Marketing Plan

Whether you're planning on exporting or importing, be prepared to present your prospective client with a marketing plan. If the manufacturer is close to home, you'll naturally present it in person. If she's overseas, you may still have to (make that get to) arrange a personal visit to close the deal. If you feel strongly enough about the product's U.S. potential, the trip will be worth the time and expense.

To prepare your marketing plan, you'll need the information you've already asked for: pricing, product brochures or literature, and samples. If your prospect balks at supplying these materials, tell her that you'll need them to further explore the market potential and develop a presentation for her, outlining the market strategy you plan to pursue.

Once you have the materials in your office, sit down and figure out every possible expense you'll have so you can arrive at your sales price. Then, if you've already been in contact with distributors or representatives, find out if this price will sell in their market. If you don't have any representatives yet, you'll need to locate one and determine if he can work with that price. Assuming the answer is yes, you've got a viable product.

Now write out your marketing plan, which should include the following elements:

Target: Which country or countries will you or your representatives sell in? Why are these markets viable? Include positive market research information and be sure to assemble it in a clear, concise, easy-to-digest format. This is where your desktop publishing programs will shine--you can make charts, graphs and tables interspersed with facts, figures and text.
Sales: Explain at what price you'll sell the product, give your annual sales forecast, your fee structure and the profits the manufacturer can expect.
Marketing: Briefly touch on any special marketing or promotions for the product; for example, foreign or domestic trade shows or any local advertising your reps will do.