eBay, TPP and Small Business International Trade

For forty years I have been practicing small business international trade, the last thirty self-employed.  Never have I seen such nonsense:

Currently, a very small proportion of traditional U.S. businesses export to foreign countries. Those that do export are usually bigger businesses, and even then they may only export to a handful of countries.  According to a study from eBay, over 90 percent of U.S. businesses using eBay marketplaces – including ours – are trading across borders, and on average these businesses sell to 30 countries. Comparatively, less than five percent of traditional businesses trade with customers outside the U.S., and on average they sell to fewer than three countries. These findings underscore the dire need to update our nation’s trade policies, making it easier for small Internet businesses to engage in the global economy. In a trading system that was created to cater to large companies, we face hurdles to make global trade accessible to small businesses – and that is what we need to improve.

This is entitled:

March 06, 2015, 10:00 am

US trade policies fail to account for small businesses

Let's break it down:

First the title... US trade policy is "Get big or get out."  It very much accounts for small business, it is specifically hostile to small business.

Currently, a very small proportion of traditional U.S. businesses export to foreign countries. 

Why would they?  Small business necdessarily means you hae not penetrated the USA market yet.  Why sell to Kota Kinabalu when you have not sold to New York yet?  

Those that do export are usually bigger businesses, and even then they may only export to a handful of countries.  

No, the vast majority of exporters are small businesses, in spite of the hostility in policy and actions of the government.  

According to a study from eBay, over 90 percent of U.S. businesses using eBay marketplaces – including ours – are trading across borders, and on average these businesses sell to 30 countries. 

So where is the problem? Imagine that, eBay, a huge company, commissioned a study that tells us they need rules written to help them.  And the found in all of USA four small businesses who agree.   

Comparatively, less than five percent of traditional businesses trade with customers outside the U.S., and on average they sell to fewer than three countries. 

You mean people who are intensely interested in exporting have maxed out at three customers overseas, on average?  Might it be for the reason that beyond the three they found diminishing returns?

These findings underscore the dire need to update our nation’s trade policies, making it easier for small Internet businesses to engage in the global economy. 

No, it underscores nothing, since you are operating at the level of gossip.  But while you are chattering, what policy?  TPP?  Demonstrate how this will help.

In a trading system that was created to cater to large companies, we face hurdles to make global trade accessible to small businesses – and that is what we need to improve.

Name the hurdles.  I have been in this 40 years and I do not see anything billionaire-backed TPP will improve, quite the contrary.

Questions:

Why would faster communication make for faster logisitics?

Why would faster communication lessen the demand for control what crosses broders?

We already have in essence free trade on less than $400 sales, the green form customs declaration.

Less than $2500 is already informal entry almost worldwide.

China has opened FTZ with no labeling, ingredients, taxes... required, how about USA do the same?

The billionaires at eBay and the gang behind this is trying to get TPP which is just another get big or get out, pro-facism gambit.  Oppose it.

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Wheel Barrow Dumping

As long as South Africa has protectionism, it will remain poor.

PROVISIONAL anti-dumping duties have been imposed on wheelbarrow imports from China, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) said on Friday.

Now there is a threat: wheelbarrow imports from China.  You now how many people, flying around the world first class, making inspections in long jackets, holding meetings, and writing up complaints it took to arrive at this decision?  Far more than any loss from wheel barrow dumping.

And here is the thing: dumping is best dealt with in a free market - if you make wheelbarrows and the Chinese offer cheaper wheelbarrows, the buy the Chinese wheelbarrows and sell them to your customers, until China quits.  Get rich off Chinese foolishness (if it is happening.)

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Russian Domestic Poultry Troubles

If true, this article lays out problems in the Russian poultry industry, because of, or in spite of, the embargoes USA has imposed on Russia after USA destabilized the Ukraine.

