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A new book looks at what makes SME exporters successful, with success defined as being profitable. The book Exporters! The Wit and Wisdom of Small Business owners Who Sell Globally is a fascinating pastiche of people and the products and services they generate.
The opening chapter provides a contextual framework arguing that while participation in exporting by smaller companies is increasing in the U.S., the country is under exporting compared to many of its developed country trading partners. It may seem paradoxical to say that the world's number one exporter of goods and services is under achieving, but with exports representing 14 percent of GDP, while Ireland is at 98 percent, there does seem to be substantial room for improvement. The book jokes about exports of Guinness beer to a thirsty world, then points out that Ireland exports many products generated by foreign investment. Such dependence on exports may also be a classic case of putting all the eggs in the same basket, particularly if global markets take a collective dive as they did in 2008.
The book argues that successful exporters, more than having insanely great products, do basic business things well. For example, they have a laser focus on customer service, which soars well above conventional wisdom and means for the owners that they are available to their international customers 24/7.
Off the beaten path
Others will not hesitate to get on a plane in order to close a deal. "We're willing to go where our competitors won't," is how one owner put it. Another owner tells a story of a trip to Africa to make a sale of mining equipment. He became sick and when his hosts found the local hospital closed, they took him to a village healer who prescribed "shooters of some kind of fish soup." When he awoke later the fever had broken. His son, who was mopping his forehead with a damp towel, exclaimed to no one in particular: "Dads back!"
Selling international needn't involve hair-raising adventure, but some practitioners say it's one of the things that attract them to it. Most of the exporters in the book lead lower key work lives, some doing very well without hardly ever leaving their offices in mid America.
What's most important is that the goods and the businessperson's attitude leave the country, or what the book's author calls a belief in a flat world. According to this belief, you need to go global because that's where most of the consumers are and you can no longer take for granted that the domestic market, even a mighty one like the U.S., is enough to sustain you indefinitely.
Another theme emerging from the interviews is a reliance on government export promotion services as an ingredient in the secret sauce of success. At first a government publication extolling government services sounds-self serving; but the participants' unwavering praise of what their government provides in the way of market intelligence, buyer finding, and swatting down non-tariff barriers is in the end utterly convincing. In one example, the maker of a manicure product makes a six-figure sale to a buyer in India. While the shipment is on the ocean, she decides to call a government office to check out the buyer. The report is not good. The buyer is a fraud. Evasive action is taken to secure the product when the ship docks and an alternative buyer is found--one who is able and willing to pay.
A boost from the government
The book puts great stock in highlighting lessons learned and applied, whether to make better products, business processes or the business people themselves more well rounded and worldly. One of the many women in the book recounts a story of a lunch with customers in Saudi Arabia. Despite mutual discomfort at the beginning, by the end of the meal she thinks a deeper understanding resulted. Knowing the prohibition against women driving in that country, she was asked whether she offered to drive the men back to their office. She jokingly relied, "They said ‘yes, but can your brother drive?"’
It's important to note that less than 2 percent if all U.S. businesses export and of those most export to one country, predominantly Canada. So the book is about an all too rare group of outliers. The good news is their numbers are growing, and the hope is, as the author puts it, that one day international business will cease being exotic and be just business.
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| PSMF040806A51 bearing | 4 | 8 | 6 |
| PSMF040804A51 bearing | 4 | 8 | 4 |