This is part of the Guide to Successful Marketing and Selling to US Importers.
This guide has a chapter containing more comprehensive information on
how not to market and sell to US importers.
For more information, click here.
.
.Just like there are good ways to market and sell to the US importers (see How To Market And Sell To US Importers) there are also bad ways to market and sell. Here are a few of them starting with the worst:
Don't Try To Market Your Product By E-Mail (SPAM)
A good opt-in e-mail marketing strategy can be very effective in finding new customers. More detailed information is in the section Marketing and Selling By E-mail.
However, sending an e-mail sales message to someone you don’t know and who has not given you permission to send that message is a bad and ineffective way to market your product. These messages are called SPAM and they are considered the “poor man’s marketing”.
It may sound like a good idea to be able to send a sales message by e-mail. It’s fast and free. The problem is it’s ineffective. Think of it this way. When is the last time you personally ordered a product from someone who sent you a SPAM e-mail message? Probably you never have. And importers do not order products from SPAM e-mail messages either. They don’t trust these messages. They don’t take them seriously. And they don’t buy from them.
Here are some of the reasons you should not use SPAM e-mail to market your products:
1) Your e-mail message gets lost in with all the other spam messages. The importer probably will not see it. It is in with the Viagra, cheap watches, phony university diplomas, and Nigerian scam messages.
2) SPAM e-mail is considered a cheap way to market. It cheapens your product and your company.
3) Spam e-mails are not trusted, not taken seriously. US importers don’t give orders based on some SPAM message they received.
Do Not Have a Free E-mail Address
As Your Business E-mail
Having a free (hotmail, gmail, yahoo, vsnl, sina, etc) e-mail address is one of the worst things you can do in business. It’s fine for your personal messages to friends. But free e-mail accounts used for business purposes are very, very bad for your business.
US importers do not trust free e-mail addresses. The exporter could be the largest food exporter in that country, but if they have an e-mail address of goodfood@yahoo.com then to US importers they automatically become small. No big companies who know what they are doing use free e-mail addresses for business.
Don't Send A Fax
This is a step up from e-mailing, but it is still a bad way to try to market and sell your products.
Here are some of the reasons you should not use faxing to market your products:
1) Faxed pages do not look nice. They are only black and white, the photos and logos do not show up well, and they make a bad impression. Are you sure this is the way you want to show your products? (Sales letters and brochures look nice and you can show your products in photos)
2) The amount of information you can send is limited - only one or two pages.
3) The function of the fax machine is to get documents from clients, customers and suppliers. It is not a marketing tool. It makes US importers very angry to get sales faxes. It uses their fax paper and ties up the fax machine preventing clients and suppliers from sending legitimate faxes.
4) It is illegal. US law prohibits the sending of a sales message by fax unless the person receiving the fax has given permission.
In most cases the cost sending a fax from overseas to the US is about the same as postage to the US. And a sales letter by mail is much more effective at finding new buyers.
Don't Send Sales Letters that Have Spelling/Grammar Mistakes or Use Out-of-date English
The sales letter that you send to a prospective buyer is your representative of your company. If it looks good then you look good. If it looks bad then you look bad. More detailed information is in the section Sample Sales Letters.
Check your letter to make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes. These mistakes make your company look sloppy and inefficient. Do not use abbreviations as if you are using a telex. For example, using "pls" for please and "u" for you make the prospective customer think that you are lazy. Do not use out-of-date sentences like "Would you be so kind..." and "Under separate cover please find..." These old sentences show that you are old fashioned.
Never push the buyer to do something
Sentences like, "I am looking forward to your favorable reply" are pushy and should not be used. Never use words like "prompt", "ASAP", "at your earliest convenience" etc. They are rude and pushy. US importers are professionals. They will answer you because it's the business-like thing to do. Not because you push them.
