Export Financing - How to Use International Factoring to Finance your Sales

Selling your goods internationally can be extremely rewarding and challenging at the same time. When you start exporting goods, you truly open your company to a world of possibilities, including the possibility of big financial rewards. At the same time, you expose yourself to some of the challenges of international commerce.

Many international transactions are settled using bank or corporate letters of credit, which means you can rest assured that you will be paid on time. However, many of your clients will insist that you give them payment terms. This means you may need to wait 30, 60 or even 90 days before you get paid. And if your company is growing, waiting to get paid can be very tough.

Going to the bank for a business loan may or may not work. Most banks only give business loans to businesses that have a great past history. But this is of little use to businesses that have a short history but a bright future.

A better option is to consider factoring your invoices, which eliminates the 30 day wait that it takes to get paid. Export factoring (or international factoring as it is also known) can be a very useful tool for new and growing businesses.

Factoring is a form of financing, where a factoring company advances you a substantial portion on your invoices. The factoring company waits to get paid, while you get immediate use of the funds. This eliminates the cash flow issues that happen when you extend terms.

Export factoring is a factoring specialty. Actually, very few factoring companies offer international export factoring, so when talking to companies be sure to be specific and ask if they offer this type of factoring.

Many factoring companies also offer purchase order financing. This factoring product extension provides you with financing to fulfill purchase orders. Purchase order financing gives you the necessary funding to pay your suppliers, using the purchase order as collateral.

If your company is growing and selling goods offshore, be sure to look into factoring and purchase order funding as valuable financing tools to help you grow.

Explode Your Sales With Good Communication

These are simple and effective methods to increase your sales. You may think that you know what your customer wants, but do you really? Instead of assuming that you know, why not listen to the customer and ask questions to find out what it is that they REALLY want.

1. Give your customers benefits, not features. Your customers don't want to know the ins and outs immediately of your products, they want to know how it benefits them! Save the details of the product for a secondary page that's NOT on your home page. You can give some main selling points, but keep the minor details off the home page and just list benefits.

For example, let's say you've got a strategy to get your clients out of debt. Don't tell them step-by-step how it works on the front page, be vague and leave the small print for another page. Instead tell them how they can imagine a life with riches and being debt free! That's a benefit, not a feature!

2. Keep in communication with potential buyers. I read somewhere that it takes at least 7 views of your products to get interested parties to buy them. They're obviously interested if they've gotten to your site and requested information, why not keep them informed about your news and updates to the site? You just may have a future customer.

It's also a good practice to use a "bookmark this page" and "tell a friend about this page" tool so you can get potential buyers for the future. Even if they're immediately not buying it doesn't mean they won't be back!

3. Encourage your site visitors to ask questions. Some people may think they're bothering you or wasting your time to ask you a question. Extend your open arms to each and every surfer that comes into your site and encourage them to ask about your site!

However if you see the same question coming up over and over again, it will benefit you and the client both if you create a "Frequently Asked Questions" page. People usually want immediate answers to their questions and it saves you the tedious same responses over and over again.

4. Make the buying experience easier. Don't ask for information that you don't need. Instead, ask for the bare minimum information from the customer so they can "get in, and get out". And then later on, you can send them a quick thank you note and a follow up to see how they liked your website.

Don't make your customer jump through hoops to buy your products. They'll only get frustrated and put it off for later - and later may never come!

By keeping these lines of communication open with your site visitors and potential customers, you'll find you gain more trust and credibility with them and in turn, more sales!

Experts Increase Sales By 28% With Custom Vacation Certificates

Top-notch sales professionals and business owners consistently seek new and economical ways to increase sales. They might try a discount sale, or a buy one get one free sale or something else. But this can be a costly give away of valuable merchandise or time. A different and more affordable method is the vacation incentive.

Vacation incentives have matured since the day of hidden sales meetings. Your customer no longer is forced to attend timeshare meetings, ruin their vacation or pay hidden fees. They get free hotel plus $500 in savings with no gimmicks. The best part is the sales professional or business owner only pays as low as twenty cents per customized vacation certificate and offers a high value for free to get customers in the door -- or make the sale. But does this really work?

According to USA Today, 93 percent of customers surveyed preferred travel over other incentives. Plus the “Incentive Travel Fact Book” states a whopping 58 percent of those surveyed say that travel is a more effective incentive than cash or merchandise.

"In a split marketing test, we sold 23.4% more copies of Instant Mortgage Letters when offering a free Las Vegas hotel and gambling package," says J.D. Zandt, Managing Director of RDULoans.com.

Mortgage companies aren't the only industry increasing their sales with vacation certificates. Other businesses include Timeshare Resorts, Vacation Clubs, Motels & Hotels, Auto Dealers, Apartment Management, Health Clubs, Newspapers, Banks, Carpet & Tile Stores, Boat Dealers, Furniture Stores, Home Improvers, Jewelry Stores, Tire Stores and more.

