HAVE A GREAT EXPORT STRATEGY

To have a great export strategy as a North American company you need to have a few things that most countries around the world have in place from the beginning.  North American (the US not withstanding) countries has never really worried about exporting because of the strength of the US and North American marketplace.  Canada has done a better job of getting Canadian companies understanding the export market because of their constant trade with both the US and Europe (Canada is a commonwealth nation).

We wanted to share some basic thoughts on why having a great export strategy BEFORE is important to the success of your company overseas.

A GREAT THREE PART EXPORT STRATEGY

Know your Export Trade Flows

When a company begins to export they begin with data, or should begin with data. The biggest question for your company should be “where is my product exported to? Most companies think that an email from someone or a call once in a while from a country is a good start, that could not be further from the case. A great export strategy is built on knowing the trade flows, the international cycles, and tariffs and duties, that your product has associated with it.  In the Caribbean market did you know that one country might have 0% tariffs while the country 15 miles away might have 30% duty (it’s rare but happens)!  Trade flows can also help you predict uptick in demand for your product. The question becomes who is buying, and why are they buying.

Know your landed costs

Lets say you have done your research, you might have even worked with us to develop all the parts that go into planning for a certain market. There are a vast number of things that go into a great export strategy: translation, fees, registration, processing, shipping, wholesale, user licenses, product ingredients, trademarking, and focus groups. So you are at the negotiating table with a possible distributor but they are asking for certain terms of shipping and that is the sticking point.  If you had planned before the trip knowing what terms you could offer on landed cost you could easily save both yourself and your client the headache of losing a sale over shipping.  Most US firms sell on EX works terms (an INCOTERM shipping rule by the International Chamber of Commerce), but what if you could offer your client three other options to relieve the stress from him?

Know your local partner

This might be the easiest and most rewarding part of a great export strategy. Knowing your local partner is probably the most important aspect of international trade. Your local partner can help guide you through legal processes, help with servicing other countries accounts (if necessary), and the best part in our mind, show you the local culture. Most markets you have dinner, meet their family, and after that and many rounds of tea, coffee or beer you finally get to talking business.  Build a relationship first when exporting, it will make things much easier.

Summary to a great export strategy

It takes time. That might be the best advice we could anyone looking to export. Look for opportunities and take care to have a good plan in place.A firm like ours (WestWind Group LLC) can help guide you through an export strategy and find local partners for you to do business with in most markets in the world.  We can plan your landed costs, entry into the market, and barriers that you need to overcome so when you sit down to negotiate the sale is already on the books.

Find out more about our Target Markets Program and how that can start you on the right export path

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