Have you ever tried driving somewhere without a map, GPS, or address? You have a general idea of the place - you may eventually get there, but you'll probably waste a lot of time, gas, and frustration -- all avoidable, if you'd spent just a little more time getting prepared.
Now imagine trying to get there in a broken-down car with no insurance, almost on empty, and you're not even sure of your destination. That's what trying to export your products globally without an export plan is like. Your export plan is your tuned-up car, your fuel, your GPS, the address of your destination, and pre-printed, turn-by-turn driving instructions.
It's easy to waste a lot of time and resources with trial and error with global exports. In today's competitive marketplace, it's possible for many companies to achieve digit export growth and make those sales a substantial part of their sales base. But to do that, you need a very clear understanding of your goals and the resources needed. Successfully growing your export sales (like the achievement of most goals) requires (1) focus, (2) commitment, and (3) consistency.
An export plan provides a blueprint for export success. It identifies and prioritizes the top markets for your company's products, any changes needed in the product (or its packaging or labeling) for the target markets, a process for identifying and managing in-country distributors and/or agents, reasonable sales growth objectives, and a timeline and resources required to meet those objectives.
NOTE: An export plan also is generally required if your company plans to seek any sort of export financing assistance.
Creating an international business plan helps you assemble facts, identify constraints and available resources, set priorities, goals and milestones, and develop the foundational processes needed for export success. Like all business plans, it should be a living document that is changed and expanded as you learn gain experience.
Even more importantly, a well-crafted export plan identifies the company resources necessary to implement the plan. This helps ensure that the export goals can be attained without costing more than expected, establishes management support in terms of time, money, and other company resources, and creates alignment across the organization. Managing an export business requires support from a variety of functions in a company. It will be difficult to achieve your export sales goal without their commitment.
An export plan is also a powerful launching tool when contacting distributors and service providers in your target market. It highlights your company's desires, strengths, and shows that you have well-developed and reasonable goals. In short, it shows you are serious about growing your export business.
In the beginning, keep your export plan simple. As long as it is a clear and useful management tool, it will be sufficient. Over time it can be refined with market data, other research, and include additional countries. It's more important that you have a plan than to start with none. Don't let the export plan become an obstacle in getting on with the business of building your global sales.
Here are our top 10 reasons you should have an export plan if you're thinking of exporting, (or why you should develop one even if you've already started exporting without a plan):
So now that you have your fueled-up car, your keys, your map, and a clear destination, you and your company should be better-prepared to make the global expansion journey.