When you are just starting out on your export journey, there seems no end of opportunity. All you need to do is find a few distributors and off you go. Little or no cost and limitless returns?!
Unfortunately, the reality is much harder than it seems. There are many pitfalls to avoid. Targeting the right market and finding the best partner are both critical. Make the wrong choices and it can end up costing you $000s and even threaten your whole export journey.
What can go wrong?
- You target the wrong market and spend a lot of money trying to enter when other countries offer a better opportunity
- Your products/services are not suitable for the target market
- Your business is not properly prepared to handle export orders
- You try to cover too many countries in one go and end up just scratching the surface of the market, never really making progress
- You sign up a distributor, but they do nothing to promote your products/services, resulting in low or even zero sales
- Your distributor does not have the right contacts in your market sector to best represent your products/services in the market
- Your distributor does not have the resources to allocate to promote your products/services
- Your distributor or an associated company represents competing or conflicting products
Any one of these issues, or worse a combination of them, can derail your export journey before it really starts and cost you a lot of money.
This is where an experienced export consultant comes in. We can help you make the right choices from the beginning. Making sure the basics are right, assessing the opportunities, planning your export strategy, identifying and evaluating the right partners and distributors for your business, are all critical.
The costs of using a consultant can seem high initially but view it as an investment in your future business. The results of our input will be felt for years to come. Some businesses work with the right distributor for 20-30 years! Building successful partnerships can reap high rewards over time.
You would view an investment in plant and machinery or computers as essential for your business and write off the cost over several years.
Similarly, consultancy is an intellectual asset for your business, an investment that will bring returns over and over again, long after the project is complete.
So, when assessing the price of consultancy look at the costs and returns over a 5 – 10 year period.
As an additional peace of mind, we GUARANTEE to meet agreed outputs and KPIs or your MONEY BACK
So, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
We look forward to working with you.
