How to Export Surplus Goods
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
INTERNATIONAL WHOLESALE MART:
http://www.spyglasspoint.com/wholesale
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