How to build export strategy
Developing a sound export strategy helps you define your export aims and match your resources to those aims. Your export strategy will help you manage the market sectors you have identified as core business. Focusing your resources enables you to provide quality responses and service to your new export customers.
A well-developed export strategy will help in dealing with a range of service providers. It singles you out as a company that has well-developed, realistic goals and programs designed to achieve them.
Export strategy
An export strategy must be integrated with your company’s overall business plan. Align export activities with daily operations and avoid any conflicts between your domestic and international activities.
Understand the areas where you have a strong competitive advantage. These areas may include your technology, your staff or business systems. Determine how best to use them to achieve your export goals. Also identify any weaknesses.
Bring your key export goals into sharp focus – so you know exactly where to aim your efforts. Particular aims could include reducing seasonal demand swings, reducing fixed costs, fully realising production capacity, accessing new technology, consolidating your international reputation or matching the performance of your domestic competitors who are already selling offshore. There are excellent export planning tools available online – see the list of websites below.
What is market research?
Market research involves finding out about things you need to know such as import duties, regulations, distribution channels, market size and growth, competition, demographics and local production – so you can assess market opportunities and the costs of capturing them.
Gathering this information is usually straightforward and helps you understand how a market operates. The most valuable element of market research is information about ‘market feel’. How will your product or service compete in the environment where you will be doing business?
What is ‘market feel’ and how do I get it?
Market feel is a first hand appreciation of how buyers operate, the dynamics of business meetings, what your competitors are doing and potential obstacles to market entry.
Sound market research will encompass intelligence from people who are streetwise and can convey market knowledge in a practical fashion. This includes descriptions of the types of buyers you will meet, how they negotiate, cultural factors in business dealings and a flavour of the market environment.
Try to gain a sense of how business is done by speaking to companies with experience. Attending seminars on “How to do Business” in various countries really helps.
Where do I start?
The first step is to gather basic market information ranging from import regulations to exchange rates. This is available from a multitude of free online sources.
The next step is to narrow the focus to your product or service and here the process becomes much more specific. You may think ‘but my product or service is different’ and this is where commissioned research is so valuable. This is when you start to present your product and service to overseas buyers and get their reaction.
At this stage of the market research process you should pay particular attention to how your competitors operate. You can gain responses by sending product data or samples to overseas buyers – but their reaction to ‘cold mail’ will usually be passive unless your product really excites them.
