Export consulting is an opportunity for businesses with global ambitions to receive full-scale support and expertise in the field of export or import. Foreign trade requires the exporter to have knowledge in such areas as international marketing, sales, logistics, protection of intellectual property rights, certification of goods, and registration of foreign offices. Besides, the start and development of exports require the skills of negotiation, risk management, research and analysis of export markets, pricing, English and the other languages of target export countries speaking skills, etc.
Thanks to the experience and knowledge of export consultants, a novice exporter can save time and money, and an experienced exporter can increase supplies to foreign markets by opening new markets and finding reliable partners and customers there.
What are the benefits of export consulting?
1. Potential cost-cutting
One of the factors that guide companies when deciding to work with consultants, no matter in what business field, is the ability to save money. After all, no business wants to spend more than necessary. Export consultants understand this, so they strive to reduce the costs of the exporting company in all possible ways. The following are approaches that export consultants can use to help you reduce your costs.
- Export consulting - a qualified audit of export readiness
Any reputable export consulting organization, at the first stage of cooperation, will offer you to conduct an audit. A comprehensive export readiness audit not only gives a clear idea of the company's readiness to export but also saves money in the future.
After evaluating your existing export markets and products in these markets, the export plan and the marketing strategy in the target market, production capacity, readiness to satisfy increased demand and many other criteria and processes, export consultants will draw your attention to weaknesses and offer the most effective development plan for your exports.
- Market selection, its research and market positioning
By choosing the best export market and researching it, the exporting company eliminates the risk of entering the wrong country, which will prevent inefficient human and financial resources spending.
Proper classification of products according to the international Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, selection and thorough study of the target market are of paramount importance for successful export.
- Export consulting - the possibility of outsourcing
One way to save money is to outsource export set up and support, which will allow the company not to search for internal specialists and hire staff. You may need export consultants for a certain period of time. With hiring staff,- on the contrary,- you pay them a monthly salary, even if they do not always have work to do.
Moreover, the process of recruiting new employees to the company, entails all the costs associated with the new hire. You have to pay for the vacancy announcement and provide the new employee with the necessary office equipment and software. The skills and knowledge of the export employee must be constantly improved through training, which is also a cost for the company.
In the case of an outsourced export consulting agency, you use the services only when you need them. And this significantly saves your company's financial resources.
2. Export consulting - saving time on time-consuming tasks
Saving money is great, but have you thought about the fact that an export consulting company can also save you time? If you have ever tried to set up your own exports, you can agree with the fact that this is, to put it mildly, a time-consuming process.
To deliver the goods to the country of export, it must meet the legal requirements and quality requirements of this country. How to adapt the content and features of the product to the requirements of the exporting country? Where to find regulations that apply to this type of goods? How to properly label a product for export? Where to make the necessary tests to confirm the conformity of the product? Without professional help, the exporter can look for answers to all these questions for a long time.
Export consultants will compile a list of legal requirements and regulations of the importing country that apply to your product, as well as provide step-by-step instructions for adapting the product to a new market.
In addition, you significantly free up your work schedule. When you spend your time auditing and processing documents for export, other necessary tasks in your company are postponed. You will be able to spend time on the core business of your company, and the rest will be done by a consulting organization.
3. Export consulting - reliable export support
As we mentioned in the introduction, exporting goods is not always as simple as it seems. There are many pitfalls that can make the delivery of goods time-consuming and/or difficult.
In addition to complying with trade regulations, export consultants can work with you to resolve issues you may encounter while exporting. For example, your goods/products were not delivered to the customer in time due to delays at one stage. Now you have a frustrated buyer who is wondering where his order is, but you don't know how to speed up delivery. Your goods may be delayed at customs because you do not have a delivery permit or license. Or you may have tried to ship goods/products that did not pass through veterinary or radiological restrictions. There can be a lot of such stressful cases on the export route.
With the guidance of your export consultant, he would get involved in these complicated situations and describe the steps to be taken to solve the issue. He would also recommend how to avoid getting into trouble in the future.
4. Export consulting - access to valuable partnerships
To export goods/products, you need logistics specialists. If your company is not in charge of organizing the logistics, do you have partners you can turn to for delivery? You can search for the necessary contacts online, but often services perceived positively in the network, later will not correspond to reality.
