How to Find Export Trade Leads
Finding export customers is not as difficult as some might think. Actually, the hard part is qualifying trade leads and creating sustainable business partnerships. Read on to learn how to find quality export trade leads for your products.
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Instructions
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Research and identify two or three target countries where you want to develop business trade leads. Small and focused is the best way to manage export growth and ensure customer service as well as success.
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Attend trade shows for your industry in the US and overseas. Focus on trade shows in countries where you want to develop your business. Large trade shows attract international participation, so you will find yourself making contacts from all over the world in one place.
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Contact US Embassies located in countries where you want to find trade leads. Request a list of companies that might be a good fit for your products from the Commercial Officer. This is usually made available at no cost, but occasionally you may be asked to pay a fee. US Embassy Commercial Sections also create and sell in-depth industry analysis and manufacturing reports that may be helpful. Some of these reports are available online for free (see Resources for link).
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Use the US Government's Gold Key service to visit overseas markets, generate trade leads and arrange meetings with potential customers. (See Resources section for a link to more information.)
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Contact your state trade office to see what international business initiatives they offer. Some states even maintain economic development offices overseas. Tap into whatever services they provide to locate trade leads.
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Update your website with an international contact person for interested companies to contact.
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Translate your website and marketing materials into at least Spanish and French. Add other languages as you grow. This will make you visible to internet searches conducted in different languages.
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Promptly follow up with any potential export customers. Have a communication plan in place and translated marketing materials ready for trade leads.
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Develop customer service goals, order processes and time lines for export customers. Good suppliers have good customers, so strive to provide excellent service to your international accounts. Export business has a very different process flow than domestic business--failing to anticipate the demands of export business is the number one cause of problems.
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Prepare for your export customers by selecting a freight forwarder and determining a pricing, credit and legal strategy regarding distribution of your products. You will lose business if potential customers have to wait too long to get pricing and to get set up as customers in your system.
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Qualify trade leads by evaluating their professionalism which can be predictive of the business relationship, their ability to prepay their first order, the size of their company and length of time in business. Also, check to see if there is a D&B rating on new customers, but don't expect to find one as many overseas companies are not listed.
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Tips & Warnings
In the US, the best countries to target initially are usually Mexico and Canada due to NAFTA.
Export customers are famous for ordering products in unusual quantities. It's not unheard of for an overseas customer to order the equivalent of a one year production supply for domestic business. They also tend to pick obscure models. Prepare for this by discussing requirements with export customers so you are not surprised. Think about how you would manage such a large order and its impact on the production supply chain.
Export customers do not always understand how to forecast inventory and may benefit from some mentoring from their suppliers.
Don't sell on open credit terms until you know customers really well.
Avoid Letters of Credit until you've obtained training to prevent fraud and discrepancy fees.
Check the US Denied Persons list and US Embargo list to ensure your customer and its principals have not been banned from purchasing US goods.
Resources
- Photo Credit kevinrosseel, xenia,somadjinn, fedegrafo
