Effective importing-exporting with trade leads
by Nowshade Kabir
Published on this site: August 17th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
Ever wonder, how some importers and exporters get suppliers
and buyers from other countries so easily? After trying their
hand on eBay an increasing number of people are looking for
either a foreign supplier for the items they are trading locally
or global buyers for the unique product that they sell. If
you are one of them, or you have recently decided to explore
import-export business opportunities, using this simple method
you can also find buyers and sellers from other countries
easily and effectively.
There are several means people use to look for a foreign
supplier or buyer, which include attending trade shows, contacting
trade section of embassies and chambers of commerce, posting
trade leads on the Internet, etc. However, posting trade leads
on the country and industry specific bulletin boards is by
far the easiest and cheapest technique which brings pretty
fast results.
What is a trade lead?
By trade lead we understand a categorized advertisement of
buy, sell or service trade opportunity related to export and
import. Before the Internet era World Trade Centers, Chambers
of Commerce, Export Promotion Bureau and some other Government
agencies used to collect and publish trade inquiries and circulate
them by mail to subscribers. Subscription cost of many of
those lists some times was and still is quite hefty. A number
of trade journals have also carried special sections for trade
inquiries. In any case, the process of getting a lead and
acting on it was slow, time consuming and sometimes even outdated.
Today, thanks to the Internet, the situation has changed
dramatically! The development of e-commerce, global trade
growth and increased use of the Internet have helped proliferate
numerous bulletin boards, trade leads sites and B2B portals.
Some of geography specific trade leads portals have become
prime destination for both importers and exporters planning
to do business in those countries.
Why post trade leads
When you are on a trade leads portal like (http://trade-leads.rusbiz.com)
you have two options. You can find a supplier or a buyer for
a product either by browsing or searching among the existing
postings. Another option is to post your very own trade leads
ad. In general, use of the trade leads pages including postings
does not require a payment on most of the sites.
Initially, once you are on a trade leads portal, you should
check out whether the products you are planning to sell or
buy are already posted in last several months. If you are
lucky and found traders of desired items, before contacting
them, do some researches. Read the profile of the company
- most trade leads portals have options to post company profile.
Check out their websites, if links to websites are given.
Don't forget to run a Google search on the company and its
product. Since Google gives heavy emphasize on the contents
from forums and web logs, you may get interesting information
on your prospective business partners and their products.
The profile of the company, its website, products information
and the way they are represented online will help you better
understand how professional the company is, how long it is
in the market, and whether this company is a viable option
for you.
You should also post your own trade leads ad, especially
if you are a buyer. Buy post leads are only 20 to 25 percent
of all trade leads postings available online. It is only natural
that they get more attention.
Other reasons why you should post your own ads are:
- Many good suppliers prefer to browse and search for clients
than to post their own ads.
- Your one posting on one trade leads portal may get published
on many others as most of the trade leads portals have posting
partnership programs with other portals from noncompetitive
geographical areas. This gives you a much bigger exposure
than you expect.
- Your posting may get indexed by search engines, which
will allow you to show your requirement to an even larger
audience.
How to make your trade leads informative
If you follow the steps described on the trade leads portal
correctly, it is pretty simple to create a trade lead posting.
The problem is how to make your trade lead interesting so
that among hundreds of others yours would still capture necessary
attention from prospective buyers or suppliers.
Catchy but precise and short subject line
First, you have to come up with a good headline for your posting
without making it too cheesy. Keep your subject line short,
well within eight to ten words. Avoid using unusual key pad
characters. Don't over use marks like "!!!" to grab
extra attention. Make it specific. If it is a sale trade lead
emphasize on the value of the product and what is special
about it. If it is a buy trade lead clearly state your requirements.
Body of the trade leads
This is the descriptive part of your trade lead. Your prospective
partner will take a decision whether to contact you based
on the information you give here. Too often, people write
very vague information in the body of the trade lead. As a
result they don't receive expected amount of response and
wonder what went wrong!
If you are selling a product:
- Describe the product very thoroughly
- Mention what are the advantages of your product in comparison
to the competitors
- If you are offering extras along with the product, state
that
- Give a link where people can see your product online
- Mention terms of sale, shipping terms, packing and location
of the product
If yours is a buy trade lead:
- Clearly describe your requirement
- If possible give a link to a picture of a similar product
- State quantity required, delivery time, shipping destination
and other vital information
If the portal you are using for trade leads has features
that allow having a storefront, creating profile, developing
your own electronic catalog, take advantage of these wonderful
attributes. These will help you build a professional online
business stature.
If you never used a trade lead to get a buyer or a seller,
try it! You will be amazed to discover how easily you can
do cross country business.
Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and
present CEO of Rusbiz.com - a Global B2B Exchange with solutions
to create e-catalog, Web store, business process management
and other features to run a business online. You can read
various articles written by Nowshade Kabir at http://ezine.rusbiz.com
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