Selling and providing after-sales service to customers from other countries
Many successful exporters got their start selling worldwide by responding to a foreign company's request. Thousands of U.S. businesses receive similar requests each year, but the majority of them fail to become successful exporters. In general, successful businesses prioritize developing procedures for effectively responding to queries, conducting research on overseas clients, distinguishing between local and international sales, and cultivating favorable connections with partners.
Inquiries and Responses
Most, but not all, letters, faxes, and e-mails of inquiry sent from outside the United States are written in English. Your organization may turn to banks or freight forwarders for help translating a letter of inquiry into a foreign language. Colleges and universities can also provide good translation services. Commercial translators can be hired for a charge in most metropolitan cities. Online translation software can help you comprehend the basics of what's being written, but it's not perfect or dependable enough for commercial transactions. In most cases, a foreign business will ask for product specs, details, and pricing. Some queries will come directly from end-users, while distributors and agents who want to sell the product in their market will have their own concerns. A few overseas firms who are familiar with your goods may want to make an order right away.
Regardless of the type of enquiry, your business should have a policy in place to handle it, here are suggestions to get you started:
• Expect grammatical or typographical mistakes in some enquiries; the writer may only know English as a second language.
• Respond as soon as possible, totally, and clearly. Before engaging in business with you, the correspondent will naturally want to learn more about your organization. By providing a brief but appropriate introduction to the company, including bank references and other sources that show credibility, the response should position your organization as a dependable provider. Your company's export policy, including pricing, terms, and delivery, should be disclosed. It's possible that your organization will react with a pro forma invoice.
• Include details about your company's products or services.
• If a deadline must be met, transmit the material through e-mail or, if preferred, fax. These approaches, unlike telephone communications, can be utilized efficiently across time zones and languages.
• Keep track of all international queries. As your export firm expands, they may become solid possibilities. If your company's exports are handled through an intermediary, the information may be used by the intermediary.
Getting to Know Potential Clients
Before doing any official business with a foreign corporation, a US company might perform research in a variety of methods. Your organization may save time and money by utilizing accessible resources.
Business Libraries
Several private-sector publications compile a list of multinational corporations and rank them. Many directories are dedicated to certain areas and nations.
International Banks
Bankers have access to a wealth of information on international corporations and are often eager to help corporate clients.
Foreign Embassies
Foreign embassies are headquartered in Washington, DC, with consulates in other important U.S. cities. Most foreign embassies include directories of enterprises based in their country in their commercial (business) sections.
Sources of Credit Information
Many private-sector sources as well as the US Commercial Service offer credit reports on overseas corporations. Contact your local U.S. Commercial Service office for assistance in identifying credit report sources.
U.S. Commercial Service Offices
Commercial Officers and their local employees of the US Commercial Service may aid with International Company Profiles and background research on international enterprises.
The Internet
Using your chosen search engine, you may typically locate corporate information. However, keep in mind the origins of the information you obtain, as search engine results aren't always up to date or correct.
Conducting Business Internationally
Basic business procedures that are necessary for effective worldwide marketing should be understood by companies. There is no uniform worldwide business code since cultures differ. The fundamental behaviors listed below, which transcend cultural borders, will assist your organization in conducting business internationally.
Keep Promises
Failure to deliver on time is the most common criticism overseas buyers have about American suppliers.
A first-order is crucial since it shapes a customer's perception of a firm as a reliable or unreliable provider.
Be Polite, Courteous, and Friendly
It's crucial to prevent over-familiarity or language that might be misunderstood. Some international company executives and staff believe that the standard concise US business letter lacks civility.
Personally Sign All Letters
Form letters aren't good enough.
Building a Working Relationship
It's critical to focus on creating and sustaining a connection with an international client, agent, or distributor after you've created one. Business activities should be guided by common politeness.
Your organization may show itself nicely if you follow the advice in this blog. Aside from these concerns, keep in mind that a foreign contact should be regarded and served with the same professionalism as a domestic contact. For example, your organization should notify consumers and contacts of any changes, such as pricing adjustments, employee changes, address changes, and phone number changes. Because of the distance, a contact might soon "age" and become useless if communication is not maintained. If your organization can't afford regular travel, use e-mail, videoconferencing, faxes, and phone conversations to maintain the working connection dynamic and current.
Providing After-Sales Service
The success of every export sales attempt is determined by three factors: quality, pricing, and service. In a previous blog, I discussed quality and money. Service, which we will examine below, should be an early component of every company's export strategy.
When managed correctly, service may serve as a springboard for further development. It can cause an export effort to fail if ignored or left to chance.
