QUESTIONS?
David Noah
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July 17, 2019
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Export Basics
When I speak with exporters, they tell me two of the biggest challenges they deal with are understanding and controlling export shipping costs.
Tom Hullinger, president of Jordan Global Logistics in Orlando, Florida, and Joseph Giranda, West Coast sales and operations manager at CFR Rinkens, are both in positions where they see mistakes in these areas regularly. Below, they share some of the most common shipping blunders and what you can do to prevent them.
Successful companies use metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure aspects of their performance. Often times, these metrics or KPIs apply to sales, marketing or manufacturing. But they can—and should—be used in import and export compliance functions, too.
When effectively applied, trade compliance metrics drive process efficiencies, provide better visibility, and promote the efforts of the trade compliance group to the executive team and throughout the entire organization.
David Noah
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July 10, 2019
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Export Compliance,
Export Forms
If you’re the person at your company who is charged with completing export paperwork, you know how time consuming and tedious it can be. Spending all your time completing export forms makes it hard to do other things that could help you grow your company and improve your exporting.
And while you know these things, it can be difficult to make that justification to the appropriate people at your company, persuading them to invest in export documentation software that can make you more efficient.
Joseph A. Robinson
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July 8, 2019
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Export Basics
In a previous article, I outlined 15 steps an exporter should follow when responding to an international sales inquiry. These steps help ensure you respond with a sales proposal, quote or proforma invoice that will maximize your chance of a successful export transaction.
In this article, I discuss two of those steps in more depth.
David Noah
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July 1, 2019
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Export Basics
Congratulations! You’ve made a sale! But before you jump ahead to delivering the goods, you should be sure you’re not forgetting one crucial step: creating an international sales contract.
Even if you think you don’t need one, you should think again. Here’s why.
David Noah
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June 26, 2019
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Export Compliance
The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) require that companies appoint one or more empowered official to oversee ITAR-related activities.
Before a company can do that, however, they need to understand exactly what an empowered official (EO) does and who can fit that role. And both the company and the person or people who fill that role need to understand the potential liability for their actions.
As a former defense company employee, I remember when our company would schedule a guided tour for many of our client visitors or foreign national contract employees.
Most employees would not mind being the babysitter tour guide, as we were referred to, but occasionally there were those who felt it wasn’t their job to escort others and that the current security procedures in place were sufficient enough to keep visitors from going into unauthorized areas.
After briefing those skeptical employees on the security and deemed export rules, they still refused to acknowledge the importance of protecting our technology and continued to believe that the deemed export rules were nothing more than someone at our firm trying to hype their position to justify their existence at the company. I’m sure many of you out there know people like this at your companies or have run across those who think this way.
David Noah
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June 19, 2019
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NAFTA
At some point the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) might be replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), although at this point we don't know if and when that will happen.
As of now, however, NAFTA is still the free trade agreement in force between the three countries. You should continue to do everything your company is currently doing to take advantage of duty-free trade under NAFTA.
But the decision to participate in NAFTA is not always a slam dunk. Because of its complexity and specificity, NAFTA can become more burdensome than it is useful for those tasked with computing whether or not their goods are eligible for preferential duty rates.
David Noah
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June 17, 2019
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Export Finance
To succeed in international trade and win sales against foreign competitors, exporters must offer their customers attractive sales terms supported by the appropriate payment methods.
Since getting paid in full and on time is the ultimate goal for each export sale, you need to choose the appropriate payment method that minimizes payment risk while also accommodating the needs of the buyer.
David Noah
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June 12, 2019
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Export Basics
So, you want to know how to become an exporter. Congratulations on choosing to embark on this journey!
Now, take a deep breath: There’s a lot you need to know in order to become successful in the world of international trade. This article will help you get started.