Best Way to Market and Sell 7

Have An Effective E-Mail Marketing Strategy

Sending sales messages by e-mail can be a low cost, effective, and fast way to find new customers. But it has to be done properly and using the expected business etiquette. Done the wrong way and you will get the reputation of spamming or being a "spammer". And importers HATE spammers.

The key to having a successful e-mail marketing campaign is to have an "opt-in" e-mail list. Importers voluntarily give you their e-mail addresses in hope that you will send them some valuable information (a newsletter, for example) about the sector or your products. More detailed information is in the section Marketing and Selling by E-mail.

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Doing business with US importers can be very frustrating and time consuming. But done properly it can also be very, very profitable.

Source: www.americanimporters.org

Best Way to Market and Sell 6

Sell Your Goods by Using B2B Web Sites

The way products are sold to American importers and buyers has changed over the last 10 years with the introduction of the internet. Business-to-Business (B2B) portal web sites were very popular in the last few years of the 1990s and early years of the 2000s. Their importance and significance has since decreased as trade fairs have become ever more popular. But B2B sites can be a source of customers and can be a great way of seeing what your competitors in other countries are doing. More detailed information is in the section Using B2B Portal Web Sites.
source: www.americanimporters.org

Best Way to Market and Sell 5

Have a Well Designed Web Site

The third thing you need is a good web site. More detailed information is in the section Designing Your Web Site. Exporters who do not have a web site are at a serious disadvantage. If you are serious about doing business with US importers, you should have a well-designed web site. It is very important in today's market. If you don’t have one, get one. Not having a web site is like not having a fax machine.
Source: www.americanimporters.org

Best Way to Market and Sell 4

Keep Your Brochure to One or Two Pages

Whether to enclose a brochure with your sales letter is up to you. Now that buyers can go to the internet and get information from a seller's web site, brochures have become almost obsolete. If you do include a brochure it should be no more than two pages. Large brochures are a waste of your money and the buyer's time. You can put this same information up on your web site and change it as the market requires.

Best Way to Market and Sell 3

Keep Your Sales Letters Simple and Short

The second thing you need is a really good sales / marketing letter. More detailed information is in the section Sample Sales Letters. Your sales letter should have four paragraphs, not more and not less. The first paragraph gets the buyer's attention (you have only 7 seconds to do this). The second paragraph tells what the seller can do for the buyer. The third paragraph gives the details. The fourth paragraph is perhaps the most important. It tells the buyer exactly what to do to order the product or to get more information. This should ALWAYS include asking the buyer to visit the seller's web site for details.
source: www.americanimporters.org

Best Way to Market and Sell 2

Use Direct Marketing

Direct marketing remains one of the most effective ways of reaching and convincing importers to buy your product or service. Yes it is more expensive than some of the other ways. And yes it does take more time to get results. But the results that you will get are MUCH greater than with any other technique. Direct marketing means sending a sales letter (and possibly a brochure) by mail to importers who you know might be interested in your product.

The first thing you need is a list of prospective buyers. A list of approximately 13,000 US importers in a variety of different sectors can be found on the CD List of US Importers and Buying Agents.

Best Way to Market and Sell 1

The USA is the world's largest importing country. US importers and buying agents are always looking for new products to sell. US consumers are hungry for a wide variety of products.

However, marketing and selling to US importers can be very difficult. There is competition from exporters in almost every country of the world. Being successful in finding US importers to buy your product requires patience and knowledge of how the system works. With so many exporters trying to sell them products, US importers can be very selective. It is extremely important that you the exporter understand your products potential in the US market, the best ways to market and sell it, and how to get along with the importer.

There are a variety of ways to market your product to US importers. The best way for you depends on your product, the market you are trying to reach, what country you are in, and your budget.

