Learn How to Grow Your Export Business (Part One)
Posted on Wednesday, May 6th
According to specialists, the growth of the export industry has been very slow over the past few years. However, things seem to be following an ascending path, so exporters are encouraged to keep investing in their businesses and hoping for profit.
Back in 2012, for instance, some experts in the field predicted that the containerized export rate of 5.8 percent registered in 2011 would be followed by an increase as little as 3.8 percent. In fact, predictions about the speed at which the export industry would grow were very common, with the differences being very small. It should be noted that the current predictions are not nearly as positive as those made a few years back, yet growth is deemed possible. The steps to achieving this growth are very simple. Here are a few secrets you should look into as an export business owner in your pursuit of success and profit.
Build strong business relationships
Sometimes the key to success lies in the simplest things. The importance of building relationships in an attempt to develop a business is often times overlooked by businesspeople despite being crucial as well as obvious. Business owners are constantly being reminded that all successful businesses rely on strong and successful business relationships, yet few of them act on it or know how exactly to build these them.
First of all, as an export business owner, you need to build relationships with other businesses operating in your chosen country of destination. This may appear to be an overwhelming task at first, but it is fact quite easily achievable. You should seek out individuals operating on the markets of those particular countries of your choice and they may be able to build a web for you and put you into contact with others operating on a few other markets, thus facilitating the growth of your export business. Services like the US Commercial Service (USCS) can also provide assistance with establishing business relationships with partners across the globe.
Many business owners prefer social media as means to build business relationships with foreign customers or business partners and indeed these websites has proved highly effective as marketing tools. Thus, more and more businesspeople, whether operating in the export industry or other industries, appear to rely on websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and other similar platforms to build an international image and expand their business. However, it should be noted that some of these platforms are not available worldwide, China being just one of the several countries where social media are banned. These countries rely on personal contact as the best way to develop business relationships for the future.
Whichever of these alternatives you may prefer, as an export business owner, you should remember that the key to growing as an exporter lies in developing strong relationships with not only your customers, but your staff members, your suppliers and, last but not least, the freight forwarder in charge of the logistics as well.
If you would like to find out more on how to improve your business growth why not to get in touch with
London Coaching Group?