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Add You - Starting an Import/Export Business? 4 Questions You Must Ask Yourself First
Purchasing functions typically control a large portion of organizations costs both in spend and overhead– their function is typically to purchase materials and services for use in either manufacturing or for direct resale. A typical purchasing team will manage a number of suppliers and act as the interface to these for the business, where materials are required.Business improvement activities can bring significant benefits to companies through either lowering overhead or costs and improving efficiency. Purchasing functions are not isolated from this and there are many projects that can be undertaken within procurement to deliver additional value to their parent organizations.In this article we look at 5 improvement ideas for purchasing teams to try out in 2007.1. Get LeanerPurchasing teams are renowned for being bureaucratic – from requisition and authorization throug
Knowledge of the competitive landscape – You are aware of the competitors in the market for your particular product line. You know where they are strong in and where they are weak in and you have targeted for yourself a niche where you can provide the greatest differentiating edge and advantage. For example, I am aware that skilled crafts labor in the U.S. is very expensive. In Bali, Indonesia, young girls start crafting beaded sandals as part of their cultural heritage. By the time they are adults, they can skillfully craft beautiful exotic beaded sandals at one tenth the prices here in the U.S.
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December Billing Performance Index (BPI) outperformed November value by 4%, replacing two participants in the list of top ten performers and raising the index from 13.7 up to 13.1. This article describes a 7-th iteration of a prototype for a rule-based chiropractic billing index, including its coverage definition, update cycle, volume weighting, and provided information.BPI = 13.1 means that the average of ten top performing payers working with BillingPrecision.com clients have 13.1% of Accounts Receivable beyond 120 days. BPI is a key billing performance characteristic, as it is a proxy of the claims that are never paid. Obviously, the lower is the index the better is billing performance. The table below also lists the top ten performing payers and their relative index as recorded in Billing Precision's system. Billing Precision Index 13.1
But you don’t want to be just a consumer at the end of the growing multi-billion-dollar trade chain. You want to be part of the international trade money flow. Before you order your first shipment though, you need to ask yourself - is this business right for you? Here are 4 simple questions to help you decide that.
Question #1: Do you have a connection to the supply source?
You are trying to import something from a foreign country to sell in the U.S. What’s different about you that you can do this more profitably than others?
Familiarity with the source country – maybe you spent a number of years in the country, you are familiar with the culture, the language, the industry. Those things provide considerable advantage.
Contact with sellers – you may know of reliable suppliers in the foreign country, you may have met them in person, or have been referred by a trusted source; you may have established a prior business relationship with them. Trust is key in the business and having prior relationships with sellers you trust gives you a leg up.
Merchandise with huge price gap – You may be aware of merchandise that cost much less abroad than in the U.S... A large price gap allows a lot of room for testing, learning and experimenting marketing channels.
Love and pride for a product or process – you have in-depth knowledge about a certain traditional manufacturing process - hand-batiking, for example. Marketing is about crafting stories and your love and pride for a traditional craft will make a great foundation for a marketing story.
Question #2: Do you have a connection to the demand market?
Familiarity with the destination country – you are familiar with the culture, the language, the seasonality of the market, the clientele. That knowledge and familiarity provide considerable advantage when it’s time to market your products.
Contacts with buyers – One of the surest ways to start an import business is when you already have a buyer in mind. Maybe you work in a corporation that purchases a certain merchandise from a U.S. broker. You have contact to a supplier abroad who can supply the merchandise at a much lower cost. When you have cartons of products crossing the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean, those importers who already have buyers for those products sleep a lot better than those who will have to look for buyers when the shipment arrives.
Knowledge of the competitive landscape – You are aware of the competitors in the market for your particular product line. You know where they are strong in and where they are weak in and you have targeted for yourself a niche where you can provide the greatest differentiating edge and advantage. For example, I am aware that skilled crafts labor in the U.S. is very expensive. In Bali, Indonesia, young girls start crafting beaded sandals as part of their cultural heritage. By the time they are adults, they can skillfully craft beautiful exotic beaded sandals at one tenth the prices here in the U.S.
Companies make sweepstakes available to consumers by three means: direct mail, telephone and the ever growing in popularity online method.Online sweepstakes are big business and give away billions of dollars, as well as cars, jewelry, vacations, shopping sprees, and other grand items. On the flip side, one can win as little as $1. But a free dollar is a free dollar!In order to get entered in a particular sweepstakes, you may have to sign up to receive various products or services. That is how the sweepstakes people earn their money. Another way for them to profit is by simply posting ads to their websites. When you see one of these ads, you may get the urge to purchase whatever it is advertising. These ads can take the forms of banners, pop-ups, or simple links.There are various sweepstakes sites online, and you should go over a few to get yourself familiar with how they work.
