Take The Leads? The Internet is good for approximately one billion things. You'd think international trade leads would be one of them.

Although the Internet is sometimes hailed as one of the greatestbusiness tools developed this century, there's at least onecommercial activity for which it is often more trouble thanit's worth: finding good international trade leads.

Every global entrepreneur should be aware of this apparent Netaberration. "The overwhelming majority of [trade] leads youfind on the Internet are garbage," says international businessconsultant Jeffrey P. Graham, president of JPG Consulting inPhiladelphia. "Usually, out of every hundred leads published,no more than three are even worth pursuing. Big companies have thehuman resources to sift through everything and find the good ones,but small businesses just don't have the manpower."

As a former executive director of the South Carolina World TradeCenter, J.E. "Dewey" Teske has experienced thisphenomenon firsthand. "There's a huge number of wannabes[to watch out for] who have an e-mail account and think they'regoing to do tons of trading," says Teske, who now works as aninternational trade consultant in Charleston, South Carolina."At the trade center, it took the constant effort of a staffof five to qualify those leads."

Christopher D. Lancette is an Atlanta-area freelancejournalist who covers international business for a variety oflocal, national and international publications.

Smoke And Mirrors

Even marketing your product internationally on the Internet ishit-or-miss. You'll find the vast majority of Web buyersaren't serious potential customers. "About 90 percent ofthe people who approach me because they've seen one of my adson the Internet turn out to be flakes," says William Saale, animporter-exporter of cigar accessories and small motorcycles."They're people who just want free samples orinformation." The 29-year-old CEO of Phoenix-based SuccessTrading International Ltd. got so fed up trying to find solid leadsthat he turned the job over to JPG Consulting.

Graham says prospective buyers aren't the only people whoact disingenuously. Companies or governments soliciting servicesare often just as guilty. They've been known to charge documentand bond fees to entrepreneurs who really have no chance of beingchosen to work on the projects they're bidding on and to postleads simply to put price pressure on their existing suppliers.

Making things even more difficult is the fact that buyers arejust as wary of you as you should be of them. A proliferation ofsuspect goods is floating through cyberspace. As Graham says,"Anybody with access to the Internet can peddle theirwares."

Where The Leads Are

So where should a small company turn?

Saale advises entrepreneurs to hire a consultant. Teske,meanwhile, says small companies should consider buying ads inrelevant trade publications such as Commercial News USA andconsulting with legitimate government-run trade authorities. Henotes, however, that the best use of government leads may be indeveloping contacts for future efforts, as trade leads are oftenoutdated by the time they appear in government listings.

Graham points out that valuable Internet sources do exist. Herecommends Trade Compass (http://www.tradecompass.com) andVenture-Web (http://www.venture-web.or.jp) ashelpful sites. As a general rule, though, he encourages globalentrepreneurs to find leads the old-fashioned way: "The bestleads are referrals, tips given to you by a third party who knowsyour company."

Next Step

• Visit: The Association for International Business athttp://www.aib-world.org

• Read:Entry Strategies for International Markets(Jossey-Bass Publishers) by Dr. Franklin Root.

Contact Source

J.E. Teske, (843) 571-5010, jeteske@awod.com

JPG Consulting, jpg@fast.net, http://www.going-global.com