13 Reasons You’re Not Finding Any International Buyers Nor Making Any Sales

Sales are the lifeblood of every business. Without it, you wouldn’t have cash flow, and without cash flow, you won’t achieve any form of growth or have enough funds to keep your organisation running.

While consistently making sales is key to growing a thriving organisation, the ease of finding clients in various industries differ.

In e-commerce, it is pretty easy to get a client because the cost of the products are usually very cheap and are purchased in small quantities of sometimes less than $1 per product, but when it comes to the export business, it’s an entirely different ball game as every transaction runs into thousands or millions of dollars, and as a result, international buyers take a lot of time in deciding whether to make a purchase or who to buy from.

Finding an international buyer for your commodities can be really tough, but while some people have it difficult in finding clients, others get a whole lot of inquiries, but still can’t make any sales.

Whether you’re getting inquiries or not, if you’re stuck on not being able to get international buyers for your export business, here are 13 reasons you’re probably not finding any international buyers or making any sales:

See Also: 4 Ways To Get Financial & Intellectual Support To Help You Build A Successful Export Business

1). You Don’t Have A Good Understanding Of The Product & Its Requirements:

Before you try to sell any type of commodity to any international buyer, it is expected that you understand almost everything about that commodity. You’d be required to know the varying specifications and the qualities your product possesses, the going rate in your local market and internationally, the documentation required for shipping the commodity, and much more.

Many exporters lose the interest of their prospects when pitching their products because the buyer realises they have little to no knowledge of the product, and as a result, may very well ship substandard goods to them which could cost them their entire investment.

2). You Don’t Have A Good Understanding Of The Export Business:

To run a certain type of business, you need to know everything about its industry and how things work. If you lack a comprehensive understanding, success becomes hard as even convincing clients to work with you becomes difficult.

A challenge many exporters face is they have little knowledge of the workings of the export business. What they know are the basics of procuring and shipping, but as for every other thing in between from product inspection to securing the right cargo documents, insurance, payment security, the global industry, and much more, they have a faint idea, and as a result, international buyers usually back out from the conversations after they ask some questions and are not getting any credible answers.

See Also: How To Start An Import/Export Business In Nigeria: A Short Guide

3). You Are Treating Prospects Poorly:

A lot of exporters are rude in real life, and over email or text, they tend to lash out at prospects when they make a request that’s far lower than what the exporter expects.

People want to be treated with respect and dignity irrespective of what offer they make, and as humans, we’re inclined to be selfish, and so, like to do business with people who take interest in interests, who do not condemn or criticise us, and who treat us with respect when our views do not tally.

When you treat prospects with respect, even if you can’t do business with them because their terms are ridiculous, they’d remember to revisit you sometime in the future because they’d always remember how you made them feel in comparison to other people.

4). You Are Not Ready To Communicate With Prospects In A Platform Most Comfortable For Them:

People are most receptive in a place that’s most comfortable to them, and if you’re not ready to meet them there, you might not be able to close any deals.

Some clients prefer to communicate via email, others WhatsApp, many others phone calls, physical meetings, WeChat, and much more.

It’s important that you find your client’s comfort zone and meet them there so that they can feel comfortable working with you and will always know you’ll do what you can to make them happy.

See Also: 8 Crucial Things New Exporters Must Know Before Starting An Export Business

5). You Have Been Blacklisted And Publicly Labelled A Scam:

A huge reason you may not be closing any deals could in fact the reason that you may have been labelled a scam by someone somewhere online, and everyone has read it, and so, refuses to contact you or to do business with you.

Also, you may have been blacklisted by some international banks due to malicious or suspicious practices you may have done in the past.

If you believe someone may have written something terrible about you online that is totally untrue, you can send them a warning message to take down the post and to give a public apology. If they refuse, you can then take them to court and have the full weight of the law placed on them to the extreme, so that no one else would try to falsely attack your image again.

6). Your Products Are Just Too Expensive:

Sometimes your products could be just too expensive. You need to know what the average import price of the commodity you’re selling is in the country of the buyer so that you can have a good idea of what price to offer the prospect.

