Appointing the right export adviser or consultant is one of the most important early decisions a new exporter will make. Before a business begins its international journey, it needs practical guidance from someone who understands not only the theory of exporting, but also the realities of operating in overseas markets.
International trade advisers come in many forms. Some are market specialists. Some have expertise in particular product sectors. Some have broad experience across the full export process. Others, unfortunately, may have only limited practical knowledge of international trade.
For a new or developing exporter, the first requirement is to understand what kind of advice is needed. In my view, there are four essential early steps.
Step 1: Research — Identify the Right Market
The first question is not simply, “Where can we sell?” but “Where should we sell first?”
This requires research into population, demographics, geography, business culture, routes to market, competition, local regulations, standards, payment practices, and the practical accessibility of the market.
Step 2: Planning — Decide What Needs to Be Done
Once a possible market has been identified, the exporter needs a clear plan. This should include an honest assessment of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
A proper export plan should also consider facilities, production capacity, staff, finance, technical support, documentation, after-sales service, intellectual property protection, and the company’s ability to manage overseas customers professionally.
Step 3: Classification — Identify the Correct Tariff Code
The correct tariff classification is essential. Import duties, taxes, local restrictions, documentation requirements, and landed costs may all depend on the tariff code.
Duty rates can make the difference between a competitive offer and an uncompetitive one. No export price should be finalised without understanding the tariff position in the target market.
Step 4: Analysis — Select the Priority Market
Only after research, planning, and classification should the final choice of priority market be made.
At this stage the exporter should consider market potential, ease of entry, cost of entry, risk, payment security, business culture, legal protection, and the availability of suitable agents, distributors, customers, or partners.
Once these foundations are in place, the business can move on to the practical mechanics of exporting: packing, shipping, documentation, payment terms, legal agreements, insurance, and compliance.
What Is an “Export Practitioner”?
When UK Trade & Investment, later the Department for International Trade and now part of the Department for Business and Trade, issued contracts for international trade advisers, the requirement included the following principle:
“ITAs will be expected to provide high quality advice to UKTI’s customers, with the aim of educating and assisting them to develop the capability to grow through international trade. The ITAs need to be export practitioners with general exporting experience.”
That phrase, “export practitioners”, is important. To someone outside international trade, it may sound straightforward. In practice, it needs careful definition.
An export practitioner should not simply be someone who has observed exporting from the sidelines. The role requires practical experience of how international trade works: identifying markets, negotiating with overseas customers, understanding agents and distributors, dealing with pricing, documentation, shipping, finance, payment risk, and the commercial realities of doing business across borders.
In my view, the absence of a clear national definition has been a weakness. Without a proper definition, organisations responsible for recruiting or managing advisers may struggle to identify whether applicants have the necessary practical experience.
My Perspective
I have been fortunate to see international trade from several different angles. I have worked:
- alongside diplomats in the Commercial Section of the British Embassy in Seoul;
- alongside civil servants on country desks at the Department of Trade and Industry in Victoria Street;
- for major industrial groups in export sales and marketing;
- for myself as an export merchant, negotiating sales, purchasing products and components, consolidating and shipping goods, preparing documentation, and obtaining payment under letters of credit;
- as Export Consultant for the four South Yorkshire Chambers of Commerce, where I established the Export Development Service.
That combination gave me a broad view of international trade, from the factory office and the export department to government, chambers of commerce, embassies, and independent commercial practice.
Experience in Major Companies
I spent around fifteen years with the IMI and Hepworth Ceramic Holdings groups. In large companies, export functions are often departmentalised. There may be separate departments for quotations, orders, shipping, invoicing, and credit control.
This gives people valuable technical knowledge within their own area, but it can also mean that their experience is compartmentalised. A person may become highly skilled in one part of the export process without necessarily understanding the whole chain from enquiry to payment.
Experience as an Independent Export Merchant
My own business, BNA-Gowanbury, gave me a much broader and more practical education.
I travelled regularly to the Middle East, selling products into Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Muscat, and Kuwait. I negotiated contracts, sourced products and components, arranged consolidation and shipment, prepared the export documentation, and processed payment under letters of credit.
That was where I became, in the fullest sense, an international trade practitioner. The terminology and practice of letters of credit, usance drafts, sight drafts, bills of exchange, and payment risk were not abstract matters. They were part of the day-to-day reality of getting paid.
Experience with Chambers of Commerce
During my time with Barnsley Chamber of Commerce, I became particularly familiar with rules of origin, certification, trade missions, and the support structures available to exporters.
Chambers of Commerce perform useful functions, especially in documentation and business support. However, involvement in certification or trade missions does not, by itself, make someone an experienced exporter. There is a difference between observing international trade and carrying it out commercially.
Experience with Diplomats
Diplomats in commercial sections can play an important role in supporting British business overseas. They help with briefings, introductions, visits, events, trade missions, and market promotion.
However, much of the detailed market research and commercial knowledge often comes from locally employed staff, who may have long-standing knowledge of the market, language, culture, and local business practice.
Embassy support can be valuable, but it is not the same as personally negotiating, shipping, documenting, and being paid for export business.
Experience with Civil Servants
Civil servants working on trade policy and country desks also have an important role. They see the wider policy environment, ministerial priorities, overseas market development, and the relationship between government and business.
However, this experience is often one step removed from the commercial transaction itself. It provides perspective, but it does not automatically provide the hands-on expertise required to guide a company through the practical realities of exporting.
The Problem for New Exporters
The difficulty for new exporters is that advisers and consultants vary greatly in background and experience. Some are excellent specialists in particular sectors, markets, or functions. If a company needs that specific expertise, they can be extremely valuable.
However, a new exporter often needs something broader at the beginning. They need someone who understands the full export journey: market selection, pricing, agents, distributors, tariffs, documentation, logistics, payment risk, and commercial follow-through.
In my experience, the best general export advisers are often those who have worked inside small and medium-sized enterprises. In SMEs, people are less likely to be confined to one department. They are more likely to have dealt with the full chain of exporting, from first enquiry to final payment.
Conclusion
Exporting is not simply a matter of enthusiasm, language ability, travel experience, or knowledge of one overseas market. It is a practical commercial discipline.
A good export adviser should be able to help a business identify realistic markets, understand risk, prepare properly, and avoid costly mistakes. A specialist adviser may be exactly right for a specific market, product sector, or technical problem. But for a new exporter beginning the journey, broad practical experience is often the most valuable quality of all.
What would help new exporters more than anything is a clear, nationally recognised definition of what constitutes a suitably qualified export practitioner.
Until that exists, businesses should take care when choosing an adviser. They should ask not only what the adviser knows, but what the adviser has actually done.
Gerald Bratley MCIEx