it and check that the delivery term, currency, validity and payment method are written without ambiguity. The guide on how to write a sales proposal covers each block.
Selling to another country usually takes longer than selling at home: sample, testing, approval, sometimes a visit. Agree on the date of the next contact with each interested buyer and keep it. An organized reply, with what was requested and nothing more, is what separates the supplier who is remembered from the one who only swapped cards.
Where to start
If you have never taken part in a round, start with domestic ones. They train exactly what an international round demands twice over: a short introduction, a ready price and a quick reply. Meanwhile, follow the opportunities announced by ApexBrasil and by the bilateral chamber of the country that interests your company most.
Your company's first online business round is on us: all you need is an active Brazilian CNPJ (the Brazilian company registration number), once per CNPJ, and contact details are only shared when both sides mark interest. See the upcoming business rounds and use the conversations with Brazilian companies to sharpen your pitch and your price before your first international round.