Notes to Fresh Exporters

A few years before that, when I was working at a company, a friend of mine with experience in export came to visit me. After a brief mention of the fact that I told him about the company I was working for, the desire to export. When he asked directly, "Are you ready for the export?", I was a little surprised, even angry. Looking back now, I can see how right he was.

Later, I came across companies that were eager to make a lot of exports. I found that the mistakes these companies often made were more or less similar. If we look at these;

1. Our Nephew Handles After School: When it comes to exports, it is important to remember that first of all, it will be necessary to write correspondence with abroad. Nice, business doesn't just end in correspondence with abroad, it has terminology. It is necessary to know many procedures that differ from the practices encountered at home, such as payment method, delivery method, documents used in foreign trade, customs clearance, etc. Even if we put all of this aside for now, correspondence with abroad is not a process to be dealt with in the time left of school with nephew, son, neighbor, friend etc. It is absolutely necessary to employ a minimum-dominating staff to the foreign trade procedures mentioned above. To access our article on export practices, please click here.
2. Target Market and Product Determination: There are 239 countries in the world as of February 2017 when this article was written. Among these countries, China has a population approaching 1.5 billion, while the Vatican has a population of 1,000. Therefore, finding the right markets for our products will greatly facilitate our business. Needless to say, wherever everyone is going when setting the right market, I'm going to go after it. It's not going to be right. There are sites available that we can take advantage of when identifying target countries, and many of which are free. Specifically TradeMap It stands out as the most successful site on this topic. In addition to these, it is important to keep in mind that not every product in every market will see demand, but also that each country will have different dynamics and which channels will be used when entering the market (collector, retail, chain market, etc.). Therefore, the market we are planning to enter must also be examined on site.
3. Table Head and Field Research: Again, one of the frequent mistakes is going down the field without a desk search. I can't forget the cold sweats we shed when the Tunisian customer, whom we considered to have agreed on time, sidelined himself on our visit to his country. Therefore, it would be appropriate to have at least 3 appointments with desk research processes before going to the country concerned for field research.
4. State Support: In accordance with our country's export-oriented development policy, different supports have been offered to companies in recent years. In particular, foreign fairs, market research, brand and marketing supports offered by the Ministry of Commerce facilitate the financial work of our exporters. It will be in their favor for our exporters to consider these supports when making a road map. It would also be realistic to note that as of the time this article was prepared, support refunds could be up to as long as 6 months. Please contact the Ministry of Commerce's export support page click here.
5. Road Map/Strategy Problem: One of the mistakes that our country's people often make is that they don't plan. Whether it's lack of planning, call it fatalism, or idleness, it brings hardships in business, no matter what. Once we have identified our target markets, it would be appropriate for us to plan fairs in these countries, official holidays and holidays, the country's climate and our own market research for at least three years. Although these plans need to be revised from time to time, it is essential that you have a road map. To access our article on export strategy, please click here.
6. Production Planning and Stock Control: As a result of long efforts, you have received the order, congratulations... So when will the order you received be ready to load? One of the drawbacks of being a financial problem, a business savvy, a boss company, and logistical problems is that the label of the product to be produced is not ready, the packaging is not ready, the parcel is not ready. All will be ready but an important order has come from a large chain of grocery stores in the country, the products that will be shipped abroad will not start production of any kind... Therefore, taking the order is not a result but it is the beginning of business in many companies defined as SMEs.
7. Financial Planning: In foreign trade, payment methods also vary according to domesticity. The production, shipment, operational processes, and transfer of the goods cost of the product sold in all methods other than payment in advance of these options take days, sometimes even weeks. Although funding for this time in between may seem insignificant, it must be taken into account.
8. Sair Expires: Some expenses for foreign trade may be in question. For example; surveillance, handling (packaging, cranes, porters, etc.), document certifications, expertise/analysis reports, cargo costs, etc... It is also useful to consider such expenses when bidding your customer.
9. Contract Management: Again, written agreements in our country culture unfortunately do not receive the necessary attention. As a result, there are problems in disputes. Although it has been mentioned in law classes that the contract is not required to be written, it has always been the reason for preference in terms of ease of proof. As a result, it is useful to have a contract under your hand, reviewed by a lawyer, on the assumption that the offer you will make will be accepted.
10. Cost Management: The costs to come across in an export transaction are roughly;
    – Sample expense: the price of the product sent as a sample and the cargo fee,
    – Packaging: where packaging such as labels, boxes, boxes etc. requires special work,
    – Different shipping demands: delivery of products from different points, especially on partial loads, may be requested by your customer or carrier,
    – Handling costs: there may be fees, such as pallets, porters, cranes, containers, or reinforcements within the ship, according to the type of product,
    – Documents validation fees: due to procedures ranging from country to country, different institutions may be required to certify documents that you will send to your client,
    – Translation fees: Some documents may need to be translated,
    – Customs clearance fees: you must carry out the necessary procedures under customs law when you are abroad your products,
    – Shipping fee: Your goods will reach the buyer through a shipping process. And how much do you trust your shipper? To access our article on this subject, please click here.
    – Ardiye fees: In some cases, your product may need to wait in warehouses before being loaded into the transport vehicle,
    – Standby charges: If you miss the ship, your container will wait until the next ship at the port. The port operation will charge a certain fee for this,
    – Expert/Analysis fees: some testing in accordance with legislation for some products (please contact us for our article on this topic) click here) may be in question,
    – Shipping charges: How will you send your paperwork after loading? Sometimes it may be an option to send documents by transport, sometimes via bank, while also sending them with cargo companies,
    – Bank costs: Depending on the method of payment, we can talk about bank costs in two different ways. The first of these is the various fees that banks will receive under the Credit (L/C) or Document Receipt payment method. The second is bank service fees resulting from money transfer.
11. Documentation: Starting with the invoice to be issued in the export transactions, almost all documents are held in different types and procedures. While some of these documents are prepared by the exporter himself, others (e.g., the consignment) are mediated by the preparation process. It is appropriate to agree with the buyer in advance which documents will be prepared. Otherwise, there will be bigger problems and costs in the future. To access our article on documentation, please click here.
12. Domestic Market and Export Balance: While no one can think of exports when things are going well in the domestic market, it is again the characteristic way in our country that all companies are staring at foreign markets in times of crisis. Therefore, it is always important to show the importance to export, even though the domestic market has as many rosettes as it wants.
13. Fairs: They are marketplaces where buyers and sellers come together to make business deals, set up for a period of time in order to improve trade. They are usually arranged in the same places and at regular intervals. Fairs are organized in the form of general fairs to cover sectoral or all products. With the development of the Internet, fairs have lost their former popularity, but they are still important events where buyers and sellers meet in international arenas. There are preparations and procedures to be made before and after the fair. Prior to the fair; A number of issues need to be resolved such as which materials to be taken, choice of stand location and size, design of stand, catering, selection of products to be exhibited, and timely dispatch of them to the fairground, preparation of the staff to attend the fair, preparation of the brochures and visuals. After the fair, very important jobs such as sending a thank-you letter to the companies interviewed, providing communication with potential buyers who expect information and a price offer should be fulfilled. For the Ministry of Commerce's support for fairs and link to very useful information, please click here.

I wish you days of export...
Gökhan EROL
gerol@inovakademi.com