6 Steps to Help You
Get Started in
Exporting
1. Determine Your Readiness
Before embarking on this journey, you
need to evaluate your readiness for export
internally. From committing staff and
resources to developing an international
marketing plan, where do you stand? Is
your business really ready to start
exporting? At the institute, we help
businesses get ready to export. As a
member of the institute, you will get
access to useful tools to help you find
useful resources to help with your export
readiness. You can learn more about
membership of the IEOM by visiting our
website
2. Get Quality Advice
You don’t have to be an expert to export.
However, if you intend to do your own
exporting, you cannot afford to be without
some export-experienced staff. To avoid
costly blunders, you should have at least
one in-house person assigned to the export
function or at least generally familiar with
the procedural, financial and marketing
aspects of exporting. Typically, this staff
person would draw on banks, freight
29 The Export Brief | MAY 2018 | IEOM-NG.ORG
forwarders and other outside specialists as
needed.
If you’re struggling to process all this,
luckily the institute is here to help. At the
IEOM, we are constantly developing our
own capabilities to provide the best advice
and guidance for exporters and this is great
news for you as an exporter. We can
provide assistance in market research and
planning, legal matters, export costs and
pricing, export documentation,
organizational capacity, promotion among
other things.
3. Conduct Market Research
The opportunities for your business to
export are unlimited but the key to a
successful export strategy is focusing your
resources on the markets most likely to
generate the highest return on your
investment. Market research is an essential
step in making sure that your efforts are
directed towards the right targets. This
means identifying which markets have a
demand for your products; the
competition; any trade barriers that might
affect your products among other things.
With over 200 foreign markets to choose
from, it’s essential to differentiate the high
potential from the less potential markets.
You don’t want to waste time, effort and
money on markets that won’t pay off.