Some good  advice for those of you who want to fail in your exporting  activities.

1. Make everything unplanned because you either get a free trip abroad, have too much in stock and  business is lousy at home, or you read in the newspaper that Poland is an interesting market.

 
2. Make sure the product is not tested at home so your technical problems occur far away from your home market. Also, make sure the product is not adapted to your receiving country's laws and legislation and to the demand of your clients.

 
3. Decide that export as an investment that will bring immediate profit, require no commitments, and take no time and money. You want your money back immediately, otherwise skip it. You don't want to, or feel you need to, change your organization. Those export activities can, without doubt, be taken care of by  one of the local salesmen. Don't even bother learning their language. If they  want to do business with you, they will have to learn yours.

 
4. Just tell your  foreign representative, "This is the way we sell at home and those are the  prices we use. That is the way you should sell too and the same is applicable to the prices". Don't even think of learning about the local customs and how they  do business and make sure you don't listen to them.

 
5. Select export market based on what you read in the newspapers and whom you first meet. Furthermore, use your domestic price list, in your local currency. What the  market price is in the new country is of no interest to you. And topics like  customs duties, distribution margins and discount is of no interest either. That  the distributor has to pay freight and make money, that is his  headache.

Good luck?

Copyright Leif Holmvall
Export Pro Inc