What makes a successful export

With being a challenging year for most businesses, we want to support you to get your exports back on track in with the launch of the Export Academy in the South West. Export Academy gives new and novice exporters the skills, knowledge, and confidence to start selling goods or services to customers around the world. Emily Lambert. Review your export potential Whether big or small exporting offers increased sales, as well as domestic and global competitiveness.

Develop an export plan Look at who your customers are already; will you find a similar demographic overseas? Export Academy: Preparing to do international business: Why export? Explore routes to market entry Firstly, develop your intercultural awareness and find a proposition appropriate to your target audience. Find out about selling and marketing your products overseas Look at the differences between domestic and export marketing fundamentals, as both of your markets will have specific needs.

Prepare to manage finance, payment and risk Set up a letter of credit to ensure that you get paid for your exports. Prepare to protect your intellectual property Create contracts with partners in both languages if applicable and use those contracts to manage product exclusivity. Prepare to fulfil your orders and get your documentation right Without the right documentation, you will be unable to export, and incorrect documentation can waste time and money.

Export Academy - a free programme to support your international sales With being a challenging year for most businesses, we want to support you to get your exports back on track in with the launch of the Export Academy in the South West. Find out more.

A targeted direct mail campaign can be very effective if you do your research and gain experience in your target market. Personal visits. Many cultures value personal contact as the best means of promotion and building business relationships.

Trade shows. Attending or participating in international trade shows allows you to promote your business, check out the competition and do market research. Be prepared to commit time and money to keeping your website up-to-date, useful to customers and maintained in other languages. Social media. Consider the most appropriate online platform for your audience and market. What is your demographic and where do they congregate, communicate and share information with business peers?

Is it Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? Or are there local social media platforms relevant to the market e. Be careful to look into the meanings that your name or corporate image may have in the target market. Is your company in the food and agricultural sector? If it is, you should know about Canada Brand , a program developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in close partnership with industry and provincial governments.

This initiative is designed to leverage Canada's strong international image to increase the sales and profile of Canadian agri-food products. Developing the right marketing tools is crucial to the success of your business.

Below is a list of tools and tips to get you started. Report a problem or mistake on this page. Date Modified: Success in one of these arenas will contribute to your success in another. Once you've established a favorable sales record with one client's goods, you'll have a track record with which to entice other clients.

And, of course, each success will contribute to your own self-confidence, which will, in turn, lend that air of confidence to your negotiations with new prospects. A surprisingly small percentage of domestic producers export their wares. So your marketing goal is to convince the huge remainder that they can increase profits by exporting--with your guidance--to specific target countries. You can accomplish this with direct mail and cold calls.

If you're starting with imports, don't ignore this section--you'll work in basically the same manner. Now you're ready to begin your direct-mail campaign. Choose one manufacturer of one of the products you've researched. Then call the company and ask for the name of the person to whom you'll want to write.

If the company is small, you'll probably want the president or owner. If it's a larger concern, you might want to direct your letter to the vice president in charge of sales, the sales manager or the president or owner.

Once your first letter is in the mail, sit down and write another to a potential client in another product line. And then another, until you've exhausted your first set of preliminary market research products. Now wait a week or 10 days. If you haven't heard from your first target manufacturer, give him a call.

Ask to set up a meeting in his office to discuss your plan. Then call the next manufacturer and the next. If you're not familiar with sales, you may find this portion of the program a white-knuckler. Don't be nervous!

You're offering these people a terrific opportunity. Not everyone is going to bite not everyone can recognize a great deal when it jumps up and grabs them , but not everyone is going to turn you down, either. A no thank you now and then is part of the game. Cold-calling, so-called because you call a potential client "cold" without any warming up by prior contact, is an alternative to the direct-mail approach. The good news is that, if you're calling locally, it's usually cheaper than direct mail.

The bad news is that it requires much more perseverance to be effective. The other good news, however, is that, done properly, a cold call can be much more effective than direct mail. Before you make your first call, be sure you know what you want to say and how you want to say it. Some experts recommend writing out a sort of "script" that you can follow during the course of your call. This is a good starting-off exercise to help plan your spiel, but be aware of the fact that following a script has its drawbacks.

The main one is that the person you're calling doesn't know he's supposed to be following the script, too, and when he gets off track, so do you. You've located foreign manufacturers or suppliers whose products have U. Now you have to sell them on the idea of entering the U. How do you do this?

Basically, the same way you'll pitch domestic manufacturers, with a direct-mail campaign. Only in this case, you'll do better to think of it as a direct fax letter. Although many traders rely on international mail, unless you're sending to regions or countries with highly developed infrastructures, such as Canada or Western Europe, you'll be much more assured of your missive reaching its destination if you send it by fax.

In your letter, outline the various opportunities available in the United States for the product and highlight that you'll handle all import logistics with little cost to the manufacturer. It's very similar to the export letter, with two exceptions:.

Follow up in a few days with another fax. Think of the follow-up as a firm but gentle nudge, an opportunity to strengthen your position and demonstrate real interest in importing the merchandise. Remember that part of your task is to convince the potential client that your company is the best one for the job, so you have to supply a reason for this.

If you can't claim that you're experienced in interior design or mulch or whatever sales in the United States and Europe or wherever , then come up with something else. Maybe you're only experienced in the United States so far. That's fine! That's where you'll be selling.

Maybe you're not experienced yet, but you've done a great deal of research. Fill that in instead. Use your creativity! Whether you're planning on exporting or importing, be prepared to present your prospective client with a marketing plan. If the manufacturer is close to home, you'll naturally present it in person. If she's overseas, you may still have to make that get to arrange a personal visit to close the deal. It also leads to improvements in products and services and makes companies stronger in whichever markets they compete.

Home Strategic Reasons to Export. Smooth your business cycles, including seasonal differences. Use production capabilities fully. Defend your domestic market. Increase your competitiveness in all markets.