Developing an Export Plan

A good export plan describes the steps needed for a company to develop global sales. It is the first step to internatinal business success.

An export plan helps you understand the facts, constraints, and goals around your international effort. Use it to create specific objectives, decide on implementation schedules, and mark milestones of your success. It can also motivate your team to reach goals.

 

The Value of an Export Plan

• Written plans give a clear understanding of specific steps that need to be taken and help assure a commitment to exporting over the longer term. 

• Without a plan, your business may overlook better long-term growth opportunities outside of the domestic market.  

• Remember that while 59 percent of all U.S. exporters export to only a single market (predominantly Canada), many small exporters sell to more countries than they have employees, and these sales account for a growing percentage of total sales. These mini-multinationals are becoming more common, and your company can be one of them. 

 

Steps to Develop Your Export Plan:

• Identify the product or service to be exported and check its export potential.
• Conduct market research on the countries of interest.
• Decide on a pricing strategy for the product or service.
• Define a strategy to find buyers.

 

Key Tips:

• Keep it simple. The initial planning effort itself gradually generates more information and insight. As you learn more about exporting and your company’s competitive position, the export plan will become more detailed. 

• Make a flexible management tool, not a static document. Objectives should be compared with actual results to measure the success of different strategies. Don’t hesitate to modify the plan as additional information and experience are gained. 

• A detailed plan is recommended for companies that intend to export directly, meaning selling to an end-user in another country. If your company chooses indirect export methods or sells via your or a third party’s website, you may use much simpler plans.

 

For more information about developping an export plan, visit our website.