"In fact, bankruptcies of some inefficient and indebted businesses are possible due to limited access to bank credit and operating funds."As such, acquisitions of financially unstable businesses by fiscally stronger establishments are possible during 2015, resulting in continued consolidation of the industry."

This is the part that interests me.  Russians need to get away from capitalism, and get to free markets.  Here is an opportunity for micro-businesses to begin trading in eggs and chicken meet, raising chicks, etc, and extend non-interest bearing credit to their customers.  Of course there is going to be some dislocation in Russia, but all the more opportunity for new start-up.

I am reliably informed that gangsters make life hard for anyone who starts to make money, but the Russians, after cutting the tax rate the 13%, have formed a tougher group of gangster, the tax cops, to collect it.  Russians need rule of law to go with freedom, and none better than the non-aggression principle.

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Lumber Liquidators Controversy Enlightened

Those covering the Lumber Liquidators formaldehyde controversy are not being fair.

Richard Drury: The average level in Lumber Liquidators products that we found was over six to seven times above the state standard for formaldehyde. And we found some that were close to 20 times above the level that's allowed to be sold.

Two points:  the evidence gathered is not valid and reliable.  You need chain of custody, a valid test and a valid sample to establish fact.

Next, I can get Chinese manufacturers to say anything I want also, "You want to hear Lumber Liquidators no good, OK..."  This is within a total milieu where such actions are inconsequential, like if someone offered you the Brooklyn Bridge in USA.  No harm no foul.  But extremely useful anytime you want to secretly harm a USA company, by asking for info on false pretenses.

This Chinese find the overwhelmingly common duplicity on the part of Americans inscrutable.  No wonder they do not trust us, we are always so sneaky.

Now, having said that, it may very well be Lumber Liquidators has been up to no good, and indeed has ok'd the production of formaldehyde-rich flooring, and mis-identified as A-OK.  That happens too.

The way is possible is because we have hegemon (government) inspection (actually lack thereof) as part of the USA import process.  It is impossible to inspect importations on any statistically reliable means, and in any case means are not valid.  The fact that it is so easy to sneak crap in to USA makes it a great temptation.  The reason it is so easy is the market is delusional about government inspection.

Someone will get caught sometime sneaking crap in, but your own odds are extremely unlikely.  A Lumber Liquidator can certainly get away with this for years, if it wants.  Note how the US automakers got away with tires, and airbags and who knows what else for years.  You think it is all inspected, tested, etc.  Sheer nonsense.  The solution is to to eliminate all of the inspection functions of the hegemon.

Happily, there are still insurance companies who provide the necessary and sufficient QC check...  they do not want to pay out claims, and have their clients by the throat if any tries monkey business.  We can send everyone who inspects for the hegemon home, and suffer zero impact.  If we in fact cut taxes to pay for this theatre concomitantly, we shall see in exponential measure our economy recover.

Who believes news orgs?  They are notorious liars.  Brian Williams, much? They are all owned by big finance.  Why wouldn't they stage a fake report to clean up on short selling?  Short selling (not naked, but straight) is a service to the economy, but not when it is based on false reports planted on 60 Minutes. (We still don't know who massively shorted airline stocks leading up to 9-11. Secret.) According to Michael Lewis, it is all rigged.

Michael Lewis has explored the flaws of the financial market in a series of books. In his latest, “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt,” he details how he thinks Wall Street is rigged by high-frequency traders for their own gain.

Now, a more fundamental "fix' is in the bonds.  I have no love for "Lumber Liquidators" (LL), a better name would be lumber-yard liquidators.  Or flooring-shop-destroyer.  As the fastest growing flooring company, they use the same old usury-based bonds to misallocate credit their way and crush their small competition with low prices and volume due ZIRP financing.  Your mom does with less so the LL financers can "roll-up" and consolidate the industry.  Think Petco, Office Depot, Best Buy, Safeway, Lowes, ad nauseum.  To my mind these are all automatically criminal enterprises for their employment of the known destructive practice of engaging in usury, co-conspirators with banks.

