To Get Clients, Firm Must Focus
Christopher Meyer got the bug in high school while learning about China’s Opium Wars.
After studying the two 19th century trading wars in which Western nations gained commercial privileges in China, Meyer felt the calling of the Far East.
He studied Mandarin in college, majored in East Asian studies, lived briefly with a Chinese family in Taiwan and tailored his work experience to gain expertise in what he considers the most dynamic region of the world.
Last year, Meyer fulfilled a longtime goal by launching his own consulting business to help U.S. companies accomplish their exporting missions in Asia. His company, Wide Fountains International, is named after the building in Canton that housed the U.S. trading companies during the first Opium War.
“I feel this is my fate,” said Meyer, 35, whose business is located in San Marino. “Many U.S. companies have not taken the initiative to build as much international business as they can. So I see it as a large market.”
Wide Fountains International is a company built from the heart, but it has yet to build a lasting foundation. Meyer is struggling to reach his target clientele: mid-size U.S. companies that want to develop markets or boost sales in Asia.
He needs two clients at a time to pay him retainers, usually between $3,500 and $5,000 each a month, to remain stable. But so far, he’s landed only one long-term client. The other companies he’s worked with have had only short-term needs.
“The easy part is building business partners in Asia,” Meyer said. But finding export-ready companies willing to hire an outside consultant is like searching for “a needle in a haystack,” he said.
“When you’re working on a project for four or five weeks, all the marketing drops off,” he said. “It’s the classic problem with any small consulting firm. How to conduct your work, which is your bread and butter, and effectively market.”
Meyer hopes the marketing part of his business can run by itself while he’s working on projects or traveling on business trips. He believes new clients may come to him once they learn of his special services.
But Robert H. Breunig, director of the counseling staff at the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Long Beach, said Meyer needs to fundamentally adjust his views on marketing.
“Marketing and delivering a product are the same thing,” Breunig said. “Essentially, if you’re an unsuccessful marketer, you have no business. You have to find out what buyers want, then build your product around that. The two are not separate.”
Because many executives aren’t familiar with Meyer’s type of work, he needs to explain his services fully and be flexible to adjust to his clients’ needs, said Breunig, whose center provides business advice to about 300 companies a year.
“They’re only as interested in you as you are in their particular problem,” he told Meyer.
About 80% of Meyer’s marketing efforts have been through mailings and follow-up telephone calls to companies with annual sales between $10 million and $50 million. He estimates he’s written to 300 companies over the last year and followed each letter with a phone call.
His efforts have gone largely unrewarded. Although his mailings resulted in eight meetings with company owners or sales and marketing directors, it did not produce paid work. The six clients he did land came from leads from friends and former business associates.
After subsequently seeking advice from a private consultant, Meyer was able to arrange eight additional meetings with company heads. He is waiting to see whether his efforts will lead to paid work.
Meyer must identify export-ready clients who already are seeking services such as his, Breunig said. Sending out mailings to a large number of companies, including those with no immediate exporting plans, is a waste of time, he said.
“You tried to attack it with a broad brush, but the only success you’ve had has been through personal relationships,” Breunig told Meyer. “I’m not surprised. If you send mailings and wait for the telephone to ring, it’s wasting time. You have to focus, focus, focus.”
Breunig said direct mailings won’t work for Meyer because he’s offering a high-level, sophisticated product.
“You don’t buy this high-level stuff from strangers,” he said. “You need to get into circles and build friendships and relationships with people you can contact on a regular basis. That’s where you get the great leads.”
Since Meyer already has exhausted his personal contacts, he needs to start networking, Breunig said. He should attend exporting conferences and join organizations such as the World Trade Center Assn. Los Angeles-Long Beach, the area’s leading international trade association, with 900 members. In addition to hosting conferences and seminars, the local group is connected to 320 world trade center associations in 97 countries, which have a total membership of 500,000.
Meyer should also attend the U.S. Export Assistance Center’s quarterly seminars, as well as special seminars by foreign consular offices to attract U.S. investment and products. Attending meetings convened as courtesies to visiting foreign groups also may be a good way to hook up with company executives looking for exporting help.
Another way to attract potential clients is to speak at international trade meetings and to write articles for exporting publications, Breunig said.
“For instance, you could volunteer to write an article about what it’s like to work in China,” he said. “Tie it in to your visit there. The readers of these publications are people interested in exporting.”
Electronic databases can also be useful to target export-ready companies, Breunig said. And if resources allow for it, Meyer may want to hire a professional market researcher to do customized research and target the most likely buyers of his services.
In addition, Meyer should look for potential clients in the Export Yellow Pages, a directory of U.S. product and service suppliers produced in cooperation with the U.S. Commerce Department. The latest edition contains about 17,000 manufacturers, banks, service organizations and export trading companies that have registered through the Commerce Department’s district offices.
