How does a British business find clients and partners in Germany?

Scott Cundill · 2026-11-02 · Berlin

Germany is one of the UK's largest trading partners, an hour ahead on the clock and under two hours away by plane. On paper it is the easiest big market a British business could choose. In practice, many British firms send a few emails, hear nothing, and quietly decide that Germany is closed.

It is not closed. It simply has a different front door, and it is not the one most people knock on.

Why does a cold email to a German company go nowhere?

Because German business runs on relationships that are slow to start and slow to end, and a stranger's email has no place in either.

A German buyer who already has a supplier they trust is not looking for a better offer from someone they have never heard of. Changing suppliers is a risk, and the default answer to an unnecessary risk is no, or more often, no answer at all. That is not rudeness. It is the same caution that makes German customers so loyal once they are won.

The way in is the way their existing relationships began: through someone they already know.

What does German business actually run on?

Three things, mostly.

Reliability. Do what you said, when you said, and put it in writing. A meeting has an agenda, a follow-up email confirms what was agreed, and a deadline is a deadline. Small slips cost more trust in Germany than they would at home.

Formality, at first. Business German starts with Sie, the formal you, and surnames, and stays there until the other person suggests otherwise. Titles matter too: a Dr. on a business card is used. A British habit of jumping to first names in the first email can read as presumptuous rather than friendly.

Directness. Germans tend to say what they mean. "That will not work for us" is information, not hostility, and a British "that is quite interesting" may be taken at face value. Be clear about what you want, and take a clear no as a gift, because it saves you both months.

Much of the country's economy is the Mittelstand, the small and mid-sized, often family-owned firms outside the big cities. Many are world leaders in a narrow field you have never heard of, and many of them are run by people who prefer to buy from someone a peer has recommended.

What did Brexit change?

For goods, a lot of paperwork. Shipments between Britain and Germany now need customs declarations, and rules of origin decide whether tariffs apply. For services, it depends on what you do and whether you need to work in person in Germany. Get proper advice before you sign anything that depends on it.

What Brexit did not change is the relationship underneath. German firms still buy British expertise, and British firms still buy German engineering. The paperwork is a cost. A missing introduction is a wall.

How do you find out who someone really is?

Every German business website must carry an Impressum, a legal notice naming who runs it and how to reach them, and the Handelsregister, the commercial register, is public. Most businesses are also members of their local IHK, the chamber of commerce. All of that tells you a company exists. None of it tells you whether they are good to work with. Only a person can tell you that.

So how do you actually reach the right people?

Through a referral from somebody both sides already trust. In practice:

1. Be specific. Not "German manufacturers", but "a packaging supplier in North Rhine-Westphalia that ships to UK food brands". 2. Find a person with a foot in both countries, who knows the people you want to meet and is willing to vouch for you. 3. Let them make the introduction properly, to both of you at once, in their own words, with a reason attached. Then follow up in writing, promptly, and keep every promise in that first exchange.

A good introduction does not ask anyone for a favour. It tells two people why they should meet.

Where the Germany-UK Business Bridge comes in

The Germany-UK Business Bridge exists to make exactly those introductions. It is part of My Most Trusted, a professional super-community where the only way to meet someone is a personal introduction from a person who knows you both.

The German end is held by Leoni Parkinson in Berlin, a marketing leader who builds go-to-market strategies for companies and has spent her career helping businesses grow sustainably. The UK end is being founded now. Nobody is pitched on arrival, no lists are bought or sold, and if a referral does not make sense, it is not made.

If Germany is on your list, the useful question is not which trade show to attend. It is who you want to meet, and who already knows them.