Mandatory Things
1. Location:
As far as possible, the exporter should locate the company in a well known business are of the city/town. To operate in some of the metropolitan cities, it is better to locate the export firm in and around Connaught Place or Nehru Place in New Delhi, Fort or Nariman Point in Bombay, Mount Road or Anna Salai in Chennai (Madras), Chowringhee in Calcutta and MG Road or Airport Road in Bangalore, to cite a few places. A good location always lends business credibility to the status of a firm.
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2. Letterhead:
After naming and locating the concern, other details like printing of good letterheads, envelopes and obtaining telephone, fax, e-mail, etc. should be dealt with.
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The information to be given in the letterhead should essentially include (i) complete name and address including the country’s name (ii) telephone nos. fax no. and e-mail address (iii) some outstanding achievement like having got an Export Award, etc. The banker’s name and address can also be given. But details of the items in which the company deals in need not be given.
3. Business Card:
The most important marketing tool is the business card. It is what others will keep to remember the company by and even more importantly, it represents the quality of service offered to a potential client.
It would help to look at the business card to see the kind of impression it makes to notice if it looks professional to make sure that the address information is clear and complete, and also to check the electronic access information such as the e-mail address and an Internet address for easy accessibility.
When potential customers look at a business card, they make unconscious assumptions about factors like whether the firm is willing to invest the resources to do a good job (professionally designed and typeset business card), whether it is well qualified (the presence or absence of credentials), whether the firm thinks internationally (the presence or absence of your country in your address), whether it would be easy to contact the company (the presence or absence of electronic addresses), and so on.
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Another factor that needs to be thought about is the matter of accommodating other languages. One practical approach is to use the back of the business card for the language of the market that is targeted. To maintain a professional image, that side of the business card will have to be properly printed along with the logo.
4. Export Personnel/Staff:
Depending upon the financial position and the scale on which a firm intends to carry on its export business, it should appoint personnel for handling various export marketing operations.
However, it may in the beginning, give added responsibility of handling export business to the existing sales personnel, if any.
This arrangement seems simple and economical and it usually works well, especially if a company’s export sales are largely concentrated in one or two areas where the documents demanded are not complicated and credit or shipping problems are few.
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Such personnel to whom an added responsibility is given for export sales may be got trained in export marketing techniques.
Training programmes are organised by various institutions like universities and other public and private import export institutes, viz., Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, National Institute of Careers in Export and Marketing (NICEM), Bangalore, etc.
4. Bank Account:
A current account has to be opened in the name of the organisation in whose name it is intended to export, in a branch of a commercial bank which is authorised to deal in foreign exchange.
5. Permanent Income-Tax Account Number:
It is necessary to apply to the Income Tax Officer having jurisdiction over the organisation for the allotment of a permanent account number, in case the firm does not have one. The exporter’s code number has to be cited in the form of allotment. In case, this number has not been allotted it is still possible to apply.