Question #1: Do you have a connection to the supply source?
You are trying to import something from a foreign country to sell in the U.S. What’s different about you that you can do this more profitably than others?
Familiarity with the source country – maybe you spent a number of years in the country, you are familiar with the culture, the language, the industry. Those things provide considerable advantage.
Contact with sellers – you may know of reliable suppliers in the foreign country, you may have met them in person, or have been referred by a trusted source; you may have established a prior business relationship with them. Trust is key in the business and having prior relationships with sellers you trust gives you a leg up.
Merchandise with huge price gap – You may be aware of merchandise that cost much less abroad than in the U.S... A large price gap allows a lot of room for testing, learning and experimenting marketing channels.
Love and pride for a product or process – you have in-depth knowledge about a certain traditional manufacturing process - hand-batiking, for example. Marketing is about crafting stories and your love and pride for a traditional craft will make a great foundation for a marketing story.
Question #2: Do you have a connection to the demand market?
Familiarity with the destination country – you are familiar with the culture, the language, the seasonality of the market, the clientele. That knowledge and familiarity provide considerable advantage when it’s time to market your products.
Contacts with buyers – One of the surest ways to start an import business is when you already have a buyer in mind. Maybe you work in a corporation that purchases a certain merchandise from a U.S. broker. You have contact to a supplier abroad who can supply the merchandise at a much lower cost. When you have cartons of products crossing the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean, those importers who already have buyers for those products sleep a lot better than those who will have to look for buyers when the shipment arrives.
Knowledge of the competitive landscape – You are aware of the competitors in the market for your particular product line. You know where they are strong in and where they are weak in and you have targeted for yourself a niche where you can provide the greatest differentiating edge and advantage. For example, I am aware that skilled crafts labor in the U.S. is very expensive. In Bali, Indonesia, young girls start crafting beaded sandals as part of their cultural heritage. By the time they are adults, they can skillfully craft beautiful exotic beaded sandals at one tenth the prices here in the U.S.
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A while back the headlight switch on our minivan quit working, so early one Saturday morning we took it to the neighborhood repair shop that has been mailing postcards to us the past three years. They said it would take 90 minutes to check things out.Three hours later we call: still haven’t gotten to it, but it’s up next. Two hours after that we call again: he’s looking at it right now. Three more hours, another call: yep, it’s broken, but we can’t get the part until Monday. We decide to pick it up for the remainder of the weekend, arriving there as instructed 10 hours after this ordeal began: Sorry, we haven’t had a chance to put it back together. Another trip two hours later completes a very frustrating day.Following up is one of the biggest challenges many businesses face. You see it when dealing with some vendors, working with some clients/customers or just trying to get an update
Merchandise with huge price gap – You may be aware of merchandise that cost much less abroad than in the U.S... A large price gap allows a lot of room for testing, learning and experimenting marketing channels.
Love and pride for a product or process – you have in-depth knowledge about a certain traditional manufacturing process - hand-batiking, for example. Marketing is about crafting stories and your love and pride for a traditional craft will make a great foundation for a marketing story.
Question #2: Do you have a connection to the demand market?
Familiarity with the destination country – you are familiar with the culture, the language, the seasonality of the market, the clientele. That knowledge and familiarity provide considerable advantage when it’s time to market your products.
Contacts with buyers – One of the surest ways to start an import business is when you already have a buyer in mind. Maybe you work in a corporation that purchases a certain merchandise from a U.S. broker. You have contact to a supplier abroad who can supply the merchandise at a much lower cost. When you have cartons of products crossing the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean, those importers who already have buyers for those products sleep a lot better than those who will have to look for buyers when the shipment arrives.
Knowledge of the competitive landscape – You are aware of the competitors in the market for your particular product line. You know where they are strong in and where they are weak in and you have targeted for yourself a niche where you can provide the greatest differentiating edge and advantage. For example, I am aware that skilled crafts labor in the U.S. is very expensive. In Bali, Indonesia, young girls start crafting beaded sandals as part of their cultural heritage. By the time they are adults, they can skillfully craft beautiful exotic beaded sandals at one tenth the prices here in the U.S.
