If you are like many of us on the export/import arena you probably read, or
at the very least browsed, "A Basic guide to exporting". This
"document" has been produced an important resource for distributing
the basics of exporting to the widest possible audience for more than 70 years.
Reading the 2012 version, which was advertised as completely revised and
updated in the export.gov website, I have arrived at 2 conclusions that might
help others in the export/import broker business.
1. The revised and updated edition is neither much revised nor much updated.
If you have a copy of the old guide I suggested that you should hold on to that
and wait for another "revision". Many of the examples are from the
pre recession era (i.e. 2005 and 2006). This might have been good enough a
decade ago but we all know that the market is changing at light speed this
days, a guide with information that is 6 years old is not keeping much up to
date. The problem is not that the information is obsolete, the issue is that
much of the information loses its relevance. Save yourself the time, keep using
your old guide.
2. Don't be discouraged by the Export Assistance Centers. In the guide all
of the answers seem to rest at the Export Assistance Centers. With such a phenomenal
organization, how are independent consultants going to survive? Surely the EACs
will run all of us out of business. Not true. First let us remember that the
EAC are just plain government agencies, i.e. not known for being efficient or
providing the best service. Granted that there are excellent trade specialists
in many of the EAC but overall the service is not much different than other
government agencies. Second, the EAC can provide a lot of the information, but
they can't represent a sole party. Your attention is divided among many
customers and your best interest, although important, are not the sole interest
of the center. Independent consultants fill many voids that the EAC,
simply by being government agencies, can never fill. Learn to leverage their
expertise and work with them, but constantly remind your clients that there is
a difference, in quality and service, between a government agency and a private
company.
As always I am open to your comments on the opinions presented in the blog.
I look forward to your comments.