So what if they cut a few percent off costs by selling a poisonous product, the country is going downhill from usury far before the cancer will develop.  Make a buck giving the customer what it wants, cheeep prices, good and hard.

There is no story here yet, but a whole lotta suspect motivations.

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Data Exploitation Tactics

On Mar 5, 2015, at 10:38 AM, O S wrote:

Hi John,

Should I include in my excel template a country that ranks near the bottom of the list in export destinations within my specified export category if it has shown a large % increase and positive trend in trade in recent years?

***Absolutely...  i do the top 6 for example...  your job is to do exactly what you have done...  and the spreadsheet is set up to demonstate acceleration of imports...  this news gets your targets interested...***

For ex. 

Ecuador ranks 67th and Hungary 69th in the top export destinations for U.S. shelled almond exports. But since 2011 (deleted) exports from the U.S. to Ecuador increased 765% and since 2010 Hungary's imports of (deleted) from the U.S. increased 965%

Attached is a screen shot.

So do you advice I take note of trends like this and consider these countries as viable market options?

Or should I strictly focus on Top 5 in total $ amount exported from U.S. ?

***the info is there for you to exploit:  small but fast growing, huge but hungry competitors... each target market would get a sales pitch tailored to the data...

John

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Chinese Commodity Financing Deals (CCFD)

This Koos Jansen is hot:

While commodity financing [round tripping] deals are very complicated, the general idea is that arbitrageurs borrow short-term FX loans from onshore banks in the form of LC (letter of credit) to import commodities and then re-export the warrants (a document issued by logistic companies which represent the ownership of the underlying asset) to bring in the low cost foreign capital (hot money) and then circulate the whole process several times per year. As a result, the total outstanding FX loans associated with these commodity financing deals is determined by: 

• – the volume of physical inventories that is involved

• – commodity prices

• – the number of circulations

Our understanding is that the commodities that are involved in the financing deals include gold, copper, iron ore, and to a lesser extent, nickel, zinc, aluminum, soybean, palm oil and rubber. 

This activity so distorts actual trade numbers that it must be near impossible to know what is actually going on.  Perhaps one reason for the rules on the new Foreign Trade Zones in China is to narrow the flow so as to ease the tracking of what is going on.

Marxists love facts, so this practice must be aggravating.  And the Chinese bankers know their economics, as opposed to USA bankers, who are clueless:

Some examples of how state-owned banks promote gold, from the Agricultural Bank China:
Physical gold is both a commodity and a financial product. It can be a gift or collection and may serve as an important investment vehicle for realizing preservation and appreciation. With a distinctive preservation function, physical gold is powerful to defend against inflation.

And gets into the act, advising mom and pop:

From ICBC:
☆ Considerations1. Do not stop when gold price is low. Gold price may go up or down depending on the political and economic conditions and many other factors. Only by constant accumulation will the overall investment cost be reduced.2. Persistence is the key. Investment risk is reduced by the average cost, the longer the investment period, the better in mitigating the impact of the fluctuation in gold price. When the market rallies, the gain will be protected and increase the investment. 

Goal?  Every Chinese a Central banker.  And the end-game:

The State Council’s strategy is to import as much gold as possible and export nil in order to build a strong economic and financial security barrier for China.

The ChiComs know from economic disaster, and along with the Russians and Moslems are preparing for the coming disaster.  We are a usury/credit-based economy, terribly malinvested and misallocated.  We are already beat. The countries who have people who join our efforts to destabilize their countries, and follow our economic advice, delivered by the son of a vice-president, like the Ukraine, are cast into war and poverty, as they outlaw gold buying.  What goes around comes around. Your way out is self-employment and extend credit at no interest to your customers.

In deflation, gold and silver is a great hedge (it will go down in price too, but it will hold its buying power)  And more important, it makes the currency upon which it is built stronger, vis a vis the dollar.

