Implementing your export plan

• “What about the implementation?”

A lot has been said and written (by me included) about the importance of researching your export market. But what about that critical stage in your export marketing strategy when you move out of the preparation phase and go into action in the field?

And in particular, exactly when do you decide you are sufficiently well prepared to go “over the top” for the first time?

One of my colleagues, Hadi Fawzy of Scottish Development International, has a very neat way of putting this. Export market research, he says, is a bit like airline luggage. You can pack every last thing you think you might need for your trip and fill two or three suitcases – or you can simply select your 20kg allowance and set off with that.

Obviously, you have to be as thoroughly prepared as possible before you move into implementation – but it is true that you can over-research your market.

So the point is - get enough research only for what you need.

Verification

Export market research is very much a “live” discipline; the earliest phase will probably comprise hoovering up diverse market information from a variety of sources (press, in-market contacts etc) but the key phase is when you go out into the field to verify the assumptions you have made from that data. ‘Verify your assumptions' was drummed into me at an early stage in my exporting career.

You then enter a “refining stage” where the market knowledge which you glean from your early implementation work is fed back to, and influences, your ongoing research work.

So my first point is not to view “preparation” and “implementation” as distinct elements in the plan – they are by definition closely related and the key is to manage the link between them so you are simultaneously getting sales results and at the same time acquiring market information.

So you could, for example, start using some of the deeper forms of export marketing support (like the Export Marketing Research Scheme – for details visit www.chamberonline.co.uk) which is not like putting in a salesman but is nonetheless an important early element in the implementation phase.

The importance of implementation

But, from my own experience, there is no doubt that success in any export business ultimately comes down to the implementation of the export plan.

And, in my view, irrespective of the route you take to your export market (whether via a distributor, an agent or a joint venture) the key factor is to ensure you have as much control as possible over the implementation phase by making sure you can get your own people quickly into the market, so you are not reliant on personnel who are beyond your own control.

But who exactly are “your own people”?

I would suggest, drawing on my own experience, that they may well comprise a mixture of experienced ex-pats from your existing executive pool and freshly-recruited personnel from the local labour market.

There are several advantages to going down this route - the first being simple economics. The cost of recruiting, training up and integrating local management into your team may be as little as one-quarter of what you have to pay UK ex-pats, and you may well source highly capable, self-motivating people who can quickly be taken up to local director level and can run a very good, efficient local business for you.

But good people don't grow on trees – you've got to invest in them. You may bring them back to the UK to absorb your company culture or you may use your ex-pats to train them out in the field, but make sure you keep a close watching brief on them to make sure they are performing capably.

I've successfully used this model before – our ex-pats were fully aware they were working their way out of a job by training up the locals.

Sending in the rottweilers

Two other points about this particular approach.

It allows you to build an effective team which includes both “smoothers” and “closers”. Your ex-pat can be highly personable, an experienced, easy-going company representative who can open things up for you in a new market through sheer force of personality.

But you can then team him with some local sales people who are good sales closers – so you are generating high-quality leads and then sending in your local rottweilers to close things out!

And, although it is expensive to maintain a UK ex-pat in the field, you may not have to shoulder the cost alone. We sometimes used to do a deal with the local agent or distributor so he would also contribute to the cost in the short-term, say for the first two or three years. They were often quite happy to make this investment knowing that mutually beneficial sales results would come through.