How to go viral in international trade

Viral marketing is popular topic in marketing world. A well conducted viral marketing strategy can contribute a lot to awareness of your company and product. Simply, viral marketing is that reputation of a good service or product pass from person to person and thus, sphere of influence is getting larger and larger. This way of marketing fits perfectly our networking approach in international trade. In this post, I will explain how to go viral in export/import world in the scope of networking.

To run an effective viral marketing, the first thing has to be done is to create a large and effective networks (as we always insist onJ). This should be done strategically according to chosen target market and section. Once you start to develop network, you should get involved into personal close relationships. Formal and only business focused messages, emails or conversations don’t work. You better to create more friendly atmospheres. Make people trusting you! These two steps can be seen as very essential preparations. But, you should be patient. Because, they will take time. After these stages, you can follow four efficient ways to spread your company or brand:

-         -  Ask people in your networks to recommend your product or company to other people. Once they have confidence against you and your friendship, they will do it. People like to help others.

-          -  Ask people in your networks to share your link on their social media pages or in related groups. Internet is a huge world and you should take advantage of it. You will be noticed by many people by this way. If they share your link with a good comment, that will be excellent for your reputation.

-          -  Solve problems. When people have problem with your service or product, solve it in the shortest time. You should do it really sincerely like you have the same problem. Even though they have really small problems, solve them with patient and without judgment. Make them pleased with your service or product.

-          -  Don’t be ordinary. Share funny and informative videos, articles and posts. You can add interesting specifications to your products. Just do something remarkable! Business life doesn’t have to be boring always J

I know, conducting viral marketing is a time-taker process. But if you run with patient, it will bring you much benefit. Believe the power of butterfly effectJ. You know where you will start from, Salesupp.NET of course.

For more information, I strongly recommend you to watch the video and read the article below:

http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2013/04/25/jonah-berger-how-to-make-your-marketing-campaigns-go-viral/

An international trade term you have to know: HS Code

Since, Salesupp.NET has became online, I contact with many company representatives, which are directly involved into international trade. On Salesupp.NET, sign up page, we ask companies to choose their products’ chapter numbers in order to classify them according to a known term on international trade (Well, at least we have thought that they should know if they export or importJ). But, it made me surprise that I have taken many questions about chapter numbers, even though it is really important to know and is required in many cases, such as online market research, transportation documents, tariffs etc. So, I have decided to explain what HS code and chapter number are in this post.

Harmonized system or HS has been developed by World Customs Organization (WOC) as 6 digits to classify commodities, which are object to international trade. It has 21 sections and 97 chapter numbers, which represent 5000 commodity classes. Chapter number is the first two digits of HS code. Chapter number 77 has been remained empty for future needs. Chapter numbers 98 and 99 are for use of Custom Administrations. So, HS code starts with chapter number. After chapter number, HS code continues with heading, which means the first four digits. The last step of HS code is sub-heading which contains all six digits of HS code. Every step is designed to specify commodities with more detail. To illustrate the issue, we better go with an example.

Let’s assume our commodity is cherry tomato (I know very specific exampleJ). Chapter number of our commodity is 07, “Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers” (chapter number is the number you will choose on sign up page of Salesupp.NET). We go more specific and our heading number is 0702, “tomatoes, fresh or chilled”. And finally we end up with sub-heading, which is 0702.10, “Cherry”. 

HS code is a must-known term in international trade and you especially need chapter number for Salesupp.NET J Don’t forget, knowing specific terms are compulsory in networking process, which we always insist on as you remember from our previous posts. After all, international trade is profit of networking. You remember our motto, don’t you? J

For whole list of HS codes, you can check this page: 

http://www.foreign-trade.com/reference/hscode.htm

Effective communication in international trade

As Salesupp.NET (www.salesupp.net), we work hard to promote our website. Therefore, I am in contact with many businessmen/women. In this process, what I noticed is that we suffer from lack of communication. I don’t mean that we are not talking, messaging or emailing. We do much time. But still there is something missing. We don’t listen really what the other side is talking about or we don’t read the messages and emails, we receive, carefully. We are over focused on planned conversations and most of time we want to tell about our business. But, this doesn’t work. We are in international trade world and as I always insist on, the most important aspect of international trade is forming confidence between sides. This can be done only with close personal relations.

For more effective communication, there is something can be done. But, we should approach the issue in our two roles: sender and receiver. As sender we should be careful about the points below:

·       -  Don’t talk much and don’t write long. People are busy and cannot share time for long talks and messages. Try to explain yourself and your business with short words and let the other side to ask you.

·    

          -  Don’t be automatic. Being personal always works in human relations, which trade is about. Ask personal questions while talking or writing. It is not a good idea to send always same messages and emails.

·         -Find related person. This is very important issue. When you talk about your business, be sure that other side is the right person. If you deal with a person, who cannot be buyer of your products or is not in your interest field, you will just waste your time. I know this sounds weird. But, this is issue and I witnessed many time.

·         -Ask. I get many messages and emails, which are quite long and informative, but at the end of the email, there is no word about what is expected from me. Ask people what you would like them to do. If you introduce a product, ask them if they want to see and try product. Don’t say that “if you are interested in, let me know”. People are open to questions.

 As receiver, we have something to do as well:

·         -Listen and read. For better understanding, pay attention to real listening and reading. I know sometimes it can be difficult to read long messages, but at least try to catch main points. Maybe you can miss the many important issues due to this reason.

·         -Reply. Try to reply all calls and emails. This represents how much respect you show to other side. Even though, your reply is negative, tell it to people kindly. This will improve your reputation and can provide you new connections.

·        - Confirm. In your reply, confirm sender about you understand what they want to tell you. Don’t send them automatic reply (This is always problem in international trade unfortunately). When you confirm them, people will listen or read your words.

Effective communication is the most essential part of international trade. By developing close and personal relations, you can get sustainable trade. Enlarge your networks and try to stay in touch with companies as much as you can. After all, international trade is the profit of networking and close relations, as we always repeatJ

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. 

THE ART OF PERSUASION

Persuading people for any purpose is very complicated issue in every area of the life. People can be uninterested in your point or simply they can be uninformed. Or, the message you are transmitting can be mispercevied due to various reasons. In business life convincing people is the major concern otherwise there will be no value of what you are creating, producing or selling. In International trade even it gets more complicated due to cultural differences and different type of business minds. When I was thinking about this issue, a speech of Simon Sinek, which I had watched several months ago, has come to my mind, “How great leaders inspire action”.

In this video, Mr. Sinek explains how to affect people in the scope of leadership. But, leadership can be at anywhere. So this approach, which I really like, can be applied in international trade. He draws a simple schema, which looks like below, to explain where to start and to understand intrinsic forces of persuading people.

According to this schema, before we tell people what we want from them,  we should start with why we want. This point represents sharing passion you feel. If you are not excited about what you are doing, you cannot get what you want. This is obvious.The second step includes learning process. This can be about product itself, type of business doing, transactions and so on. We should clarify the path in front of people, whom we want to convince. At that point, I strongly recommend to stay close with them and forming warm relationships. Being in business doesn’t mean that we have to be always business focused. Ask people how they are doing in daily life. People likes to be taken care of. But, do it sincerly not for business purposes.  In this perspective, our business will get easier in the last step, where we will ask people about what we want.

I really like this approach to persuade people. I certainly believe that personal relationships are the most important part of business life, especiallay in international trade. That is why we have developed Salesupp.NET, which allows companies to create their networks and to set up continuous relations. We are not automatic working machines. Enjoy personal links, get into more conversations and at the same time persuade people for what you want. The key is to be more human.