Why we all are guilty of not pursuing important export opportunities
As a small business owner or export manager in the UK if you are selling a niche product or service then you appreciate that marketing your products and services to just 0.9% of the world population, of which an even smaller percentage relates to your target segment, is not a long-term sustainable business strategy. As such international development is a must to keep growing your business, your customer base and your profits.
Initial investment
Therefore it is likely that once you are able to from a resource perspective, you will probably invest initially and then continually in going on trade missions, commissioning overseas market research reports and maybe participating in trade fairs. Out in market you can get a real sense of the opportunities open to you, you meet with lots of interested potential partners, build a bank of leads and promise to have further exchanges with all of those involved and finalise business once you get back to the office
Getting around to it
Except once back on British turf you find that the day-to-day work has mounted up in your absence and you get thrown back into the normal routine and that fantastic opportunity with a distributor agreement with the company you met in Jordan quickly fades, seems suddenly much more complex to secure and an ever increasingly distant memory… Even for Export Managers as they are handling a continuously longer list of worldwide partners.
Cooling leads
So you leave it on the ever growing ‘to do list’ that you just never get through. Then before you know it weeks have slipped by and that hot lead has become lukewarm at best and the moment has passed. As have the money and energy you invested in that export activity…what a waste
What’s the solution?
But does it have to be like this? What can you do to ensure that you do promptly develop those international leads and opportunities that come your way, either proactively or passively?
Having ran export departments for small companies in the past and also speaking extensively to internationally trading business owners and my own clients now at Bolst Global then I understand that we never have enough time to do everything we know we should be doing on the export front. And that developing those business opportunities overseas takes time and energy- which despite our best intentions and efforts we only have a finite amount of.
Bite size help when you need it
So appreciating and understanding this, at Bolst Global we have developed a bite size affordable service to support those small businesses or Export Managers when they need an extra pair of experienced hands to support them either for a short period of time or on an ongoing basis. For example, this could be to follow up leads generated from a trade fair, help set up meetings with targeted partners before a market visit or an exhibition. Or working on developing real insights or leads for a specific target market. Or something specifically tailored to your unique export business needs, provided of course we can add value.
It’s certainly something that I would have welcomed as an Export Manager when I was overwhelmed at times with certain projects too!
Can we help?
So if your business or your export department are in need of some extra assistance and would like to discuss how Bolst Global could help you then please fill in the form below and we will contact you to see how we can best add value to your export objectives- whether you are just getting started or already a seasoned exporter who would like to bring in additional support that can hit the ground running.
For details on the export services we provide, please click here