The story of Lord Alan Sugar is a great one, from dealing radio aerials for cars and other electrical goods out of a van to a market stall to a multimillionaire. Starting an import export business really isn’t rocket science and can be highly fulfilling and make you financially successful but of course, is going to take time, dedication, and some all fashioned hard work.
Starting an export import business is challenging and will take some study and research but the prices are great.
Start Your Own Your Own Export And Import Business
Some reports state that around 70% of us are unhappy with our job. This is true, it’s always possible to change careers, take the plunge, and start your own foreign trading business.
It’s scary but for those that do and are ready to take the time to learn for a new business, do their research, produce a business and marketing plan, and have the guts to make a move, it’s well worth it. Nothing’s easy in this world but once several sales start to come in, it’s a very fulfilling feeling to see something come to life that you’ve built.
Starting an import business or any business is exciting and highly fulfilling. The sweat, hard work, and hours you put into your own company, the profit you directly, rather than your boss or manager, and you reap all the prices. Making all the opinions and being liable only to yourself will give you a feeling of freedom and the rewards are multiple.
Securing your own fiscal future, and earning the respect and admiration of colleagues, friends, and family as someone who took the threat and went out and built their own company is a satisfying feeling. Working the hours that you want to work is a huge advantage over having to work endless hours for someone different.
Let’s get to the point and tell you how to set up your own company, how to trade on the foreign stage successfully, and point out some of the most common pitfalls, so that you can set up and trade successfully and most importantly, profitably from day one.
For some inspiration, here’s a story of how one of our students did exactly that and is now exporting Spanish wine to China.
Other than knowing how to start an export import business, the coming question is inevitable, how much will it cost? There’s no answer to that question, it depends on numerous factors. Obviously, if you’re importing high-end luxury buses from Italy, you're going to need a significant quantity of capital behind you, much further than if you were to import grapes from France for illustration.
So it’s not so much, “ how important do I need ” as much as what’s in your business plan and how will you fund it.
Is Your Product Hot or Not?
You’ve thought long and hard about the products you want to either import and deal with or what products you’re producing for export. However, we’ve got ideas from six countries below to get you thinking If you’re looking for some encouragement for ideas.
Numerous are eager to jump right in, buy stock and start dealing, however before you dive head first into your export import business and spend your hard-earned money on the stock, it’s vital to test the water and find out if others are as passionate about your product as you.
You may suppose that the product you want to sell will be successful and you’ll make a healthy profit from it but in reality, this may not be true. We’ve all seen Dragon’s Den where budding inventors and entrepreneurs suppose they have the most revolutionary idea or product but the wise Dragon doesn’t see it and shoots it straight down! Just because you like some goods or products it doesn’t mean that the public will like them and part with their hard-earned cash to buy them.
Find the Best Products for the Less Price
When it comes to choosing and sourcing products, my advice is, it’s best to perhaps pick an industry that you're familiar with so there’s lower of a learning curve, if you’re into mobile phone technology and already know and acknowledge a lot in this field, it can be a good idea to follow this road.
You’ll already understand the products that you’re looking at and assumable know to price already so these are a few advantages to sticking to what you know.
It’s extremely very important to know where to buy your goods or products from. This is one of the pillars of the foundation of your import-export business and will dictate if your business is profitable or not.
A common complaint we hear from numerous entrepreneurs is “ I know what I want to import and sell but I don’t know where to get it from ”. Where can you reference products from with such a huge quantity of suppliers in a global marketplace?
You must understand how to reference your product from the right supplier with the right terms and price. numerous dealers rely on Internet suppliers like Alibaba and other similar companies. These companies a definitely worth looking at there’s no harm in this but you’re limiting your search.
There's a great myth among buyers that you get the best price, product, and terms from China. This isn't always the case! China isn't actually the center of global trade. Sourcing from companies in Preferential Trading Countries( PTC) can be a much easier and cheaper way to go.
We’ve written a more detailed blog where we discuss some ideas on sourcing internationally.
Get Samples From Suppliers
Facing buyers will be a crucial part of any trading that you do and following some simple guidelines will make the process easier, give you further confidence and give you a much-advanced conversion rate. Consumers will want to see samples of the goods and products they intend to buy and samples come in all shapes and sizes.
Some are easy to obtain from suppliers similar to clothing, toys, and watches. Others are bulky, similar to construction and capital equipment. Most manufacturers will give a limited number of samples free of charge to a serious buyer or at a nominal cost.
It’s important to make sure you know how the products work when you receive these samples, as you'll have to make presentations and demo the product to potential buyers so familiarize yourself with all aspects of the product. This is where your market research and focus groups will come in very handy as you'll be suitable to take all the feedback and questions you received and be prepared for the same, preparing your pitch to cover these.
Make contact with companies and see what they can provide you and at what cost. However, this is always time and money well spent and shows you’re serious, If you’re suitable to take a trip and go and visit manufacturers or factories.
You’ll also have the added advantage of seeing the product yourself, and checking the quality of the materials and the workmanship. Nothing really beats actually seeing it as photos and video really can’t show this.
A Range of Products Earns Bigger gains
Now that you have sourced your product, got your samples, and conducted your exploration which is proving positive, you may feel ready to dive in, start your import-export business and start approaching customers/consumers and retailers, asking them to place orders.
Before taking that jump, it’s very wise not to become complacent and make sure you vary your product range. This offers several advantages.
Concentrating on dealing with just one product will limit you. You should ideally have a complimentary range of products.
Appointments to buyers and retailers must result in sales. However, for illustration, an electric kettle and they don't want to place an order, If you show your potential buyer only one item. However, if you also show the buyer your complementary range you have a better chance of securing an order. However, they may be interested in your unique coffee maker, and toaster oven, If they aren't interested in your kettle. You get the point, remember, there’s always safety in figures!
By offering a product range, indeed if your buyer like the main product you wanted to market, they may also like other products within your range, so a purchase order that would have been for just one product, could turn into an order for several products. This increases gains for you and in the worst case, if the buyer didn't like the first product you had in mind, they may like another in the range and still place an order. Don’t limit yourself but keep as numerous options as you can on the table.
Understanding Agencies
Generally speaking, setting up as an export and import agent can be the way to go if you’re looking for minimum financial commitment as it requires lower financial exposure, so this is something to definitely consider.
Numerous businesses are set up as agencies. There are two main kinds of agencies available and it’s extremely important you understand both. Both have their benefits and can offer you advantages depending on your particular situation and what you want to achieve. There are traditional agents and brokers. There's a lot to understand when dealing with agencies that are a little beyond the compass of this blog but we have a blog post that goes into much further detail on how to come to an import-export agent.
The Art Of The Deal
Concession is one of the highlights of being an entrepreneur and being “ the master ”. This is where you can set the terms of your organization and drive a hard bargain. Negotiating is a crucial part of any business from the dealer at your original request cube, to multi-billion pound companies the world over.
Hone your negotiating chops, be confident and a little fascinating and you can walk down with the deal you want. We’ve seen on Dragons Den how the dragons and the entrepreneurs will negotiate back and forth, occasionally relatively intensively until the deal is done with both sides feeling great about the agreement. As a businessman this is a great feeling, securing the deal you want and giving you further confidence going into the coming deal.
Conclusion
iiiEM offers the best export import course in Mumbai, It is an Institute for Export-Import Management Program. Thousands of professionals owe their advancement and prosperity to iiiEM. We provide quality training in international business by our expert faculties and mentors having experience in our respective fields. Our Vision To become India's Leading Practical Oriented International Business Management Training Center.
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