From our book: “Successful exporting – negotiating the dangers of the deep”.
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“Never refuse an order”?
You have decided to export – to take the plunge. As we have already addressed in preceding chapters, you may have taken this decision deliberately or opportunistically. You naturally have confidence that your current team can cope with the demands of your anticipated export business … after all, they have helped you grow your company to its current size and success. In the past, they have overcome challenges as they have arisen and although they may have little or no experience of exporting, you have every reason to believe that they are competent and will be hungry for this new treasure trove of opportunities.
In effect, your existing business is about to change beyond recognition. Managing and embracing this change to your systems, culture and people, progressively and holistically, is the key to success. This process depends on your ability to develop or acquire a level of emotional intelligence across your teams that will allow them to listen actively and accurately to the market place. This in turn will enable them to reach effective decisions balancing consistent and sustainable export growth with the demands of the existing business.
Your teams will need to look beyond their current support resources and familiarise themselves with customs, duty, tariffs, Packing Lists, Country of Origin (CoO), Bill of Lading (BL), ATA carnets, Export Health Certificates (EHCs), pro-forma invoices etc. They are all strange new specialised processes which have to become part of their daily routines. They may need to contact local embassies, chambers of commerce, revenue and customs authorities to ensure watertight documentation compliance.
Entrenched thinking – “we have always done it this way” – and a lack of willingness to change in the face of your new export opportunities will limit your progress. Typically, fear of the unknown is at the root of resistance to change. Not grasping the real nature of the new challenges and knowing how to overcome them, combined with a natural inclination to keep things artificially simple, will inevitably hinder progress and strangle the opportunity at birth.
This is about “equalisation” … adapting during ascent and descent at depth to avoid pain and “buoyancy” … remaining stable and balanced at every stage of your dive in to the new situation.
If you always do what you’ve always done…
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