Don't bother buying gold or silver, Uncle Sam will just steal it, again.  (Only int'l traders were allowed to have it.) Get self-employed.

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Benedict XVI OK'd Usury?

This is being cited as overturning all Christian prohibition on usury:

Both the regulation of the financial sector, so as to safeguard weaker parties and discourage scandalous speculation, and experimentation with new forms of finance, designed to support development projects, are positive experiences that should be further explored and encouraged, highlighting the responsibility of the investor. Furthermore, the experience of micro-finance,which has its roots in the thinking and activity of the civil humanists — I am thinking especially of the birth of pawnbroking — should be strengthened and fine-tuned. This is all the more necessary in these days when financial difficulties can become severe for many of the more vulnerable sectors of the population, who should be protected from the risk of usury and from despair. The weakest members of society should be helped to defend themselves against usury, just as poor peoples should be helped to derive real benefit from micro-credit, in order to discourage the exploitation that is possible in these two areas. Since rich countries are also experiencing new forms of poverty, micro-finance can give practical assistance by launching new initiatives and opening up new sectors for the benefit of the weaker elements in society, even at a time of general economic downturn.

Yet, this is the analysis:

Dr. Marc Cohen, a seasoned corporate banker, compared the Jewish and Christian concepts of lending and usury using the Talmud and the Holy Bible. He said that both religious traditions condemn usury and stress the need to lend money without interest. Both Biblical texts stress that the money of individuals is neither common nor private property, but a resource entrusted by God to them to fulfill their and others’ needs. He pointed out that this principle was negated in the last papal encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, which permits lending with interest.

How does a reiteration to not employ usury become a negation of usury prohibition?   Of course a banker will read it backwards.

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One Man Fruit Import Export Company

This from Holland:

According to Coert, there is definitely room in the fruit import sector for 'one man enterprises', "I try to earn money from each container. The big multinationals use me, for example, if they have pineapples that are not suitable for retail. I repackage the pineapples for them and then I keep an eye on them for future sales opportunities. I stay away from contracts with big retailers that have almost impossible delivery obligations, and there is still a large enough market left for me to do business with. You can earn a good living this way. However, I struggle with the fact that I have to pay out of my own pocket if I want to scan a container from a new shipper for drugs. That costs me 540 Euro. The government really needs to do something about that."

He needs to work out MOQ FOB... pre-sold pallet lots... note... he stays away from big buyers.  Any start up who envisions selling t big business is delusional.  A complete waste of time and money, if not ruination through fraud victimization.

Start up?  You envision selling to large buyers?  You will fail.

Sell to your customers, other small businesses.

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April 27 All Day Live Food Export Seminar - Berkeley

You will learn how to find customers for any food or beverage anywhere in the world in this one day intensive seminar.  Whether you are working as a food producer, or as an agent representative, find out how to make an export sale no more difficult and just as profitable as a domestic sale.

Food is USA’s consistent #1 export growth market, and the studies show start-ups gain the lions share, if they follow rules we lay out in this class.  You develop trade data intelligence which only you will have.

In this class you’ll learn the tool, tactics and attitude to immediately get orders, and if not, get information you can act on so you do.  We go straight at the customer. 

You learn to become expert in the international trade of your product, without having to become expert in international trade.  Product selection, compliance, logistics, finance, and even web presence is covered in this one day seminar highly rated for content, pace and humor.    You will build this at your own pace, to whatever level you want, and certainly working out of your home to start.

Register here now.

Date/Time:	Mon 8:30AM - 5:00PM 27 Apr 2015
Building:	San Francisco Campus
Room:	Classroom 505
Location:	San Francisco

NB:

This course carries CEUs and is eligible as an elective in the UCBerkeley Extension Entrepreneurship certificate. Contact the program office at 510-642-4231 or extension-business@berkeley.edu for more information.

