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

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