EXPORTING
The Fastest Way To Grow
A Small Manufacturing Business!
by: J.F. (Jim) Straw
When most small manufacturing businesses start-up, they concentrate
their sales efforts on the known markets here in the U.S. Defining
their markets as the known users of their products; known distributors
of those products; and known, or accessible, sales areas within
the U.S., overlooking the larger, more profitable, markets outside
this country.
Most small manufacturers who do investigate the possibilities
of exporting their products GIVE UP after reading a number of
Department of Commerce publications detailing the intricacies
of export documentation, freight forwarding, and international
banking instruments. (The same complex, intricate processing,
paperwork jungle, methods I studied when I was 18 years old...and
discarded after I made my first real sale overseas.)
What the Department of Commerce...and other learned sources...fail
to tell you is that ALL of the necessary documentation,
freight forwarding, and international banking aspects of exporting
can be handled...easily and cheaply...by professional service
providers who do it every day. As a matter of fact, the 'cost'
of those services are so negligible it usually isn't even necessary
to make a provision for them in your pricing structure.
Exporting is, really, no more difficult than marketing your products
here in the U.S. -- All you have to do is...Make a Sale...Get
Paid...and Ship Your Product. The rest of the procedures can
be handled, inexpensively, by the customary service providers.
Beyond that, exporting can allow a small manufacturing company
to grow...almost exponentially...because you will experience:
LARGER ORDERS -- Importers in other countries won't
just buy one or two of your products (unless they are ordering
samples). Due to the added costs of freight, insurance, and customs
duties in their countries, they will order in bigger and bigger
volume in order to reduce the per piece cost.
EASIER FINANCING -- Since export orders are (almost
always) accompanied by some method of payment...Letter of Credit,
Sight or Bank Draft, etc...your local banker will (usually) be
willing to advance funds against that documentation. Beyond that,
both State and Federal Governments offer a wide variety of financing
incentives...everything from free grants to production financing...
for exporters. And, even the smallest of companies can qualify
for that financing because the financial strength of the foreign
buyer, not the manufacturing company, determines the creditability
of the transaction.
LIMITED COMPETITION -- No matter what you manufacture,
you won't have the heavy competition you might face here in the
U.S. -- Statistically, less than 20% of the manufacturers in
this country export their products - and - of those companies
that do export, fully 50% of them only export to one (1) foreign
country. So, even if one of your competitors is exporting, the
odds are you can still be the ONLY supplier in a number of other
countries...without competition.
The only concern then is...
HOW TO MAKE THE SALES
...but, just as there are Manufacturer's Representatives
in the U.S. who will take a manufacturer's products directly
to the distributors, there are International Manufacturer's Reps
who will do the same thing for your company in the marketplaces
of the world.
Usually, the employment of an International Manufacturer's Rep
doesn't take any 'out of pocket' money...other than the provision
of your usual printed materials, catalog sheets and brochures.
-- Like Manufacturer's Reps in the U.S., International Manufacturer's
Reps pay their own way and earn commissions based solely upon
the sale of your products. But, unlike their domestic counterparts,
International Manufacturer's Reps can, and do, assist the manufacturers
in accessing necessary service providers, freight forwarders,
banking and financing.
Exporting truly is the fastest ... and easiest ... way to grow
a small manufacturing business. Just one export order can turn
a small manufacturer into a mid-size manufacturer, virtually
overnight. -- As an exporter and international manufacturer's
rep for well over 30 years...with clients and customers in over
70 countries....I've seen it happen countless times. So...
If you are a manufacturer...looking to expand your business,
exponentially, investigate Exporting today. -- It's much easier
than you might think.
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Copyright - 2004, J.F. (Jim) Straw. All rights reserved..