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Cut All Corporate Welfare First, then Any Other

Politics.. First time I have ever heard this, from a politician... couldn't agree more... Before a dime of personal welfare is cut, all corporate welfare is cut... once corporate welfare is cut, then the economy will reform and everyone on personal welfare will have found jobs, except for the halt, lame and simpleton. Even they will find work, for the demand for so much work. One huge part of corporate welfare is regulations. all regulations are driven by big business, to erect barriers to competition.

 

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FATCA, Hong Kong, Advantage

You'll see in Hong Kong banks you've never heard of, banks with headquarters in one country, branch in Hong Kong, but none in USA.  Thus such banks care nothing about the USA hegemonic FATCA.  Which makes Hong Kong a natural for Islamic bonds.

Dubai welcomed the decision of the Government of Hong Kong inclusion of Islamic instruments, valued at one billion dollars, in exchange, "Nasdaq Dubai."

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Figuring Out What Product to Pick

On Feb 25, 2015, at 4:18 PM, B&O wrote:

Hi John,

Been working on this all day trying to locate my passion.  I think my passion is the business really.  Whether I'm selling hot dogs or organic peaches...not sure it matters. 

***that's what everybody says, but recall the other part...passion is what matters, it makes you keep going, joy, when hot dogs or organic peach problems wll dissuade you unless you have joy...***

A main goal of mine is doing business with(redacted). ... So, I'm really trying to focus on finding a product/genre that will be successful there. 

*** think both ways...  USA has good food, japan now has cheap food (strong dollar v yen)..  but it is not the product that is successful, it is the relationships you grow form you joy of working on the problem that generates success...***

I'm thinking (deleted) packaged foods.  Got down to granola.  High growth, but enough mass?  Attached the screenshot and want your opinion.

***Looks like the growth is accelerating... !!!  was apple computer not enough mass in 1982?

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Gross on Debt Deflation

Mish analyzes Gross:

You know what, a stronger dollar does promote, you know, some negatives. It promotes not only lower exports and -- and lower growth in terms of manufacturing, but it promotes a -- an infusion of deflation as opposed to inflation, which is exactly opposite the -- what the Fed wants to do

And this excellent analysis of the stock market:

You know, it keeps zombie corporations alive because they can borrow at 3 and 4 percent, as opposed to the 8 or 9 percent. It destroys business models. It's destroying the pension industry and in the insurance industry because, you know, basically, their liabilities can't be -- they can't be provided for by very low interest rates.

And ultimately, I think it destroys, you know, the capitalistic model at the margin. You talk about stocks and cheap money, they're basically corporations, instead of investing in the real economy, can now simply borrow at, you know, close to 0 percent and buy their own stocks, which yield 2 or 3 percent on a dividend basis and, you know, provide a return of 6 or 7 percent on an earnings to price ratio basis.

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If Gold Does Not Matter... Credit Deflation

How come Austria wants theirs back?

The Austrian Court of Audit expresses great concern about the disproportionate amount of official gold reserves (229.6 tonnes) stored at the Bank Of England (BOE), which will be the Austrians excuse for repatriating, “the gold depository contract with the depository in England contained deficiencies” and, “gold reserves stored abroad, internal auditing measures were lacking”. They’re putting it blunt for an official source on a topic so sensitive as gold.

The crazy scam of the last 40 years, credit inflation, is over.  Now the operative opposite is in play, credit deflation, and it will suffer regression to the mean.

Further, credit inflation was largely engineered, credit deflation is a free-fall event.

If you know, you need not watch out.  You'll do fine.

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Socially Conditioned to Fear Islam

Here is a quote from a pithy letter to an editor...

It's no coincidence that as public disillusionment with usury-based capitalism has grown in recent years as more people struggle to put food on the table, anti-Islam propaganda to turn Americans away from anything Islamic has gone into overdrive.

