How To Find The Right Customer?
- Know your export market well.
Right Customer/Marketing: Marketing means knowing the foreign markets and ways to penetrate it. Achieving this knowledge through negotiating with buyers, using official information and statistics, participating in international exhibitions, contacting business advisers in embassies and chambers of commerce, as well as inquiries. It is possible from international institutions and centers that provide services in this regard. Also, identifying competing goods and their quality and price in the target market and using advertising methods to introduce the product have an important role in the success of an exporter.
What is market research?
The first step is to gather basic information about the market, including import regulations and exchange rates
The next step is to determine the scope of the product or service, and here the process becomes much more precise. You may think that your product or service is different, and in that case the research will be very valuable. In this case, you can introduce your product or service to foreign buyers and evaluate their reaction.
At this stage of the market research process, you need to pay attention to the performance of your competitors. You can evaluate their reaction by sending data or product samples to foreign buyers. But if you do not offer them a great product, their reaction will not be positive.
- Marketing and identifying customers through attending business missions
Trade and marketing delegations: One of the appropriate levers for the development of exports and the expansion of economic relations with the target countries (in recent years) has been the sending of economic, trade and marketing delegations to these countries. Undoubtedly, by sending a business delegation abroad, individual negotiations can be given more depth to the negotiations than individual business trips.
- Use the Internet to find foreign buyers in the export process
Directories of Buyers, Sellers and Manufacturers
By registering on some sites that introduce global buyers and sellers, you can connect with a multitude of global buyers and sellers through the Internet.
The use of e-commerce to introduce goods and services and the development of export markets is currently of particular importance. Setting up a website and registering information is one of the main strategies in the export process.
Few people nowadays do not use internet search to find suitable suppliers, evaluate their possibilities and negotiate with them.
Submitting information to reference sites is very important. These sites are one of the main places to search for suppliers and are easily accessible to everyone.
You can introduce yourself well in B2B reference websites and submit information such as the following in these sites:
- Information and specifications of goods and services
- Specialized features and competitiveness of the company and export goods and services
- Pictures of export goods and portfolio
- Information related to how to send and package and minimum and maximum order amount
- Contact information such as website address, phone number, contact, email
You can search the list of reputable sites in this field by searching the Internet with the keywords B2B website, B2B directory, exporter directory and… to access the list of these websites.
The following is a list of B2B websites. By registering your information on these sites, you can easily market your export goods and services and be exposed to the eyes of your specialized audience. It should be noted that the introduction of these sites does not mean their guarantee by the website or any government or legal entity, and you are responsible for being careful in concluding contracts and participating in transactions.
Some of these sites are as follows:
- http://www.alibaba.com
- http://www.ecplaza.net
- http://www.kompass.com
- http://www.tradezone.com
- http://www.hktdc.com
- http://www.ec21.com
- http://www.ameinfo.com
- http://www.exportbureau.com
- http://www.globalsources.com
- http://www.worldbid.com
- http://www.tradeKey.com
- http://www.etradeasia.com
- http://www.b2bfreezone.com
- http://www.importers.com
- http://www.toocle.com
- http://www.tpage.com
- http://www.ttnet.net
- http://www.go4worldbusiness.com
- http://www.zawya.com
- http://www.alilinks.com
5. Set up a website to find buyers in the export process
- Set your goals before launching the site
The precise and regular goals and ideas that are planned are exactly the ideas that are implemented! Setting up a website on the Internet is just like starting a business in the real world, just as goalless and unplanned businesses do not reach a certain position, so do goalless websites always go somewhere. They do not reach and always remain fruitless, so what is your goal in launching the site? What is your dream to launch a website? How much is your site going to grow? What content do you want to upload to your site and how does this content help your customers and partners? Do you have a strategy for constantly updating your website?
- Attend exhibitions or use international exhibition sites
International Exhibitions One of the best marketing resources to communicate with foreign partners is to participate in international exhibitions. For information about the calendar of international exhibitions, you can access the list of favorite exhibitions by visiting the following websites.
7. Determine how to price your export goods.
Export pricing of goods is different from domestic pricing: the situation in the foreign market, the different costs of the export process, different pricing strategies and different currencies, affect the cost you receive from customers for your service or product.
Pricing for any market requires knowing the variable costs, demand and level of competition in the target market. Many people you meet abroad want to know your price, so it is important to set your own prices before going abroad.
The costs of exporting goods include two groups of fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs include:
- Research in international markets
- Travel to foreign markets
- International Communications
- Research review (including research translation)
- Change in product or service
- Packaging and labeling of products
- Product liability insurance or other insurances
- Compliance with foreign standards
- Validation check
- Credit costs
- Promotional costs
Read This Article About Export Of Goods
Variable costs include:
- Send the product to the destination
- Air or sea shipping fee and insurance policy
- Import tax
- Intermediary costs and settlement with customers
- Land transfer from port to warehouse or customer location
- Warehouse costs
- The cost of using rental warehouses
- Representative or importer commission
8- Determine your support and service strategy for the product sold.
Does your product need after-sales service, warranty, etc.? If yes, what are your plans for providing these services? Do you want to set up an after-sales service department in the destination country or will you do so using the capacities of distribution agents?
Decisions in this regard are very important. Setting up an after-sales service office and providing a warranty by yourself can be very costly and difficult. In cases where the volume of your exports in the destination country is high, or there is no distributor and after-sales service provider in the destination country, or the competitive environment requires you to invest in that country, perhaps using this method be suitable.
In any case, you may want to be a good partner in the destination country to help you with both the sale of the goods and the after-sales service and warranty. For this purpose, you must carefully adjust your contract so that you do not get into trouble in the future.