INTERNATIOANAL TRADE IS NOT ONE TIME TRANSACTION: Kaizen Approach

Due to requirements of our new start-up, Salesupp.NET and industry interests, I always talk with our existing and potential users. I aim to understand what they think about b2b online platforms and how they try to reach new customers and suppliers. What I realized is actually shows that most of exporter and importer companies are not on the right way. Because, they have mind that international trade is one time transaction. But it is not! It requires continuous effort. You cannot find new customers by writing introductory emails or looking for import demands, which are generally fake or expired, on b2b marketplaces. In that case, how can we get new customers continuously and get sustainable trade?

At that point, I strongly recommend Japanese Kaizen approach. Kaizen offers continuous improvement by getting first hand information and adaptation. Information comes from networking. This method is applied by Toyota very successfully. Company has set up very effective network system with its suppliers and with this advantage, they could change way of automotive industry.

In international trade, networking as Kaizen propose is the best way to get trade leads continuously thus, to get sustainable trade. By setting up large and effective supply, sales and logistic networks and staying in contact with companies in these networks, you can get long term and very profitable export/import connections. Networking is also base of Salesupp.NET. You can get in very easily, find new companies and add them to your sales and supply networks, which you will have automatically on Salesupp.NET. It is FREE J and only thing you need to do is to sign up in a few minutes. I also recommend to check one of our previous posts:

The lean trading, http://salesuppnet.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-lean-trading.html

Achieving sustainable trade with gritty networking!

As Salesupp.NET, we always insist on networking in order to get long term sustainable trade. So, what does sustainable trade mean? Sustainable trade is cooperating with existing buyers and suppliers efficiently while at the same time adding potential buyers and suppliers into network. Once you add a new company in your network, the most important thing should be done is staying in close contact. By this way, you can run existing business while generating new ones. This is how long term sustainable trade can be achieved by networking. But, this process requires continuous effort on the contrary of what almost all companies do on online marketplaces.  International trade is not something like that you will have new business while sending same long messages and emails automatically. On this perspective, online world works like offline, which relies on personal relationships.

Last week I have read the article of Cheryl Conner from Forbes and watched speech of Angela Lee Duckworth on TED, which emphasize on being gritty to be successful. “Being gritty”! This is the word I was looking for to define sustainable trade process. So, let’s look against what we should be gritty in trade networking. 

There can be industry, market or product specified obstacles on the way of networking for sustainable trade. But, I have determined 5 big sets you should jump overJ.

- Not having plan. Beginning is the hardest part. So, take time for forecasting, correcting deficiencies and planning for future steps. I know, your plan will not go smoothly but, it will give you considerable insights.

- Questions. Networking starts with meeting with new companies in your interest field and naturally questions come with it. But, you should reply these questions by one by, not in automatic mood. Listen and reply carefully. You should value other side’s ideas and thoughts, as we always underlineJ.

- Solve problems. There can be many problems on your way. Solve them not skip. Don’t be in mood of “not that important”. This is really important to flatten your way and see the future clearly.

- Tiredness. Networking for sustainable trade is a long way. You should be patient. Gaining confidence of other companies is not easy and you should keep contacting with them.

- Down times. Sometimes your business can fluctuate. You should be resistant and not forget networking. Otherwise, when you back to your networks, you will have to show effort one more time.

Yes, networking requires being gritty. Find new companies, add them to your networks and stay in close contacts with them. These are not that easy as it is read. You should go on networking way with patient and by overcoming obstacles. After some time, things will be on their ways and you will have to spend less effort. Of course you will be achieved big gift, sustainable trade.

'True Grit': What It Takes To Succeed As An Entrepreneur: http://onforb.es/13s8fDw

The key to success? Grit: http://bit.ly/10B3REF

Why is personalized trade better than generalized trade?

Online trade platforms are used by companies heavily due to considerable benefits they present. But, what has grabbed my attention is that when companies move to online portals, they change their classical personalized trade behaviors with generalized one. Firstly, I want to explain what personalized and generalized trades are. Let’s assume that your company needs a product, what do you do? You asked to your existing suppliers and this is what should be done. Thanks to personal contact, you know and trust them. Also, this way saves you money and time. This is what we called personalized trade, which leans to personal close contacts. But, what companies do on online trade portal is that they just throw their demands or leads out and wait for reply. Who will reply? Someone unknown. Then, we hear a lot of conflicts and complaints. Of course, most of your demands and leads will not be recognized and replied. So, this is what we called as generalized trade. I have talked many companies and realized that even though they are aware of inefficiency of generalized approach, they are not tend to change their way of doing business. Because, it is easy and quick to do. So, in this post, I will explain why personalized trade is better than generalized approach. 

-Trust issue. Having confidence against other part is essential in international trade. Having business with some companies you don’t know well, bring a lot of problems with itself. So, with personal contacts in large and effective networks, you can have healthier trade operations. You will not have to deal with fake demands, leads and companies, which existing generalized trade platforms have plenty of.

