Exporting goods is not as easy as you think. Export training is required for becoming an expert in exporting. Like all other jobs, training is vital for starting. Successful exporting requires the involvement of multiple people who work across your organization. The challenges of exporting may be different from domestic operations, and it is important that all these companies understand their valuable role. This is why your company should know some aspects of exporting and the kind of information they need to understand. This would be the export training you need.
Sales department
The sales department is among those vital parts of an exporting company which is in a serious need of export training. You rely on your sales team to get your business off the ground, but if they don’t know about exporting, they could make promises that they can’t keep.
Some topics affecting exports are essential to be understood by them.
Technical Specifications
To export products effectively, your sales team needs to be familiar with the specifications. For instance, they have to know whether your product is suitable for shipping to the destination or not. Specific technical parameters like this will limit the varieties of products available in certain countries.
Rates of duty
HS codes are essential for identifying the items you are exporting, which is the sales department’s job. If your company is responsible for customs clearance in the country of import, ignoring the HS code may cost you a lot if your Incoterms are not followed. Having misclassified goods can cause customs to delay delivery and payment for the goods, even if you aren’t paying duties and taxes.
Incoterms 2020
Incoterms define who will pay for what and when liability is transferred for specific parts of the export journey, including who is the exporter or importer of the goods or what is the responsibility of each. You run the risk of removing any profits you might have made if your sales team doesn’t understand Incoterms.
Management department
It’s the top management team at your company that sets priorities and models an exporting attitude that impacts every aspect of your business. Unless the export initiative has the full backing of the executives, it will not have the time or resources required to succeed. No one else will care about export compliance if the CEO, president, or other top management does not prioritize it. Almost every single presentation by the Office of Export Enforcement starts with a slide that illustrates how companies that neglected compliance paid substantial fines and saw their reputations suffer as a consequence. Your management team must be aware of the risks posed by exporting.
Accounting Department
Your accounting department faces additional challenges when you begin or grow your export business. In international markets, the traditional approaches to conducting business either aren’t adequate or fail completely. The elements you need to consider when determining how and in which currency to be paid to create new variables for your business. Some accounting systems and enterprise resource planning systems are biased towards domestic business and may need upgrades or modifications to accommodate international transactions. Managing international trade in a proper way means your chief financial officer, controller, accounting department, and other departments need to understand the differences between domestic and international trade.
Shipping Department
Companies usually do not overlook their shipping department when they enter or expand their exports, but they do not always get the additional resources they need. Shipping departments will have new challenges to face, which can be unprepared without proper export training.
Customer Service Department
There may be different time zones and different languages where you are planning to export. So you may need to hire well-trained employees who know the languages. International sales departments often address these issues, but companies often fail to consider how it will affect their customer service representatives. You may have discussed these concerns with your sales department; however, companies are sometimes unaware that these issues will impact their customer service representatives.