GRI

Re: [spiers] GRI


In a message dated 6/23/03 10:07:21 AM, y_mikhail@msn.com writes:

<
I 've red resently e-mail regarding export poultry meat. I have qualified

buyers in Russia. If you wouldn't mind, we can swap this information.

Best regards,

Y.Mikhail>>

This is an excellent opportunity to expand on an idea I try to put out in the
book and classes.

A wee bit back I expressed a disinclination towards trade leads... indeed, I
think in the letter welcoming people to the listserv I promise this list will
be a "no trade-lead zone."

As I mentioned earlier, trade lead lists tend to be buyers with no customers
talking to sellers with no supply. Now here we have a variation... one list
member who might help out another list member with a trade lead. What could be
more natural, or providential?

What I teach in the classes is that whether we are import or export, working
on the margin, we match the best suppliers to the best customers. I give the
steps to go through to accomplish this. I use the word margin above in two
senses; first, that since our products are new, they are not anyone's main
business activity or "marginal", second, as new products we are charging premium
prices for what we do or "wider margins".

Now, if someone on the list here in USA says "I have customers overseas for
what you sell" I see the following problems:

1. Is the country named a leading buyer of poultry? If not why not? If not,
why would a seller want to work first where there are fewer buyers, when,
time being what it is, we ought to go where the best opportunities are? Why go
to country X to sell if simple research shows country Y buys far much more? If
the country mentioned is a leading buyer of the product, then the shortcut of
a trade lead tip leaves out all the wealth of information that normal research
would provide.

2. Are the buyers overseas first rate distributors in their own country? If
so, why would they work through intermediaries, and use the normal processes,
as I have lain out, for finding suppliers? If not, why would we want to spend
time working with them, when we can easily fiind better prospects? (And of
course, if they are not first rate, why would we want to work with them?)

The money is where we can provide a value. When an established company
overseas (first rate has nothing to do with size) is looking to build market in
USA, and finds a start-up company with proven demand such as us, then there is a
value we can provide.

Or, when a company overseas is looking to tap into first rate USA production,
but cannot get its products to export specifications without the help of
small businesses like ours, then we can provide a value.

This is a hard point to make, and probably to understand, and I am happy to
debate it with a view to nuancing the argument further.

John

Bookmark this post --- Email this post