Some businesses view export activities as mechanical processes which are ‘happening out there’ and which has little to do with the vision and outlook within their business. Decide on the market; select a good partner, get the logistics right and you are home and dry as a successful exporter seems to be the attitude.
However, the root to really successfully growing your export lies much deeper within your business. What kind of organisation are you? What is your culture and outlook? What are your timelines? If you are a short-term, ‘results here and now’ business always chasing the next deal then you will probably find it very difficult to build up a sustainable and profitable export business.
If your account managers spend most of their time working on spreadsheets, crunching numbers, then they will not probably be able to grasp the cultural difficulties even when dealing with potential customers in Europe. ‘Spreadsheets don’t understand culture’.
If your bank and finance people are always chasing the short-term profits (‘we can always charge those foreigners more’) then you have got no hope becoming a long-term successful exporter.
I have also come across businesses, often larger and older, where senior management has become so removed from their customers and the markets that the notion of the more entrepreneurial approach often required when you move into new markets is completely alien to them. Decisions get delayed, any suggestions from these new markets and potential customers are automatically rejected and the whole export project falls flat.
So, before you start looking at markets, product specifications, export documentation and all that, make sure that your organisation’s culture, expectations and timelines are all aligned to the ambitions for your export.
That will save you a lot of hassle and money!