HOW TO EXPORT SURPLUS PRODUCTS
Dennis Hessler
Most of you already know that developing and maintaining relationships is
one of the most important tasks of the international trader. Unfortunately,
many exporters who understand this with regard to manufactured goods simply
forget it when it comes time to sell closeout/surplus goods to overseas
buyers. Why does that happen?
I can give you one reason: greed. Or maybe I should say, laziness. Let's
face it. It's a lot of work to develop relationships. It's a lot easier to
look for a buyer, find what he wants to buy and then put the two together.
This is what my British friends would call penny-wise and pound foolish. In
other words, this tactic seems to save time and energy on the one hand but
over the long haul it will cost you in time, frustration and probably money.
Why is this? I'll use a real life example I have cited many times. A new
exporter wanted to get into the overstock/surplus market and found through
an auction that he could get his hands on a huge quantity of bus tires in
good condition with only minor blemishes. Wisely, he looked for a buyer and
then checked on the potential buyer's credentials. The buyer was a
distributor in Mexico. The deal came together, the new exporter made a tidy
profit and everything seemed fine. That was until the Mexican buyer asked
for another load of bus tires.
Unfortunately, our fledgling exporter didn't have a steady supply and had no
network developed to find new ones. Being an energetic gentleman, he had
discovered a supply of overstock claw hammers, however. He dutifully offered
them to the Mexican buyer but he, of course, had no need for claw hammers.
He wanted bus tires. Relationships ended. End of story.
Some of you might be thinking "what's wrong with this? He made a sale and
pocketed some money." You're right. But now he has to start over. He has to
locate a buyer of claw hammers, check him out and arrange terms of payment.
And as most exporters know, most deals will fall apart before cash is
exchanged for one reason or another. Wouldn't it be nicer to have a
specialty and ready buyers for those products? By having a
relationship(there's that word again!), you save yourself the time involved
in finding new buyers, new suppliers and also save money in other ways. For
instance, once you have a steady customer, you can probably save the time
and expense involved in dealing through letters of credit. Why? Because you
have established a business relationship with him.
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My company, Spyglass Point Productions, produces a number of information
products designed to get new entrepreneuers into the booming world of
international trade. Learn more at my website, http://www.spyglasspoint.com
To learn more about exporting overstock/surplus merchandise, go to
http://www.spyglasspoint.com/surplus.html
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Dennis Hessler | http://www.spyglasspoint.com
Spyglass Point Productions | Den...@spyglasspoint.com
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Publisher of The "International Trade Connection"
newsletter and "The Computer User's Guide to Running
Your Own Exporting Company."
SAMPLE NEWSLETTER: newsl...@spyglasspoint.com
phone: (850) 438-5527
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