GET HELP ENTERING FOREIGN MARKETS I
…MY EXPERIENCE WITH CHINA.
know, I know...in the last editorial I said, “Don’t get
cocky and don’t extend yourself
In Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanning, we were connected with over 12 Gold Key meetings,
WORDS & PHOTO BY JOHN MCKEE
too far.” Then Headframe Spirits
each in-depth
was asked to participate in a Foreign Trade Mission to China with the Governor of the State of Montana. Hard to say no.
of
which
meetings
were with
detailed, importers,
distributors, and on & off premise clients capable of meeting the demands of our import goals.
But, the mantra of “Don’t get cocky” still held true and I
I wasn’t interested in selling a case or two (more like a container
committed only once I learned of the resources available to
or two), so I needed to be connected with companies capable of
introduce the markets in Asia to my products; namely the
handling that kind of volume. Every Gold Key had the potential
US Commercial Service, a branch of the US Department of
for direct success — not a single one was lacking.
Commerce, and the Agricultural Trade Office of the US Embassy. I cannot stress enough how important and ultimately successful their services were to our trip.
So specifically how does this work?
»» Reach out to US Commercial Service via
Via the US Commercial Service, using the “Gold Key Matching
www.export.gov/salesandmarketing/eg_main_018195.asp
Service,” they arranged multiple meetings with pre-screened
»» Next you will be connected with your local US Export
prospective trading partners, distributors, and importers. For a nominal fee, they threw the weight of their offices in-country to the goals that Headframe Spirits was interested in pursuing, namely:
»» Selling our products in China »» Investigating Direct Foreign
Assistance Center.
»» Once the local rep has your goals, targets, and information, they bring in the foreign trade officers and begin to work on the Gold Key meetings
Investment in potential
»» Once you have your travel arrangements completed, they
projects.
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