Step 1: Assess your export business potential
Since selling abroad requires an extension of a firm's resources, it is important that you first assess your export potential. This assessment should include a look at industry trends, the firm's domestic position in the industry, the effects it may have on present operations, the status of resources, and the anticipated export potential of the product.

Overseas trade shows are a good way to test the export potential of products. By participating in major trade shows the manufacturer can make sale to different markets. It is also good to offer products in markets where they are most needed -- in developing countries? In the developing parts of the world some businesses would grow faster than in the developed countries, where it is a mature industry. It's more effective to grow in developing markets than in mature ones.

Step 2: Get expert export business counseling
Once a company has assessed its export potential and made a firm decision to commit time and resources, the next step is to get expert counseling and assistance immediately. Firms that are entirely new to international trade should call the trade information centres of their respective countries. Firms further along in the process should contact the nearest office of the commerce department's international trade and industry specialists who are available for expert counseling.

State governments are another prime source of export assistance. Many other groups, both in government and the private sector, stand ready to lend experienced experts to guide companies that are starting an export business. Industry trade associations are also useful, as are private consulting firms and the business departments within major institutions.

Step 3: Select your export business markets
After a firm has received expert counseling, it must select one or two "ideal" markets from the hundreds available. Language and cultural differences, special trade regulations, local competition and economic conditions, and other vital factors must be evaluated to maximize success abroad. The regional offices of the Ministry of Commerce are an excellent place to begin. These offices offer a wide range of market research programs. In addition, they maintain a global network of international trade specialists who conduct overseas market research and gather commercial data of broad interest to exporters. The industry specialists can provide firms with a unique industry-oriented perspective on the best prospective markets for their products.

The export promotion organisations also offer a variety of trade promotion programs that help new exporters test foreign markets and evaluate their export potential within a specific geographical area. Other sources that are helpful to firms involved in the selection of potential markets include export councils of industry trade associations, the business departments of universities, consulting firms, and market research groups.

Step 4: Formulate an export business strategy
The formulation of an export strategy is the next step. In general, a successful export marketing strategy identifies and correlates at least four factors that jointly determine the most suitable kind of export operation:

• The firm's export objectives, both immediate and long range.
• Specific tactics the firm will use.
• Scheduling of activities, deadlines, etc., that reflect chosen objectives and tactics.
• Allocation of resources among scheduled activities.
  

The marketing plan and schedule of activities should cover a two- to-five-year period, depending on the kind of product exported, the strength of the competitors, conditions in the target markets, and other factors.

Step 5: Select a selling technique
After investigating and selecting foreign markets for your products, the fifth step in an export venture is to select a selling technique. There are two basic selling techniques in exporting: indirect and direct selling. The decision to market products directly, or alternatively, to utilise the services of an intermediary, should be made on the basis of several important factors: the size of the firm, the nature of its products, previous export experience and expertise, and business conditions in the selected overseas markets.

In direct selling, the firm deals with a foreign importer and is usually responsible for shipping the products overseas. However, direct selling may include utilising the services of foreign sales representatives or agents. In selecting the method, the product involved and the way it is marketed in its parent country will provide a clue as to how it might be marketed internationally. The customary business methods and established channels of distribution in targeted countries may also have a bearing on the marketing channel selected. Some of the available methods of direct selling are: sales representatives or agents, the equivalent of a manufacturer's representative; distributors, who purchase merchandise from a manufacturer at the greatest possible discount and resell it at a profit; dealing with foreign retailers, relying mainly on traveling sales representatives who directly contact the foreign retailer; direct sales to end-users; and state-controlled trading companies in countries that have state trading monopolies, and where business is conducted by a few government-sanctioned and controlled trading entities.

In the indirect selling method, the firm with a product to export relies on another firm that acts as a sales intermediary and normally will assume responsibility for marketing and shipping the product overseas. The principal advantage to indirect marketing is that it gives a smaller firm with little export expertise a way to penetrate foreign markets without having to get directly involved in the complexities of international commerce.

There are several distinct types of intermediary firms, each with its own advantage for the manufacturer: commission agents, who are "finders" for foreign firms that want to purchase products; country-controlled buying agents, which are foreign government agencies or quasi-governmental firms empowered to locate and purchase desired goods; export management companies, which act as the export department for several manufacturers of non-competitive products; and export trading companies, which purchase goods for resale in foreign markets.