Should Your Business Go International?

 

 

Jack Peltier, SCORE Counselor

 

The third major market opportunity is the easiest to guess…and it is …the international market.

Selling internationally is not the exclusive domain of the P&G’s, IBM’s and McDonald’s of this world. If you have a good product and only sell it in this country, you are working only part of the “territory”.  The large companies just mentioned simply have a global marketing plan. They look at the United States not just as their market, but as ONE of their many markets.

The time to sell internationally has never been better. Sadly, the United States Dollar is in decline…but its reduced value makes your price in dollars more attractive to foreign buyers than ever before.

To some, selling internationally is a big, complicated step, but here in Central Virginia, there is very competent help to greatly simplify the process for you.

One is to ask SCORE for a meeting on this subject and this will cost you around 60 minutes of your time and nothing more.  If you like what you hear in this first meeting, you can ask for a SCORE Mentor. In the Central Virginia chapter which covers several counties, there are at least two counselors who are experienced in international operations.

I am one of them.

There is also in our State a Richmond-based organization called the Virginia Economic Development Partnership www.ExportVirginia.org which assists in finding overseas distributors, organizes trade missions and provides many other export-related services.

The combination of a SCORE counselor or mentor with solid experience in international business, and the great assistance of “Export Virginia” are as close to a “Dream Team” as you can get.

Call us at SCORE, 434.295.6712 and tell us you want to “talk international”. We’ll take it from there!

To schedule an appointment visit www.score-494.org

 

 

Did You Guess the 2nd New Market?

Jack Peltier

by Jack Peltier

 

I wrote recently about three new markets available for your products, and I gave you the first of these three major markets.

Here is the second, and perhaps the hardest one to guess…

It is a group of four buying organizations which provide shopping convenience to the active and to the retired members of America’s Armed Forces

The first is a giant buying organization  which, before the advent of Walmart was this county’s largest retailer…and it is the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).  This  $9 Billion business headquartered in Dallas operates 3100 facilities in all states and territories and in 32 foreign countries. This includes over 200 retail stores ( PX’s) some convenience stores and more than 2000 fast-food restaurants.    http://www.shopmyexchange.com/vendors/default.asp The second is the Navy Exchange (NEX) which has over 100 locations including 20 overseas, has revenues exceeding $800 Million. Their headquarters is not far…Virginia Beach. www.mynavyexchange.com/command/p-index.html

There are two more:

The Marine Corps Exchange (MCX) has over 17 stores located on  both U.S. coasts and in Japan. Its headquarters is Quantico. www.usmc-mccs.org/buspartners/index.cfm

The Coast Guard Exchange (CGX) has over 25 stores nation-wide, and makes its headquarters in Chesapeake.    www.cg-exchange.com .

Many companies deal with these exchanges directly while others appoint military sales representatives which usually work on a commission basis and can help greatly with the details involved in selling to the US government, and also calling on overseas exchange buyers.

So much for the second “ major new market”. Will someone please name the third?

 

Increase Your Sales through 3 New Market Activities

 

by Jack Peltier, SCORE Counselor

 

There are so many opportunities to increase your sales,  yet  there are enormous new markets  which are either never identified or seldom seriously considered.

In good times, manufacturers of a good product sold in this country never  think of new markets, much less identify them.

This oversight is a common error which is easy to understand…  orders are received  in record numbers  during good economic times, and management concentrates  on meeting delivery  requirements and maintaining quality.

No one has the time to think about new markets…until  orders start getting smaller and harder to get and receivables take longer to collect.

There are three very important new markets :  The first one is the most obvious and one of enormous potential:  Sales to Federal, State or Municipal governments.

Marketing to these customers, and following instructions to become their suppliers are subjects which are taught at many business events, and assistance is always gladly provided by the government units involved.

If you require further information as to how to proceed, please let us know, and we will point you in the direction of the very organizations which can assist you right away.

So much for reminding you of the first “new” market.

Do  you know what the other two are?