- Reply. On generalized portals, when you create a trade lead, you publish it and cannot be sure if you will be replied. Even though you are replied, you will not know the company,which is interested in your lead. So, this is another risk. But, in personalized trade, you will develop large and effective networks and be already in contact with many companies, which you can cooperate with. So, when you create a new trade lead, you will send it to companies you know and can be sure that you will be replied.

-Strategy developing. On almost every trade portal, you deal with companies you don’t know and it is not possible to contact with them continuously on these portals. A lot of companies around, you don’t who they are or whether you can trust them and you cannot stay in contact with them. Totally chaos! In this case, getting feedbacks for your products, service or promotional efforts is not that possible. We know how feedbacks are important to develop future strategy. But, in personalized approach you can get feedbacks fluently thanks to networking system and direct your efforts to more effective ways.

-Short term vs. long term. On many trade portals, you see many companies and trade leads. Most of them are not available unfortunately. Even though, you catch real import demands, probably you will have a short term trade because of potential problem due to lack of pre-communication and trust. But, in personalized trade system, you will develop close relations with other companies in large and effective networks and build trust, which will put you on long term trade direction.

Almost all existing trade portals embrace generalized approach and therefore, companies change their trade behaviors. But, Salesupp.NET is online anymoreJ. You can create your networks, set up continuous relationships with companies and get long term sustainable trade.Salesupp.NET provides you personalized trade, which is you are already used to. You shouldn’t change your classical personalized trade but you can make it more and more effective with Salesupp.NET.

How to write appealing messages for your business

Writing emails, messages and posts is one of the most important parts of business life. I got a lot of emails and messages. But, what grabbed my attention is I am not willing to read most of them, probably like you are. Even though, I really pay attention to every single email and message and to reply them, sometimes it can become exhausted. Because, generally messages I get is not looking appealing. They are too long, overloaded and nothing special to read. This is especially case in international trade. In this post, I would like to explain how to write attention grabbing messages or emails for business. 

There are 3 main points you better follow while writing message or email:

1.       Keep it short: It is better not to write too long emails. Because people are busy and not willing to spare time for long messages. So do not discourage them with long messages.

2.       Start with your basic point: When you start with the main reason why you write email is a good way to make reader’s mind clear. Make it interesting and let receiver to read the rest of email.

3.       Go through why, how and what circles: As I have explained in my previous post, (“The art of persuasion, http://bit.ly/X9fEIW) following the path of why, how and what circles is a good way as Simon Sinek explained. After writing main idea of message, explain why you write this email, how reader can do what you want from him or her and what you expect exactly. It is also good to write the main idea of email here at the end again.

Out of these 3 main points, let me give you some tips to make your emails more attracting. Jamie Turner explains in his post 14 effective words in marketing and I think they can work in emailsJ:

-Free   -Now   -You   -Save   -Money   -Easy   -Guarantee   -Health   -Results   -New

-Love   -Discovery   -Proven   -Safety

Effective communication is essential in international trade. It is especially important on Salesupp.NET, where you can create your sales and supply networks on. Because, the main idea of Salesupp.NET is networking in international trade. So, let’s make our messages and emails interesting and more readable. 

LET'S CREATE OUR TRADE WORLD ALL TOGETHER !

In my previous posts, I have always emphasized on how important having large and effective network is. You know our mottoJ: “Trade is all about human relations”. Yes, these are easy-to-say words. In international trade there are a lot of issues and details, which can be problematic. Such as physical distance. All we know that face-to-face meetings are cornerstones of builing mutual trust, which is crucial for trade. But, physical distance is matter. We have a passion: To create an online trade world. For this purpose, we have created the first form of our platform, Salesupp.NET. This is just the beginnig. We will create our trade world all together.

I want to inform you about this new platform. Firstly, you will be able to create your sales and supply networks, which is really important in order to set up continuous relations. International trade is not one day work or not a few transactions. It is a progressing  process. To get expected return you should be close to your buyer/supplier companies. Continuous relation is the key and the only way to do that is networking. You will find the best way of it on Salesupp.NET.

Ok you have high number of companies in both of your sales and supply networks. What to do then?  Salesupp.NET presents you very effective tools for communication. You can create promotional or informative “posts” or trade lead “posts” and send them to companies in your networks. Also, you can send your posts to whole your sales or supply networks by just one click.

 Let’s assume that you need a product. You already have companies in your supply networks, which you are close with thank to networking. The only thing you should do is to create a “demand” for product you need  and send them to suppliers you will choose. Again, if you wish you can send this demand to whole your supply network with one click. Is demand tool on Salesupp.NET guarantee buyer companies exact return in the shortest time and suppliers to have trustable demands? That is for sure J

Besides, these three function, you can search for companies in any country, in any chapter number or by firm name. You can monitor their pages and assess if they are appropriate business partners for you. You can message with firms in your networks at any time and keep contacting. 

You will be able to use all these functions on a very user-friendly and stylish platform. No banners, no information overolad, no many links and nothing will make you confused. As I have mentioned at the beginning of my words, this is just the initial form of our trade world. There are many other tools, which will help you, are on the way. All we need is your feedbacks. Because, we want to create a trade world with you. If you want to see anything on the platform, just tell us.

