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Making it work

If you prepare for them properly, trade missions can be a valuable option

by Pernille Fischer Boulter

When you think of trade missions, do you conjure up images of shrimp lunches, bus tours, and photo ops with politicians? Today’s government-sponsored trade missions are going beyond the stereotype and playing a valuable role in growing your company’s exports. They offer access to potential customers in the mood to buy, market information, legitimacy, and a chance to meet with other exporters.

As with most business-expansion initiatives, trade missions are what you make of them. You should make serious preparations long before the mission leaves, take advantage of the services offered (briefing sessions, match-making, mentoring, and experiences shared from previous participants), and get your game face on.
Here’s how you should look at a trade mission—as a package. If you’re not willing to take advantage of the complete package, then it probably isn’t for you. If you’re willing to buy in, it can add tremendous value on multiple fronts. Here are some of them:
 
  1. Briefing sessions: These give you a chance to listen to the panel of experts the organizers have assembled. Often, the years of in-market experience, cultural understanding, and previous mission experience can add real value and help future participants think about how to best exploit the opportunities.
     
  2. Match-making: You probably have a pretty good idea who your potential customers are in a new market, but don’t underestimate the allure of a match-maker contacting them and backgrounding the meeting with the opportunity to participate in a Canadian-government hosted event. Skilled match-makers can also get direct access to senior management and maintain professional neutrality (“I’m not trying to sell you anything, I’m simply offering you an opportunity”). Match-makers often contact potential customers you might not have identified.
     
  3. Mentoring: If you think you’re too experienced for a mentor, think again. Imagine getting face time with someone who has been on hundreds of missions. You might think your product and industry is unique enough that a “generalist” can’t possible add value, but 80% of the value in missions and trade shows is about preparation—the pitch, the attitude, the follow-up—something a skilled mentor can help with.
     
  4. Experiences/interaction: Go to the pre-mission workshop and the debriefing session, which are part of the package. A little inside knowledge about the target market and a few tips on cultural differences can add value. Experience learned from others is a shortcut over making mistakes the hard way.

So while there might be a shrimp lunch, a bus tour, and photo op with a politician, you could skip the bus tour and take a potential customer to the lunch, or ask one of the politicians to pose for a photo with that customer. You never know—it might end up on the wall of your new customer’s office.

Pernille Fischer Boulter is the founder and CEO of Kisserup International Trade Roots Inc. She can be reached at pfb@kisserup.com

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