To Grow a Global Business or Not Grow a Global Business
The notion of growing your business globally by opening up sales to a world-wide market, at first thought, seems like a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t any company, be it small business or large corporation, not want to offer their goods to a global market, right? Well, the answer to that question so far has ended with most of the largest corporations saying “no, thanks.” You might be dumbfounded by that answer, but there are some very good reasons behind that answer: exporting regulation and cost, equipment not designed to accept foreign postal codes, increased labor costs involved with the additional handling, increased packing costs, increased liability risk and product replacement costs.
How Parcel Forwarding Services Can Help
Parcel forwarding companies, also known as mail forwarding companies, can be very valuable from small businesses to large corporations, because they act as a contact for the client, they provide customer service, are responsible for receiving and warehousing items, they do the labeling and completing of customs forms, arrange for carrier pick-up and shipping, and assume the back-end role of customer service to the point the global customer receives the item. Each one of these things represents a huge saving in operating costs… free warehousing, free labor and free customer service – how great is that!
On top of that, many of these forwarding companies offer other ways to grow your business. For example, some offer what is called “assisted purchasing.” Assisted purchasing opens up another door for businesses to grow globally by offering world-wide customers the ability to wire cash to the forwarding company, which then makes the customers purchases for them.
And what could be better… the customer is the one that pays for these services, either through increased retail pricing to cover international shipping costs or by paying for each service needed to the forwarding company directly.
Growing Your Global Business
As you can see, taking advantage of these services can be a great way to grow your global business. Some suggestions for doing this are as follows:
- Since your business reputation will rely on your customers’ satisfaction with the particular parcel forwarding service you use, make sure this is the right service for your business. This means you may want to interview and test out the services offered by the parcel forwarder.
- Compare apples to apples. Not all parcel forwarders offers the same services. Find those that offer you the services you want and need.
- Don’t overlook small parcel forwarding companies. The few large forwarding companies started out small and grew with their client demand. They may not be as motivated to nurture your client base. Small forwarders are often willing to give a personal level of service that will help you make a good personalized impression with your newly budding global customer base.
By utilizing the valuable services offered by parcel forwarding companies, you can give your business a good shot at growing global business without the expense of doing so. What business wouldn’t want to take advantage of that…