We are waiting to see as many users as possible on our website. We want to have a effective and easily affordable trade platform for all of us. So, we want to see you as signed up member. Is it enough ? No J We kindly ask you to invite your friends to our platform as well. Because, international trade is all about networking and more valuable with more companies around. 

Let’s start to create our trade world all together !!!

 

Salesupp.NET – where sustainable trade is

www.salesupp.net

info@salesupp.net

THE LEAN TRADING

Probably most of you heard that there is a popular book in entrepreneurship field, which is written by Eric Ries and called as “The Lean Startup”. It is a really great book and I strongly recommend you to read to enlarge your business mind. In this book, one of the most important points the author emphsizes on is the learning in as the shortest time as possible and developing startups according to this learning process. This will help you enourmously to reduce the time and cost while starting a new business. While I was reading, I was thinking that starting export/import operations or entering a new market also can be seen as a startup. This is exactly what Ries asserts by saying that “Entrepreneurs are everywhere”. Also, a few days ago I have read an article of Meghan M. Biro and I really like one definition in it, which is “Learning and Development (L&D)”. Both of the book and the article explain how learning and getting first-hand information are important. This is exactly the secret of success in international trade and the base of our startup,Salesupp.NET.

I always emphasizes on the importance of having large and effective networks for success in export/import. Because, international trade has highly changeable dynamics and requires continuous efforts. Therefore, setting up close relations with potential partner firms is crucial in order to follow the market you are in or interested in and to incrase profit as well. Networking is a gradual process of learning. But, at this point we can use the appraoch, which is explained in the book, “The Lean Startup”. We can test validation of market for our porducts or services by launching our minimum viable product (MVP), as it is named in the book. Our MVP is creating a limited network in target market. We can get connection with small number of suppliers and/or buyers from target country and set up intesive continuous relationships with them. By doing so, we can learn from them and decide whether to enlarge the network or to move to another country. This is not difficult to do and can save time and cost for us. 

International trade is all about networking”. This is what I always say. When you have a large and effective network, you can learn from updated information, create a trust atmosphere between you and potential/existing trade partners and increase your level of adaptation. By launching Salesupp.NET, we aim exactly to present these benefits. I am finishing my words with a new statementJ:

“International trade is profit of networking”.

ROAD MAP OF EXPORT/IMPORT FOR SMEs

A considerable part of total import and export volume arise from operations of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). These type of firms are limited in terms accumulated trade specific information, finacial sources and time, perhaps the most important one. Besides, there are some other small but time taker problems as well. So, under the light of these issues, what kind of way can SMEs follow in order to get the most effective trade ? Let’s begin with the theories (first boring parts J).

There are two mostly known trade theories for firms: The U-model (The Uppsala Theory) and the network approach. The U-model says that companies firstly operate in domestic market and then, when they reach to sufficient capacity, they can go for international operations. On the other side, network approach explains the pattern of export/import by claiming that companies can run international operations at the same time with local operations or even in some cases before local ones. I accept the second option. So, I will explain road map of export/import by considering the network approach. 

International operations seem more complicated than domestic ones and indeed, they are. First moves SMEs should do is getting required permissions and registering to institutional offices. Then, market research gets started. Determining right market to enter is very important in order to save time and cost. After maket selection, finding suppliers/buyers, the most difficult part, comes and in this post, I will explain how you can do it effectively. There various ways for this purpose such as contacting with chambers of commerce in target markets, emailing, phone calls, commercial visits and so on. However, I am a big fan of B2B portals and strongly recommend them. Because, on these portals you will find companies, which have same aims as you. So, you will not have to convince them for export/import and it will save you a lot of time. Although B2B platforms are beneficial, still there are some considerable problems such as expired or fake leads, fake companies, swindlers and low efficiency. Let’s see how to solve them.

To overcome these obstacles, what I recommend you is getting as many connections as you can via B2B portals and by the time, eleminating weak ones. By doing so, you will create your networks and then, you can divide your networks into sub-networks to make them more effective (I have explained why and how to do it in my first blog with details, “How to start to export/import” - http://bit.ly/15m2JFI ). By embracing such as approach, you can solve problems mentioned above but, of course by staying in contact with firms in your network. In this way, you will have many trustable companies in your networks and correspondingly, you will be able to reach real and updated trade leads. Even, with continuous relationships with firms in your network, you can generate new ones.

Yes I know, still there are some problems with existing B2B portals. Non of them allows you to create your supply and sales networks online. Besides they can be time taker and can be expensive. But don’t worry. Solution of these problems are on the way J  Salesupp.NET will be online on the 20^th of March. With Salesupp.NET, you will be able to create your sales and supply networks and to get sustainable trade by having continuous relationships with firms in your networks. And the best news is it will be really cheaperJ So, follow us and catch the trend: www.salesupp.net

Twitter: twitter.com/SalesuppNET

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