ECCT SME-CENTRE WORKSHOP

“Successful Exporting”
Also called – “I could sell that in my country”

Guest Speakers
Mr. Christophe Prost, Manager of Q.C.S. Asia
Mr. Laurent Balian, Manager of Fatton Taiwan

Event co-organizer
Chinese Culture University Innovation Incubation Center

14:00 – 17:00, Friday, July 16, 2010
Chinese Culture University JianGuo Branch, Room 904 /
中國文化大學建國南路, 904教室
No. 231 JianGuo South Road Sec 2, Taipei /台北市建國南路二段231號

Most foreigners that come to Taiwan have at some point in time been struck with the thought – “I could sell that in my country.” So how to get it right? How to build a successful exporting business that has the right products, strategy and staff? What functions can you outsource and what do you need to do yourself?

Mr. Christophe Prost is from France but has lived in Taiwan for 19 years where he has built a very successful business exporting key chains and corporate gift items. He now runs his own production plant in China and has customers all over the world. He will share with us his hard earned experiences, not to jump the gun, but here are a few early pieces of wisdom:

“The cheapest price is never the most competitive.”
“The product has no value at all, service is everything!”

Our second speaker is Mr. Laurent Balian, manager of Fatton Taiwan, a 101 year-old forwarding company. Mr. Balian will be able to fill in with the technical aspects of moving products from A-to-B in the most efficient manner.

So if you have ever wondered if you could make money selling X in country Y, then this workshop is for you. The workshop will be followed by a Q&A session, during which attendees are invited to raise questions related to their own companies or potential exporting deals.

This ECCT SME Centre Workshop will also be the occasion for two members to briefly introduce their company– a feature that happen at every ECCT SME Centre organized events.

On November 26, the SME Centre conducted a seminar together with the School of Continuing Education (PCCU) at Chinese Cultural University, JianGuo South Road. The topic was: Use online and offline market surveys and telemarketing to launch your new product or reach a new market.

This event was sponsored by Enspyre, 104 Survey and PCCU.

On 9 April, the ECCT's SME Centre invited three experts to offer advice to Taiwanese companies on how to market and sell their products and services to Westerners in a workshop titled: Marketing to Europe: How to Sell Your Taiwanese Brand and Products to Western Clients.

Session I

Topic: Selling to Westerners: Door-opening communication techniques

Speaker: True Black

•    Treating potential clients as individuals is important as is finding out their goals, priorities and motives while showing sincerity in helping them to resolve problems will make them feel as though they can view you as valued partner.

•    Once potential clients have expressed an interest in your company, it is important to follow up proactively without being so persistent as to become annoying.

•    Mastering cross-cultural communication is difficult and takes time and practice but understanding the difference between the typical Asian (high context) versus Western (low context) communication styles is a good starting point. 

•    Marketing materials that work in Taiwan will probably not translate well directly so it is important to get all content edited by a professional.

Session II

Topic: PR and Marketing as a Taiwan Manufacturer with Your Own Brand

Speaker: Jean-Pierre Skalamera, General Manager, IT Media Gate Co., Ltd.

•    Establishing a successful brand requires decisive action and commitment. No matter how good you are you can’t just wait until you’re discovered. Relying on a distributor to do your promotion for you also may not succeed as they have other clients and their own business to promote as well.

•    Making good use of the media is effective and not always expensive. As journalists are always looking for good content, if you provide interesting information about your products or services, chances are journalists will use it, thereby giving you free advertising.

•    Appearance is important so pay attention to design and ensure that the quality of your content is top notch.  

Session III

Topic: IT Strategies for Marketing to Europe

Speaker: Thomas Siegers, Founder and Managing Director, Songfuli Co., Ltd.

•    Tastes differ by market so what is appealing to Taiwanese consumers may turn off Westerners. Therefore website design and content should be modified for specific markets.

•    Since the majority of Western users use search engines rather than communities like blogs and forums, a website needs to be search-engine-friendly. This means that frames and tables that cannot be read by search engines should be avoided.

•    Websites should also be simple to understand and navigate, interoperable with all language characters and be compatible with all browsers.

•    “Content is king” so a website needs to be frequently updated with quality content.

On 1 April, the ECCT's SME Centre hosted Lin Chang, Senior Consultant from the Chinese Cultural University’s (PCCU) Innovation & Incubation Center at an evening event held at the offices of the BECC Consulting Group. In his presentation to SME members Chang gave some useful information and tips on how to gain access to the government’s NT$484 billion stimulus budget.

Chang’s presentation was preceded by a happy hour sponsored by Citizen International Foods, Macallan Fine Oak and Cottingham & Co.

•    According to Chang, the first step is to know which ministry to approach for funding your type of business. The good news is that there is plenty of money, so much that some ministries are worried that they won’t be able to spend it all.
•    Of the NT$150 billion stimulus budget allocated for 2009, the largest portion has been given to the Ministry of Education (NT$46 billion) followed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (NT$35.6 billion), the Ministry of Economic Development (NT$21.3 billion) and the Council of Agriculture (NT$22.4 billion).
•    Corporations that are focused on the government’s targeted “emerging” industries such as biotechnology, green power, health care, modern agriculture and culture and creativity are at an advantage to traditional industries and more likely to get funding.
•    Given the economic crisis and Taiwan’s rising unemployment rate, preference will be given to projects that create jobs. Thus, submissions must clearly demonstrate that every NT$1 million in funding will create at least one job.  
•    However, the process of getting funding is complicated and time consuming. Chang admitted that it would it be difficult for foreign enterprises to get funding without first teaming up with a local partner. He also recommended getting the support of a “trusted advisor”. In this regard it is best to be endorsed by an academic as scholars are most trusted by the government.