Basic rules for international business! -written & posted by tim i gurung, June 2009

It might sound like a cool idea but doing business internationally is not easy. It also takes a lot of affords, energy, travelling, patience, perseverance and time to establish a very good and reputable international business. The hardest part is to find the right people with right products for your market. And it will take ages to earn the respect and trust of people you worked with.

Being a buyer is always an easy task. If you post a buying requirement on the internet or business portals, you will probably have thousands of people offering you a lot of variety of products. It is definitely not an easy job to select the right one from the masse as they might also have the same photos and details. Especially from Asian suppliers, it is really hard to differentiate the genuine from the fake one as they also use the same photos and descriptions. Then you might think that the best way would be to play the price card and go for the lowest one. That is also where the actual trap lies. The key word to avoid this trap is to always have the right price, not necessarily the lowest one.

There are also other factors that you have to consider very carefully before the actual ride. Such information as the collection they carry, the way they present on the corporate website, know how of the actual products, sampling policy, delivery and payment terms, claims and repayment policy, years of experience, market share and authenticity etc. are to be collected and analyzed thoroughly. If possible, always insist on meeting the owner or manager of the company before ordering any products from the company. If that is not a viable option, just pick up the phone and give a call to the guy and all the doubts will just go away.

The 1^st step of any serous deal for international business is the making of the samples and make sure you have one before any big or small buy. And also make sure that you pay for it and also keep it save for future reference. Should the goods are not as per the agreed sample and there is a dispute, it will be your holy grail to win the case and get some money back from the dodgy supplier. Otherwise, it will be just like the water being poured into the sands.

And for the payment, always use the letter of credit through your bank and make sure you do the final inspection of the goods before the actual loading into the container. This can be done by yourself or by just hiring a third party for the inspection job. This might cost you few more bucks, but it will help save you a lot money as well as headaches in the coming future.

Business is all about trust and it has to be absolutely vital for all the businessmen. It is just like two way traffic and both the supplier and the customer must have mutual respect and trust to each others. And that can not be possible without meeting each others. Therefore, if you found a right business partner and have not met him even after few deals are already done, it is time for you to jump on the plane and go for the meeting without any delay. The most common and usual mistake made by both sellers and buyers is always going for short term goal. It is like in a relationship and it always takes time to have a good and long lasting one. That same rule also applies here and it will definitely be good for your business.

These are few basic things about international business. However, in order to be an expert on international business, one has to be able to read and understand the actual situation and react accordingly in the best possible way. It will be only possible when you are with many years of experience. And that will take a lot of time for sure!