International Marketing Plan Tips

1. KNOW YOUR TARGET MARKET

Select your market (country) based on the need you perceive for your product in that market. To find out IF there is a need for your product there are several sources you can tap: That country's embassy or consulate. Embassies are generally in Washington D.C., and depending on the size of the country, consulates are located in major or strategic cities around the USA. The local library. Find o t if they are on-line. If so, they might have access to a National Trade Data Base (NTDB) which is updated monthly. You can also subscribe to their service and receive monthly CD Rom.

2. KNOW YOUR COMPETITION

Find out who your competitors here in the USA are and where they export to. Who are their distributors or sales outlets in your target country. Find out who potential local competitors are in that country and where their products originate from. Find out pricing information if you can. Again, embassies and consulates as well as that country's trade mission (if any) and their chamber of commerce (here and local) may be helpful.

3. SHOULD YOU GO INTO THAT MARKET?

Now that you have this basic information you need to decide if it will be worth your effort to proceed with this country. Usually the decision to market in a new country has far reaching effects on product development, pricing, financial and staffing. Do you need to conform to special laws and standards? (i.e. ISO 9000, metric etc.). Does your product come under export restrictions? (strategic high tech products). Does your product require specially trained technical support? Do you need to translate documentation? (Warning! Translations need to be done into the translator's native language; he/she must be familiar with your industry).

4. DISTRIBUTOR vs [OWN] SALES REPS

Should you market your product yourself, or through a distribution network. Using your own sales reps means they are your employees and therefore you have "control" over their sales efforts. It also gives you "presence" in that country. The downside is, that it is expensive, you pay them whether you sell anything or not. Unless you are there physically you don't really have "control" over their activities and there is a ramp up time since most likely they don't hit the ground running. Distributors, in contrast, are established companies with their own presence, infra structure and [hopefully] success. They are already staffed and have a market established and they may have already a pipeline (prospects) for your product. The downside is, that they usually represent many other products as well.

5. HOW TO CHOOSE A DISTRIBUTOR

The U.S. embassy in that country can help locate distributor candidates for you. There is a fee associated with that; check with the Department of Commerce (DOC). You can also check trade directories for the Region (where available) and local trade publications for ads from distributors. You may want to ask another company which has similar products to yours (not competitive) and find out who they are using in that country. That country's embassy/consulate often has such directories as well. After you contact potential distributors find out who they are representing, how many products, how many sales reps they have, what their annual volume is, what they feel the market for your product might be, if they have technical support people (if that's what's needed for your product). When you have interviewed several potential distributors (on the phone, fax or e-mail), spend the money and visit the country and meet them personally. You will also get a first hand feel for the market. That is very important. You may want the same distributor represent you in several countries. (i.e. all that use the same language such as Austria, Germany and parts of Switzerland). Be cognizant of cultural and language differences! It, might however, be better to have one distributor for each country (not all eggs in one basket). In South East Asia it is different. Often one distributor has several countries because the markets may be small (Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia etc.).

6. AGREEMENTS

It is of utmost importance that you execute a distributorship agreement (or sales rep agreement) which has been reviewed by an attorney with international contract experience. It should contain, aside from the boiler plate clauses, length of term, information to what degree the distributor has the right to disclose information, pricing policies, discount policies, technical support policy, training, customer training, who pays for documentation, translations (if applicable), commissions and/or royalties, and sales quotas. If a distributor wants and gets exclusive geographic rights, then quota requirements are a must. If distributor does not make quota for a specified number of times, h can lose the distributorship or the exclusive status. Establish policy on multi-national accounts, "house" accounts, third party sell, etc. Will you provide sample product and/or demonstration products?

7. SUPPORT

You have to consider what kind of support your distributor or sales rep will get. If it is an "easy" product may be very little technical support is required. High tech products like hardware and software require skilled technical support not only from you to the distributor but also from the distributor to the customer. You need to maintain a state-of- the-art level of support at the distributor level. For that he either needs to attend training at your location here in the USA or you need to provide that training at his location. Who pays for it? (needs to be in the agreement). US Manufacturers often provide frequent visits to their distributors. Some technical support visits, some marketing/sales political visits.

8. POTENTIAL FOR YOUR PRODUCT(S)

Establish what the potential market for your product is. Although a variety of market research may be available from the country's embassy/consulate or DOC, trade publications etc. you may have to do some search yourself through local channels. What is the "life" for your product? Is it something consumers will purchase on a long term continual basis or is it a seasonal product or fad. Is it a capital purchase which requires regular maintenance long term. Is there residual income from maintenance, support, value added services?