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There are two questions that seem to be most commonly asked by organisations who are looking to change the direction of their business; namely:1. Where do I start?and2. Why is it so hard?Research quoted by Henley Management College stated that the UK wastes around ?25Bn per year on improvement programmes which go wrong and our own research, collated from a number of sources, suggests that upwards of 80% of all improvement activities will fail.With ‘Lean’ becoming the improvement tool of choice within a wide range of sectors, including Financial Services, Armed Forces, NHS, Public Services and the Service Sector, it is already becoming apparent that these sectors are suffering from the same problems with implementation that were first seen in ‘Lean’s’ home, manufacturing.Whilst organisations have focused on the tools of Lean, everything from adapting 5S and
Familiarity with the destination country – you are familiar with the culture, the language, the seasonality of the market, the clientele. That knowledge and familiarity provide considerable advantage when it’s time to market your products.
Contacts with buyers – One of the surest ways to start an import business is when you already have a buyer in mind. Maybe you work in a corporation that purchases a certain merchandise from a U.S. broker. You have contact to a supplier abroad who can supply the merchandise at a much lower cost. When you have cartons of products crossing the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean, those importers who already have buyers for those products sleep a lot better than those who will have to look for buyers when the shipment arrives.
Knowledge of the competitive landscape – You are aware of the competitors in the market for your particular product line. You know where they are strong in and where they are weak in and you have targeted for yourself a niche where you can provide the greatest differentiating edge and advantage. For example, I am aware that skilled crafts labor in the U.S. is very expensive. In Bali, Indonesia, young girls start crafting beaded sandals as part of their cultural heritage. By the time they are adults, they can skillfully craft beautiful exotic beaded sandals at one tenth the prices here in the U.S.
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If you’re like most people who find themselves in business for the first time, you find yourself in an awkward scenario: you know almost everything you need to do for your clients and virtually nothing about what you need to do for your business.This is a common and normal situation, but one that can be mastered. Before you can truly decide what you need to do and how to act, you need to determine who you are. What kind of businessperson are you? There are two major divisions: a small business owner or an entrepreneur. Neither one of these is intrinsically better than the other but they are different, and you must know which one you are.A small business owner is a person who is self-employed and focuses on creating income. In some respects it’s like having a job from which you can’t get fired. The goal of a small business owner is to get his job to be like Neil Diamond’s or a surgeon’
Knowledge of the competitive landscape – You are aware of the competitors in the market for your particular product line. You know where they are strong in and where they are weak in and you have targeted for yourself a niche where you can provide the greatest differentiating edge and advantage. For example, I am aware that skilled crafts labor in the U.S. is very expensive. In Bali, Indonesia, young girls start crafting beaded sandals as part of their cultural heritage. By the time they are adults, they can skillfully craft beautiful exotic beaded sandals at one tenth the prices here in the U.S.
Knowledge of market trends – whether it’s pashmina scarfs or ipod cases, knowledge of development of market shifts and trends in your home market can help you identify whether there is a growing or shrinking demand of your product line.
Question #3: What business skills do you bring to the table?
The business skills you have picked up in your day job or prior jobs will come in very useful.
Industry experience – Many successful importers worked in the import/export industry before they launched their own business. Not only had they become familiar with the customs and regulations of the business, they made many contacts that they can consult and seek help from. Do you have work experience in the industry you will be importing products for?
Sales and Marketing skills – Even Donald Trump says that very few are born salesmen, ‘the rest of else can learn it’. If you have been learning and developing your sales and marketing skills in your day job, you will find yourself using and enhancing them even more. You should spend the biggest proportion of time on income-producing activities.
Organizational skills - This is not a career for the organizationally challenged. This business involves a lot of details and follow-up, compliance to rules and regulations. Definitely not for the let-the-devil-handle-the-details type. Hopefully your day job has developed your organizational skills as well.
Analytical skills – any start up business requires you to analyze performance of product lines or marketing channels or promotion programs. You cannot improve if you do not measure. If your day job has familiarized you with using spreadsheets and creating simple what-if scenarios and simple spreadsheet formula, you will be comfortable analyzing your new business, strategizing changes and improvements, and analyzing the results of those changes.
People management skills – You will find that entrepreneurs need to manage other entrepreneurs. This may be harder than managing employees. Entrepreneurs are not tied by organizational structure but by win-win partnerships.
Question #4: Are you crazy enough to be an entrepreneur?
Do you have the mental courage and perseverance to be an entrepreneur? I worked in corporate America for many years before jumping into business. I found that corporate America is about my physically showing up for work and applying my intellectual training and experience to accomplish preset goals. When I became an entrepreneur it struck me how it is mostly a mental game. The struggle is mostly mental, and less about your physical or intellectual abilities. For example, you will find that your biggest competitor is not ABC company. It is you.
Do you have
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