Customized vacation certificates are perfect to increase sales, generate web traffic, provide lead generation, build loyalty with customers plus motivate executives and top sales performers. Plus with a 30 year travel company completing the processing, fulfillment and arranging, merchants simply promote and distribute the vacation certificates for maximum benefit.

Enjoy Visiting Garage Sales

One of my all-time favorite ways to spend a Saturday morning is to visit garage sales, probably because I have so many great memories of going to garage sales with my mother and my grandmother. I remember waking up early and eating my breakfast as quickly as I could so that we could get out and explore the many garage sales that were held around our town during the spring and summer.

Now that I have become an interior designer, I love visiting garage sales even more. I know, it might sound like a strange place to pick up items for customers, but I have found some of the best and most unique pieces for many of my homes at garage sales. The things that some people find useless are a treasure to others.

If you are about to head out to garage sales, it is a great idea to make a list of the items you are looking for before you head out to shop. Having a list will help you to focus your searching and will make for a more enjoyable time. It is too easy to wind up with a car full of things you do not need after a day of going to garage sales. So prepare ahead and come up with the few things that you need and even think about a budget for those items.

Another great thing about heading out for garage sales is that you can do it with friends. I love spending a Saturday morning with my closest friends and their daughters. We grab muffins and coffee and then enjoy an entire day of garage sales together. So gather other friends that want to purchase great things for their homes and go! The wonders of garage sales await you.

If you are feeling like you have a little too much clutter in your own home, consider putting on a garage sale. There is no better way to simplify your life than to get rid of unnecessary stuff. Once a year I make every member of my family go through all of their belongings to see what they do and do not need. We then throw a weekend long garage sale to sell our items. My children are in the habit of living simply and having yearly garage sales has been a great way for us to work together on something as a family and to bond together.

So whether you are headed out to purchase new things at garage sales or if you are ready to throw one of your own, be encouraged that garage sales are great. They are one of the best ways to reuse great things.

Effective Negotiating - The Key To Sales Success

No two persons agree on all things. When people come together to work out a deal, they try to maximize their benefits and minimize their costs. Each person places a different value on individual elements of the deal.An effective negotiation is not just about making people see things from your point of view, but it is also about converging two different views to a point that is perceived by both parties as mutually beneficial. The art of negotiating is the backbone of a successful sales campaign.

Focus On The Customer - Show Him The Money:

The customer is not bothered about how badly you need to make the sale to meet your monthly target. He is more bothered about fulfillment of his needs and getting value for his money.

Talk about the customer's benefit. Don't tell your customer about the latest technology in the car's engine - tell him how this new engine saves him fuel and time.

Know Your Competition:

Knowing your product is not enough. You must know what your competition is offering. You don't want to end up staring at the customer, when he says your competitors are 20% cheaper. Have your answers ready. Give him valid reasons for your higher price.

Don't Waste Your Time With People Who Don't Matter:

When dealing with an organization, learn to prioritize. Don't waste your time explaining the secretary why your power tools are good. Save your time and energy for the decision maker. Try to get an appointment with "the boss". If you can't get one immediately, try for a later one, else move on. The secretary is not going to buy your tools.

Exploit The Copycat Mentality:

Humans have a mentality to copy what others are doing successfully. If a person's competitor or acquaintance is using a product, he may be tempted to use the product too. Keep your references ready and tell him how others have greatly benefited from your product or service.

Get Them To Agree:

When a person agrees to something you are saying, he subconsciously creates a positive frame of mind towards your offer.
Getting the other person to say "Yes" on various occasions brings both of you on the same side - with the same goal.

Your Negotiating Strength Lies In Your Uniqueness:

If it is easy to find someone providing the same service or product that you provide, your negotiating potential is reduced. The more unique your offer, the greater negotiating powers you have. Always make a list of points which differentiate you from your rivals. Sometimes people buy things just because they are different from what most other people are using.

Use Time To Your Advantage:

Every one of us has been to a stock clearance sale. When the merchant runs out of time to sell his stock, his loses his pricing power.

Customers use this tactic on sellers and give a deadline to make a decision on price and terms. The person who is short of time is always at a disadvantage. Never allow yourself to be trapped in a "time limit" trap. Even when you are short of time, don't let it be known to the other person.

On the other hand, a person's urgency to get something done can work in your favor. If the other person is in a hurry to get things done, you can be assured that he will be more willing to bend than he would in a normal situation.

A word of caution - never exploit the other person's urgency to such an extent that it makes the deal grossly one sided. You may get what you want one time, but such deals have a negative impact on your reputation and future business. A win-win situation is always desired.

Price Is Not Everything - Terms Matter Too:

Terms of service are as important as the price itself. An example could be the loans and mortgage industry. Companies are able to charge higher interests rates than competitors by allowing flexible repayment options. Companies offering freebies with their products are compensating a higher price with friendlier terms. Create a balance between the price and the terms - when price is your weak point, offset it with better terms.