Terror groups have been created (Hillary Clinton in 2012: "Let's remember here, the people we are fighting today we funded them 20 years ago." Gen. Wesley Clark on CNN last week: "Our friends and allies funded ISIS."), and $119 million has been spent on spreading misinformation about Islam through foundations, politicians, media experts and activists between 2008 and 2011 alone.

As associate professor Theophus Smith of Emory University recently wrote: "Psycho-culturally,... we [pro-capitalist nations] must maintain a violent Islam lest there arise an anti-usury or post-capitalist Islam."

Yes, the USA economy is usury-based (bonds) and an abomination to God.  We all know judgment is coming.  So, destroy Islam before God favors Islam for its keeping the commandments?

And I'd say we've spent more than 119 million, closer to a trillion, over the last few years, for the expense of training, arming and financing our enemies so we can maintain a pretense of threat, and then fight phony wars, is an exercise of anti-Islam propaganda.

We've been aggressing against Islamic countries for over 50 years.

This fellow has it right.

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Writing Potential Suppliers to Represent

On Feb 26, 2015, at 8:00 PM, M R wrote:

So if I send the letter with the export data and they are already exporting I would be basically doing their homework and at the same won´t be needed as an export agent anyway as they are already exporting their products, so:

Wouldn´t be better to call those companies by phone in the first place and to pitch them in case the don´t export?

***NO!***

Send the letter anyway first then call them regardless if they reply or not  to my letter?

***Yes!***

Call them, find if they are exporting or not, then send the letter and work from there?

***No!***

Do everything by phone?

***No!***

and last question:

Am I overthiking too much this? Seems like I have an OCS echoe as this is more simple than I make it to be...

***Yes!***

***You shouldn't care if you get a yes or a no.  If you get a "yes, help us " ... then off you go with them!

If you get a "no, not interested in any exporting," then you know who will NOT be an export competitor....

And if you get a "no, we will do it ourselves..."

Then you use this info as one of your step five in the sales process, where you give the buyers the names of who your competitors are.  As they check in with your competitors, you share why you are better than the competitors.

Also, you add this info to your rolodex, in which you know everyone in the industry, and their inclinations, and watch them for opportunities.***

John

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The Pope on Co-ops & Anti-fascism

You been reading about co-ops as a business structure here for years and now comes the Pope to recommend same.

 It was another lesson in the economic thought of Pope Francis. In an audience with members of the Confederazione Cooperative Italiane (confederation of Italian co-operatives) on Saturday, Pope Francis gave the 7,000 people present five practical suggestions for their mission in the context of the current “throwaway culture.”

And here is the organization to who he addressed his comments:

https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=it&tl=en&u=http://www.confcooperative.it/LAssociazione/Perch%25C3%25A9-associarsi&usg=ALkJrhjAM4CjlOt8bpN6oSzmXgPOuoi9-g

Note: It is in Italian, so I have rendered it by googletranslate.

Note what they say at the end:

The Confederazione Cooperative Italiane was first founded in 1919. It was suppressed by the Fascist Regime and re-established in 1945.

I've written quite a bit on fascism in USA, and anything to overcome fascism in USA we can use.

There is also Mondragon.  This coop things may catch on.

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I DEMAND AN APOLOGY

So Martin Luther King was not killed by a lone nut.  Neither was John Lennon.  Nor President Kennedy or his brother.  All killed by conspirators!

On behalf of lone nuts everywhere, I demand an apology!  Who is spreading this obnoxious libel about them?

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Verifying Suppliers

From the trenches:

On Feb 27, 2015, at 8:12 AM, I C wrote:

Hi John, thank you for your insights, you are right. I work with brokers connecting sellers with buyers, I would just need a tool to verify the companies I might get offers to either buy from or sell to, are actually established and do what they say they do. Most of the companies I've encounter have been real I just wanted to see if I could check somewhere about they import/export expertise in websites other than, for example, import genius.
Best regards

I C

From: John Spiers

Date: February 27, 2015 10:03:49 AM PST

To: I C

Subject: Re: Trading information websites

I C,

Ask both sides to provide you with five references...