How Not To Write A Sales Letter

Every word in your sales letter must be chosen carefully. Do not use words that are pushy, like "prompt", and "ASAP", and "at your convenience". US importers do not like to be pushed into making a decision. Do not try to flatter the buyer with words like "esteemed" and "respected". US importers will give you an order because you have a product they want. Not because you tried to inflate their ego. Do not use abbreviations. Using "B. Rgds" for "Best Regards" and "Tkx" for "Thank You" implies that you are lazy. No US importer wants to do business with someone who is lazy. Do not misspell any words or use bad grammar. Your sales letter is the only representation of your company that the buyer sees. In their eyes a poorly written sales letter means poorly produced products. Do not make the reader hunt for your web site address. The goal of your letter is to get the prospective buyer to go to your web site for more information and hopefully to give you an order. Put your web site address in the last paragraph and also in the contact information at the top of the letter. Make it easy for the buyer to get the information he/she wants and to contact you for more details and possibly a price quote. Source: http://www.americanimporters.org/pages/marketing/samplesalesletters.html

A Typical Sales Letter

Here is what a typical sales letter might look like. More examples of general sales letters, sales letters that can be used by agents (middlemen, representatives), and follow-up sales letters to be sent to someone that has visited your office or trade fair booth can be found in the Guide to Successful Marketing and Selling to US Importers.

Boris Textile Producing Co. Ltd. is a leading Russian manufacturer and exporter of socks and hosiery. The range of our product line, good quality, and competitive prices have made us one of the fastest growing companies of its kind in Russia.

Located in Moscow, we produce a wide variety of socks and hosiery items in a cotton-woolen-nylon blend for men, women, and children. These socks are of good quality and are popular with customers. Our total production averages 10 million pairs per year, 70% for export and 30% for the domestic market.

We at Boris Textile Co. will work with you to produce the types of socks or hosiery products that will sell well in your stores. We guarantee both our quality and on time delivery of shipments and our prices are very competitive.

For more information please go to our web site at www.boristextile.com.ru .

This sales letter is short and positive, it gives the necessary information, and it encourages the reader to go to the seller’s web site.

Sample sales letter

This is part of the Guide to Successful Marketing and Selling to US Importers.
This guide has a chapter containing more comprehensive information on
writing effective sample sales letters that get results.
For more information, click here.

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Direct marketing (sending a sales letter by mail) is the most effective way to market your products and find new buyers. With all the new technology we have today (internet, fax, B2B, etc) more than 8 out of 10 US importers say they prefer to be contacted by sales letter. But you cannot send just any letter. The sales letter that you send represents your company. If it looks good, you look good. If it looks bad, you look bad. If there are mistakes in the letter then the quality of your product is questioned.

An estimated 97% of all sales letters go into the trash. It is important that your sales letter looks nice and is effective in order to be part of the 3% of letters that stay on the importer’s desk. Importers generally look at the first paragraph first. If they are still interested they skip down to the last paragraph to look for the seller’s web site address. Our research showed that US importers generally do not look at the second or third paragraph.

Sales letters don’t sell anymore. Your web site does that now. Your sales letter has two functions. The first is to introduce your company and your products and the second is to direct the reader to your web site. Effective sales letters generally have four paragraphs and are arranged in the following manner:

Paragraph 1: Attracting Attention

A recent research study showed that US importers generally spend seven seconds looking at a sales letter to determine if they are interested or not. If within that 7 seconds you have convinced the reader that you have a product they would like to buy and resell then they will continue reading. Otherwise the letter goes into the trash.

Paragraph 2: Building Interest and Desire

Once you have the reader’s attention you must give the basic details. Your goal is to show that you have a reliable product that the importer can buy from you and then easily resell in the US for a profit.

Paragraph 3: Convincing The Reader

At this point you have the reader’s interest and have given the basics. This paragraph tells the importer the benefits of buying your product. Here you show the buyer how he/she will benefit from buying your product.

Paragraph 4: Request for Action

This paragraph is short and has only one function: go to your web page for more information. It is very important that you put your web site address in this last paragraph and encourage the reader to go there to see more about your products.
Source: http://www.americanimporters.org/pages/marketing/samplesalesletters.html

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