"The Policy" Tactic:

Since childhood, people are taught that rules are not to be broken. At subconscious level most of the people carry a perception that it is their duty to follow all rules. You will be surprised how easily people give in when they are told that the terms which they expecting are against the company policy. Salespersons always keep a printed price list with themselves. Those few black words printed on a white paper add authority to the salesperson's arguments and send the message that it is not within their power to alter the terms.

Keep Your Last Price For The Last:

Most buyers have a tendency to ask for a lower price than offered. If asked for "the last price", quote something more than the actual "last price" which you are willing to give. It doesn't matter if initially you offer a price 2% lower or 20% lower - buyers will ask for a further lower price in both cases.

The Final Gambit - Say "No":

Risk taking is an essential ingredient of success.

Agreeing to customers' terms all the time weakens your image in the market. Walk out of the deal if it doesn't seem profitable. If the customer gives in to your terms, you win a profitable deal. If you lose the customer, why repent? He wasn't a profitable customer anyway.

Do It Yourself Sales Tools

After falling in love with the Hipster PDA and Levengers Shirt Pocket Briefcase,I started becoming more and more dependent on 3" by 5" index cards. They are great for note taking on the go and keeping organized at my desk, so I naturally started thinking of ways to use the cards to automate my sales process. From this, the "3X5" was born. I may not be the first person to use index cards in this way, but I do think a lot of salespeople will find the system easy to use and very effective.

You will need the following items to create your own 3X5 sales tool. I found everything I needed at my local Staples and everything cost me around $25.00.

  * A box to store the index cards
  * Monthly 3" by 5" index tabs
  * Daily (1-31) 3" by 5" index tabs
  * Alphabetical 3" by 5" index tabs
  * A ton of white ruled 3" by 5" index cards
  * A bunch of colored 3" by 5" index cards
  * A small case to carry cards in your pocket

Once you have purchased the required supplies, you can organize your 3X5. For the sake of simplicity, let's assume that you are assembling your 3X5 on January 1st. If this is the case you would first organize your tabs in the order below (front to back):

  * January tab
  * Daily tabs 1-31
  * February - December monthly tabs
  * A-Z alphabetical tabs
  * Blank index cards - white and your favorite color

All of your cards should now be in the file box and the first thing you should see is the January tab.

Next, you should start creating cards for your leads. In the beginning, this is going to take some time (assuming you have a lot of leads). I use white cards for leads and colored cards for my customers. You can do whichever you prefer, but I think it is helpful to break down leads and customers.

The system works like this.

Let's imagine it is January 1st. and you attend a networking event where you meet a potential client. You get this lead's business card at the event and you want to contact him/her on the 2nd., so when you get to your office, you staple the leads business card to a white index card and drop it behind the "2" tab and then go home for the day. After all, it is new years day and you have been working hard to create your new sales system and you attended a networking event.

So, you arrive at work on January 2nd. and open up your 3X5. The first thing you should do is move the "1" tab back behind the February tab. You will always be rolling the system forward like this, so that the first tab you see in the box represents the most current month, then the most current day.

Now, you go to the tab for today (Jan 2nd.) and find the card for the lead that you met at the networking event yesterday. You call the lead and learn that he/she is out of town until January 6th. so you make a note which says, "1/2/05 - Mr. Lead is on vacation till 1/6". Now you drop the card behind the "6" tab for the month of January.

You will continue to roll this lead forward in the system, making notes at each step, until the lead either turns into a customer or asks you to leave them alone.

When the lead turns into a customer, I staple their business card to a colored card and place it behind the appropriate alphabetical tab. If their is another opportunity with this client, I move the colored card back to the dated section and move them through the process again.

Of course, as you add more people to your pipeline, you might not get to contact everyone on the day you have them slotted for. Just move them to the next day's slot at the end of the current day so you contact them tomorrow.

You will not want to carry around a huge metal box full of index cards, which is why you want to have a small index card wallet or box, so if you are going to be on the road or out of the office, you can simply grab your cards for the day and go.

Not just for salespeople.

While the system is great for salespeople, it also is a great tool for those of us who are focusing on networking. I actually use three different colored cards and use white for leads, blue for clients and red for my networking contacts (patriotic, I know). On the red cards, I write either 7, 14, 30, 45, 60, etc in the upper right hand corner of the index card to remind myself how frequently I want to contact the person, so I simply move the card forward based on the number on the card. If I want to contact someone every seven days, I move the card ahead a week after I make contact.

This really ties in well to Keith Ferrazzi's book Never Eat Alone, which recommends you regularly ping your network. By the way, if you have not read the book, you should. You can get book notes for free from the Never Eat Alone blog.

Options / Enhancements.

I have been considering adding daily tabs to each month so that I can move people ahead to a any specific date (IE. August 11Th.) in the future.

You could also keep some sticky tabs handy so you can add a tab to the top of any index card for the contacts birthday. If you do this, you could just put an August tab on the card for every contact whose birthday is in August so you could quickly compile a birthday list each month. Again, this is probably overkill and you could probably just add the contacts name to a calendar and keep it separate, but what fun is that?