The Commerce Department is another good contact, with economic officers in hundreds of embassy posts who conduct research, answer questions, set up meetings with buyers and distributors and advertise U.S. products and services in the department’s exporter magazine. Free export counseling is also available at the assistance center through the Small Business Administration’s SCORE program.
“You need to come up with a plan,” Breunig said. “If you don’t focus, your energy will just dissipate.”
Meyer is no novice when it comes to international business, with 13 years’ experience in international sales and marketing.
He has headed a China division for PHH Fantus Consulting, a business development and site selection consulting firm. He has also served as senior associate for Asia at the federal government’s Overseas Private Investment Corp. and worked in the international division of U.S. Tobacco Co.
With an MBA from USC through its International Business Education and Research Program, Meyer is convinced he has the experience to help U.S. companies double and triple their sales overseas.
There’s good reason for him to think so.
In 1996, the United States exported approximately $849 billion in goods and services, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Because small and mid-size companies account for only a small portion of the U.S. exports, analysts say this is where the greatest opportunities for entrepreneurs lie.
Breunig believes Meyer has a good chance to tap into this lucrative market if he makes some adjustments to his business strategy.
“The main reason companies don’t export is because they think it’s too difficult,” he said. “They feel they need to set up export departments to take care of that. What you’re offering is a very valuable service. But you need to make your pitch to people who are in the market for it.”
Along with expanding his circle of business associates, Breunig believes Meyer must narrow the scope of his business. Instead of offering a broad range of consulting services, Breunig suggests that Meyer specialize in a few hot industries and pitch himself as an expert in those areas. The Commerce Department can help identify booming industries in a particular country.
“If you focus on a particular sector that’s hot in a particular country, you start developing knowledge that’s attractive to clients,” Breunig said. “For example, telecommunication companies don’t like to talk to bankers, lenders or investors that don’t have telecommunication expertise.
“Choose one area instead of saying the world is my oyster,” he added, “because, realistically, you don’t have the resources to capture that.”
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THIS WEEK’S COMPANY MAKE-OVER
COMPANY NAME: Wide Fountains International
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Assists middle market U.S. companies interested in establishing export sales in the Asia-Pacific region.
OWNER: Christopher Meyer
AGE: 35
WHERE COMPANY IS BASED: San Marino
DATE COMPANY BEGAN OPERATIONS: Business license obtained 1993; Began serving clients July 1996.
EMPLOYEES: Self and managing director in China
HOW COMPANY IS FINANCED: Personal savings
OWNER’S SALARY: $3,000/month
COMPANY STATUS: Private
CUSTOMERS/CLIENTS: Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts, Jellinek, Schwartz & Connolly, Wynn Oil Company, Roma Color, Optimum Interactive, Beimar.
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MAIN BUSINESS PROBLEM: Finding clients willing to pay him a monthly retainer.
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GOAL: To operate as an international sales and marketing outsourcing service for two companies simultaneously in the Asia-Pacific region. Each company would pay a montly retainer of $3,000 to $3,500 a month.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
*Change views on marketing. Regard it as essential part of business.
*Be flexible to adjust to clients’ needs.
*Stop mass mailings and follow up telephone calls to possible clients. Focus more on getting referrals through networking.
*Attend the U.S. Export Assistance Center’s quarterly seminars. For more information call (562) 980-4550. Attend special meetings convened as courtesies to visiting foreign groups.
*Join organizations such as the World Trade Center Assn. Los Angeles-Long Beach, the area’s leading international trade association with 900 local members and 500,000 members worldwide. Information: (562)495-7070.
* The Small Business Administration offers export capital loan guarantees and runs a counseling program called SCORE. The U.S. Department of Commerce has economic officers in hundreds of embassy posts who will conduct research, set up meetings and find buyers and distributors. The Export-Import Bank of the United States offers various financing and information services, and the U.S. Agency for International Development does searches for American companies. Representatives from all four federal agencies work out ofthe U.S. Export Assistance Center in Long Beach and can be reached at (562) 980-4550.
* Find possible clients on electronic data bases or consider paying for customized target market research to find companies most likely to buy your services.
* Consider narrowing scope of business to a few hot industries, in which the United States is globally preeminent.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
ABOUT THE CONSULTANT:
Robert Breunig is director of the counseling staff at the U.S. Export Assistance Center at the World Trade Center in Long Beach, one of 15 U.S. centers designed to help American companies establish themselves in foreign marketplaces. Breunig oversees business advice given to about 300 companies annually. Before coming to the center in 1993, he served as executive director of World Intercultural Network, which brought Japanese high school students to the United States for English language study.