9. COST OF MARKETING OVERSEAS

When putting together the marketing plan, cost of marketing overseas is a major consideration. If you decide to market in one country, how much more expensive would it be to market to a number of countries in the same region. Cost factors are travel and related expenses, regional and local trade shows, local training, documentation, translations, added technical and other support, communication cost (tel/fax), licensing (export and local), adaptation to local standards and laws (i.e. 220V/50Hz), conversion of CCIR and not the U.S. format).

10. LONG TERM COMMITMENT

Predict Your Future. Don't use a crystal ball to create predictions of your small business. By carefully analyzing the historical
trends of your business enterprise, as shown in your records for the previous five years, you can forecast for the year ahead.
Your record of earnings, your expertise with the markets in which you market, and your general understanding of the market should
allow you to forecast a sales figure for the following year.

When you have a Sales prediction figure, make up a budget showing your costs as a percentage of that figure. In the following
year, you can compare real P&L amounts to your budgeted figures. Thus, your financial plan is an important tool for determining
the health of your business.

Make Timely Decisions. Without actions, forecasts and conclusions concerning the future are not worth the paper they're written
on. A decision that doesn't result in action is a poor one. The pace of business demands timely as well as informed decision
making. If the owner-manager is to remain ahead of competition, you have to move to control your own destiny.

Powerful Decision making in the small business requires several things. The owner-manager must have as much accurate information
as you can. With these details, you need to establish the consequences of all feasible courses of action and the time demands.
When you've made the decision, you've set up your company so the choices you make can be transmitted into actions.

Control Your Small Business. To work, the owner-manager must have the ability to motivate key individuals to acquire the outcomes
intended for within the price and time constraints allowed. In working to attain outcomes, the small business owner-manager has an
advantage over large business. You can be fast and flexible while many large firms must await committee action before a decision
is made. You don't need to get permission to behave. And equally important, bottlenecks to implementing new practices can receive
your personal attention.

One of those Secrets is in determining what items to restrain. Even in a small business, the owner-manager shouldn't attempt to be
all things to everyone. You ought to keep close control on people, products, money, and any other tools that you consider
important to keeping your operation geared toward profit.

Manage Your People. Most businesses find that their largest expense is labor. Yet due to the close contact with employees, a few
owner-manager of small businesses don't pay enough attention to direct and indirect labor costs. They have a tendency to think of
those prices in terms of people rather than relate them to gain with respect to dollars and pennies.

Listed below are a few Tips concerning personnel management:

Periodically Review every position in your company. Have a glimpse at the job. Is work being replicated? Can it be organized so
that it motivates the worker to become involved? Can the tasks be given to another employee or employees along with a position
removed? Can a part-time individual fill the job.

Play A little private mental game. Imagine you have to eliminate one employee, If you needed to let 1 person go, who'd it be? How
can you realign the tasks to make out? You could find a true solution to the imaginary difficulty is possible to your financial
benefit.

Usage Compensation as a tool instead of viewing it as a necessary evil. Reward Superior work. Look into the potential for using
raises and bonuses as incentives for higher productivity. By way of example, can you schedule bonuses as morale boosters through
seasonal slacks or alternative dull periods?

Recall There are new means of controlling absenteeism through incentive compensation plans. For instance, the owner-manager of one
small company eliminated vacations and sick leave. Instead, this owner-manager gave every employee thirty days annual leave to use
as the worker saw fit. At the end of the calendar year, the workers were paid at regular prices for the leave they didn't use. To
qualify for the year-end cover, the employee had to prove that sick leave was shot solely for that purpose. Non-sick leave needed
to be applied for in advance. As a result, unscheduled absences and overtime pay were decreased significantly. In addition,
workers were happier and more effective than they were under the old system.

Control Your Inventory. Do not tie up all your money in stock. Utilize a perpetual inventory system for a cost control as opposed
to a system only for tax purposes. Establish use patterns or purchase patterns on the substances or items you must stock to keep
the minimum number required to supply your customers or to maintain production. Excessive stock, whether it's finished merchandise
or raw materials, ties up funds which may be used to better advantage, as an instance, to open up a new sales territory or to buy
new machinery.

Centralize your Purchases and avoid duplications. Be a relative shopper. Confirm orders in writing. Get the purchase price and
amount straight right away.

Assess what you Receive for quality and condition. Assess bills from providers against quotations. You do not wish to be the
victim of the error.

You should, However, keep 1 fact in mind once you install your stock control system. Don't spend more on the management system
than it can return in savings.

Control Your Products. From control of stock to control of merchandise is but a step. Make sure your sales people recognize the
importance of promoting the products which are the most profitable. Align your service policies with your markup in mind. Arrange
your products so that low markup things need the least handling.

Control Your Cash. It is good policy to handle cash and checks as though they were perishable commodities. They are. Money on your
protected earns no return; also it Can be stolen. Bank promptly.

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