For instance prices of goods going to Europe are usually 30% to over 100% higher than prices of goods going to Asia, and if you try to market the goods you have to Asian buyers as you do to European buyers, you may very likely not make any sales.

See Also: How To Sell Expensive Products To Cheap People

7). You Don’t Know How To Find International Buyers:

To succeed at sales & marketing of any type of products, you need to know how to find your ideal prospects. While this may sound basic, it’s one of the biggest challenges many face because a lot of aspiring exporters don’t know how to find international buyers.

You must first understand how to find international buyers before figuring out how to convert them into paying clients. And if you lack information on the former, the latter would be impossible.

See Also: How To Find International Buyers For Your Import/Export Business

8). You Can’t Source The Products You Claim To Be Able To Supply:

Some people know how to find clients and convert them into paying customers, but when push comes to shove and they’re requested to ship the commodity, they have problems sourcing the goods from the communities they’re gotten from or at good prices that would ensure their profitability.

If you don’t know how to source goods, you won’t make any sales.

9). You Have No Verifiable Track Record:

Many international buyers only want to deal with suppliers that have a form of verifiable track record. This way, they’d have peace of mind and would go into the transaction trusting you to deliver the agreed quality no matter what.

When you have no track record, closing deals with a lot of buyers becomes difficult as they’d largely be wary of you and your company, and would be unwilling to proceed.

See Also: 6 Guaranteed Ways To Avoid The Financial Mistakes Most Exporters Make

10). You Have Little To No Knowledge Of Sales Psychology:

Converting a lot of prospects into paying customers requires that you have a good understanding of human psychology with respect to how people make purchasing decisions.

You need to understand that “empathy” rules when trying to influence another person towards making a decision and unless the client feels like you understand them, feel their pain, and will do all you can to fill the void in their minds, they won’t do business with you unless they’re desperate.

Salespeople who understand empathy and how to apply in negotiations come out on top many times more than other people.

11). You’re In A Region Where A Lot Of Scams Originate From:

You may be living in a place or country where a lot of scams originate from, and as a result, it becomes far more difficult for international buyers to trust to do business with you.

When you’re in a situation like this, you’d need to work so much harder to get international buyers to trust you, and as such, would need to have a world-class website, office, track record no matter how small the supply was, great sales skills, a great personality, an active social media presence, probably even a press release about your business, and much more.

You must do all you can to leave very little doubt in the minds of prospects when your business is located in a place a lot of scams originate from.

See Also: 4 Dangerous International Trade Scams You Never Want To Fall Victim To

12). You’re Chasing The Wrong Type Of Buyers:

A reason you’re not closing any sales might be that you’re chasing the wrong type of buyers. Before you approach any buyer aggressively with a sales offer, you need to first ensure they purchase the type of products you’re selling, they are open to importing from your region, they purchase within your price range, they’re from a region that buys regularly from your location, and much more.

If you’re chasing the wrong type of buyers, you’d never close any deals and would have a lot of wasted time which is worse than wasted money.

13). Lack of Professionalism:

Many international buyers expect that you would have a website, office, corporate profile, an organised business, an office email, social media presence, and professional ethics when doing business. The problem now is so many aspiring exporters are so unprofessional that it’s a surprise that anyone even communicates with them beyond 30 minutes.

Where there’s unprofessionalism, there’s an opportunity to dominate. And if your business and the people working in it act like true professionals out to solve problems for the client, a lot of prospects would trust to do business with you.

See Also: How To Brand Your Export Business To Acceptable International Standards

An Important Point

Startup Tips Daily Media’s sister company, Globexia Limited, is a global commodity trading firm that exports agricultural products like Sesame Seeds, Raw Cashew Nuts, Dry Split Ginger, Soybeans, Dry Hibiscus Flower, Tiger Nuts, and much more agro commodities from Nigeria to international buyers around the world. The company also exports solid minerals like muscovite mica and Lithium ores, and facilitates oil and gas trade within Nigeria.

If you’re an international buyer looking to purchase commodities from Nigeria through an export company you can trust, Globexia is an organisation to work with.

You can contact us through the details below.

[email protected]

+2348080888162

www.globexia.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.

What are your thoughts on these 13 reasons you’re not finding any international buyers or not making any sales? Let me know by leaving a comment below.