The term "service" refers to the rapid delivery of a product. It's a pleasant sales staff. It's a user or service handbook that's been customized to match the demands of a certain customer. It is the availability of a service facility. It is cost-effective, competent maintenance, repair, or replacement. Location is service. Dealer assistance is referred to as service. Service is a two-way street between you, the decision-maker, and your consumer. This entails paying close attention and aggressively exploring ideas on how to improve your service or product. The type of product, the quality of the product, the price of the product, and the distribution channel employed all influence service. When distribution channels, quality requirements, and return procedures are specified for some export items, such as food, some consumer goods, and commercial disposables, service ceases.
However, the nature of consumer durables and some consumables necessitates the availability of servicing after the purchase has been made. Service is a trait that consumers demand from such items. In reality, while determining whether to buy items or services, international buyers of industrial goods frequently choose service.
Every international market is complex, and each has its own set of supplier and vendor expectations.
Manufacturers and distributors in the United States must ensure that their service performance is equal to that of the market's leading rivals. This degree of performance is critical in maintaining a competitive position, especially if the customer is swayed by other criteria such as product quality, price, promotion, and delivery.
You may elect not to provide after-sales service as part of your exporting strategy. Your firm may decide that a single or numerous opportunistic entrances into export markets is its export goal. While this strategy may work in the near run, a consumer who remembers your inability to meet desired levels of service is less likely to respond positively to following product offerings. As a result, your market development and sales expenses for any such buyer may only result in one-time sales.
Reviewing Service Delivery Options
Service is critical to a product's initial export sale and continuous success in overseas markets. Your organization has a variety of choices for providing service to international customers.
Requiring the Buyer to Return the Product
Returning the goods to the manufacturing or distribution facility in the United States for service or repair is a high-cost alternative that is also the most inconvenient for the foreign retail, the wholesale, commercial, or industrial buyer. The buyer pays a high price and loses use of the goods for a lengthy period of time, while you must absorb the identical product's export cost a second time when it is returned. There are, fortunately, practical and cost-effective options.
Using a Local Partner
Identifying and using local service facilities is a favored service option for items offered at retail stores. Although this strategy necessitates upfront fees to find and train people for local service locations, the costs are more than offset over time.
When selling a product to commercial or industrial markets, a different strategy may be required. Selection of a representative to serve an area, a nation, or a market should be based not only on the distributing company's ability to sell effectively, but also on its ability and desire to service the product for the numerous U.S. enterprises that sell via distributors. When evaluating a company's capacity to offer service, you should inquire about existing service facilities, kinds, models, and ages of current service equipment, service personnel training processes, and the company's expertise servicing similar goods. If a joint venture or other partnership structure is chosen as the export distribution route, the overseas partner may offer service or repair capabilities in the countries to be penetrated. Repairs, maintenance, and warranty servicing should be explicitly stated in your company's talks and agreements with its partner. The price of delivering this service should be included in the contract.
Service and timely performance are crucial if the exported product is to be sold directly to end-users. The nature of the product may necessitate the consumer receiving on-site assistance within a very short time frame. You must be willing to negotiate on such matters. On-site service may be provided by service groups in the buyer's nation, or your firm may be required to send staff to the site. A fair amount of on-site servicing should be anticipated in the sales contract, as should the accompanying expenses. For calculating service and warranty requirements for export sales, previous performance and service history can be used as a guide. Small and major exporters equally embrace this approach.
If your company's export activity in a specific location expands to a significant level, it may become financially advantageous for it to open a branch or subsidiary business in that market. The branch or subsidiary might be a one-person enterprise or a larger facility with sales, administrative, service, and other employees, the majority of whom are locals. This high-cost alternative allows you to assure sales and service quality if your employees are given continual sales, product, and service training. One of the advantages of this choice is the control it provides, as well as the flexibility to serve numerous markets in a single region. Make sure you look into the tax and currency implications of running an overseas branch office that takes money from customers.
If you don't have any partners or joint ventures in a foreign market, you'll have to accept the return of items that the foreign buyer won't take. Cash-in-advance transactions and orders requiring a verified letter of credit are unlikely to result in this circumstance. In an open-account or documented collection transaction, the buyer, on the other hand, is free to decline delivery of the items without facing financial consequences. You will be responsible for the fees and costs connected with returning the items to the United States if you cannot find another buyer in that market or if you choose not to abandon the goods. Should the necessity occur, your freight forwarder, who can be of great assistance in this procedure.
Considering Legal Options
Many forms of representative agreements have service as a key component. The quality of service in a nation or area has an impact on your company's image there, for better or ill.
The type of repair or service facility, the number of employees on staff, inspection provisions, training programs, and payment of costs connected with maintaining a suitable facility must all be specified in agreements with a representative. In a particular nation or area, the depth or breadth of a warranty should be related to the service facility to which you have access in that market. It's critical to only make promises you can keep.
Another section of the representative agreement may include the training you will offer to your foreign representative, such as how frequently training will be provided, who must be trained, where training will be delivered, and who will cover travel costs.