Check them out, the ones who cannot or will not, are scammers.... international trade is 100%  about relationships

John

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San Francisco Bay Area Start-up Seminar

If you need a live, all-day small business international trade start-up seminar, here is one at San Mateo College I will be offering Saturday, March 7.

Show up at 9 am and leave at 5pm with a plan of action to implement immediately.  Figure out your product and get it in front of they customers now.

Look forward to meeting you there,

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China's B2C eCommerce Penetration Exactly the Same as USA.

Not much.

For introduction, let's look at this:

Alibaba for "business-to-business", Taobao for "consumer-to-consumer" and Dangdang for "business-to-consumer".[1] 

Let's see if we can figure out what the percent of all retail is done online in China.

Online shopping in China is making waves as it achieved a new milestone—tremendous growth helped e-commerce achieve 10.1 percent of total retail transactions in the country in Q2 this year. ...This includes a combination of business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) transactions. This is the first time online shopping has crossed the 10 percent threshold of total transactions, and the rate is expected to rise in the coming years.

The growth rate is slowing down overall.

Online retail grew by 47.1 percent in Q2 of 2014 from the previous year—a step down from 64.1 percent for the same period last year. 

From the graph we see that in the last year reporting solid numbers, 2013, the B2C portion is 59.6%, say 60% of the total.  So 60% of ten percent total is about 6%.  China's eCommerce B2C penetration is the same as in the USA, roughly.



The internet is no place to launch a business, you miss out on 94% of your customers.  And notice those companies that are getting customers online are using massive deb to do so.

My guess is China will never get above 8% eCommerce penetration as a component of overall retail.  Sell to eTailers, but don't do do it yourself.

The people who bought Alibaba stock got scammed.  Chinese eCommerce is strictly ho-hum.

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A Report from the Trenches - Selling MOQ FOB

A seminar participant reports in from the trade show floor:

Well, the export meetings went better than last time, because I was ready with my MOQ FOB and asked about the feasibility of placing an order each time it seemed appropriate. None of the buyers were prepared to buy on the spot. They all seemed to have to check in with other folks. 

If they have to check with anyone else, then by definition they are not a buyer, that is, ready, willing and able to buy.  If you were led to believe they are buyers, then note the source.  That source misled you.  No longer rely on the course as credible.  No longer communicate with that source.

You simply do not have the time to make sales pitches to people who are not buyers.  "Trade leads" are worthless.  You leave a discussion with an order, or if not, why not.  (Wrong speed, shape, flavor, weight, material?  What is wrong?)  The collective "no" is the basis for product redesign.

If you got a person's business card, you can also get a yes or no (and if not, why not) on the spot.  If you did not, you did not do your job.  If you took a business card of someone who is not a buyer, then you are wasting your time.

And as a side note, "price" is never the problem, no matter what any buyer says. (As buyers, we blow off tedious unprepared salespeople by telling them their price is too high. usually they fall for it.)  Price is simply a means for effecting how much market you want, at what profit, for the resources you bring to bear.  If there is a problem, it is a design problem, not a price problem.

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China Anti-corruption

Why can't we have what Communist China has?

Once confidential and used for internal review only, details about the officials and their confessions during investigations are now being made public by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the country's top anti-graft agency, both as a warning and an educational tool to deter others.
Video clips showing Zhang confessing to misdeeds were published, along with a sorrowful letter written by the 56-year-old, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes of more than 1.9 million yuan ($303,620) by Wuxi Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu in May.
"I feel deeply guilty to my family, the Party and society. If I could start over, I wouldn't breach any disciplines, even at expense of my life. I hope others will learn lessons from my case and stop committing crimes," Zhang, wearing a blue prison uniform, said to the camera in one of the confession videos posted online.

Officials who admit corruption, and a mechanism to root out corruption?  Go one better: truth commissions.

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