It all depends on what type of business you have: production, trade, or production and trade. Given that you are exporting goods, you are probably a retailer or manufacturer of goods/products. You may have a small logistics team and one or two warehouses, but you will need to expand.
Let your export consultants help here. Experienced export consulting organizations have large contact bases in various fields and industries to meet your export needs. These contacts include logistics companies, proven individual carriers, warehouses, and many more.
Your consultants will quickly connect you with the necessary partners, once again saving you time and money. Their offers will save you from trial and error associated with self-search of third-party logistics companies and warehousing services.
5. Export consulting - increasing productivity and efficiency
This is one of the most important advantages of export consulting, which we left behind. Working with experienced export consultants, you can see an increase in both the productivity and efficiency of your business.
The growth of export productivity and efficiency is justified by the fact that export consultants have their own clients' contact basis, access to paid databases to obtain fresh analytics and statistics on a particular export country, understanding of export stages, and diversified risks along the way.
As we mentioned in the previous section, when an export consulting organization recommends third parties, they are usually trustworthy and reliable. So, they can help you achieve your company's goals, as well as increase efficiency and productivity.
Stages of the project in the export consulting agency Explore
1. First meeting and preliminary assessment of export readiness
Based on an export readiness questionnaire for the companies from different industries and with different goods / products, we can identify the weaknesses and needs of both young and experienced exporters.
2. Obtaining a commercial offer
Based on the results of our export readiness assessment, we will prepare a detailed commercial offer describing your export benefits, and we will describe in detail the content of your project and the expected qualitative and quantitative results from each project stage. We will also set a clear time frame for each project task and will explain in detail the terms of our cooperation. Besides, we will define the project team and evaluate your investment.
3. Agreeing on terms of cooperation and signing of the agreement
After your consideration of the commercial offer, we will send you a copy of the agreement to agree on the terms of cooperation and signing it. We offer such conditions of cooperation within the project that would be the most comfortable, safe, and favourable to your company.
4. Project implementation
This stage is the main and most important. The tasks of the stage depend on the agreed goals of the project and may include the choice of target export market among several countries based on chosen criteria, marketing research of the selected market, preparation of export strategy to conquer this market, search for partners and clients abroad, and preparation for international exhibition.
5. Support after the end of cooperation
After completing your export project, you will be able to contact Explore for 5 free individual consultations within 1 year, which will help you keep track of the growth of your company's exports.
Frequently asked questions about export consulting
Why should I hire an export consulting agency to go export if I can hire an export manager?
- the labour market of export specialists in Ukraine is very limited;
- not all export managers are able to do a valuable market research and build an export strategy;
- salary of export manager depends on sales. He/she will sell, not engage in analytical work;
- export manager's salary for 2 months is approximately equal to the cost of our services, but you will be able to use our approaches and developments for years.
Why research the market and build an export strategy if I can choose a country and start looking for customers there?
An incorrectly chosen market, where your product does not meet the requirements of the market or the tastes of consumers, can cost months of meaningless efforts to sell goods/products/services. It is a question of the opportunity cost of the amount of time and resources your team could use effectively and end up entering a new market. A non-adapted product to market requirements (not all importers are willing to inform the manufacturer of their country's product requirements) can result in fines and a market entry ban.
Do you guarantee that after hiring you, I will start exporting?
Yes, provided that you consistently implement all our recommendations for the preparation of production and goods/service to enter the selected market and you will have in your team English-speaking managers with basic sales skills.
How can I be sure of the quality of our services?
Our customer reviews speak for themselves, and we can provide samples of our reports to better understand our approaches to work.
Conclusions
Export consulting services can bring many benefits to your company if it manufactures or sells goods. Consulting organizations save time through comprehensive auditing and outsourcing, increase productivity and efficiency, and can even connect you with the right partners. A good consultant will also help you understand the regulatory requirements, market requirements to product adaptation, and the general nuances of exports.
If you are looking for export consultants, Explore Export Agency is ready to help you. We work with a wide range of products: from exporting food or wood products to medicines and many others. Get in touch!