David Coppock: How to be a successful exporter

10:02am Tuesday 26th February 2008

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COMPANIES that do well in international markets share many common characteristics. Successful companies are those with vision, commitment, focus, research, planning, training, relationship-building, quality, adaptation and energy.

Its no good thinking, I dont have time for that stuff C Ive got a business to run.

Life, and particularly business, is not forgiving of such a head-in-the-sand approach. In this, and future columns, we will look at the top traits of successful exporters and how you can use them to transform your business. As a first step, ask yourself these questions: ñ Vision C do you have a management team that wants to be an international business?

ñ Commitment C can you put enough of the right resources into developing new markets?

ñ Focus C are you focused on only a few key markets at a time?

ñ Research C are you being thorough in your research?

ñ Planning C are you developing new products and services with international trade in mind?

ñ Training C is your business investing in international trade training?

ñ Relationship-building C can you build selected relationships in overseas markets?

ñ Quality C can you create and foster an international reputation for quality?

ñ Adaptation C can you adapt to business, culture and language in other markets?

ñ Energy C does your team have an inbuilt enthusiasm to do business overseas?

If the answer to all of these is yes, then you are well on your way to being an international business.

If the answer to any of them is no, you need to look again at your expectations Exporting has risks, but what successful companies show is that those risks are limited by adopting the traits above and applying them methodically to developing overseas markets.

As well as adopting these traits, it will also take time and talent, but you can succeed, and UK Trade and Investment is here to help with a wide range of services to meets the needs of your company.

For information about how UK Trade and Investment can help, call 0845-050- 5054.

ö David Coppock is international trade director of UK Trade and Investment