Global Expansion - How do you do it as a small shipping business?

Over the last few months, our staff and I have attended many seminars, lectures, forums and speaking opportunities regarding the expansion of your business into a global market. Most of these events are focused on manufacturing or distribution but they can also be applied to service and global shipping service networks.

So, are you a small NVO/FF, Importer or Exporter looking to expand globally? Well, this can be done and you might be surprised as to how this can be done and what is available. First, let me speak about the State of Virginia....(probably the same is available in any state)

State of Virginia has organizations like Export VA or Yes Virginia, or even VA Economic Development that provides free support to businesses that are looking to hook up overseas and expand. Most recommend a relationship, like a local distributor or sales organization that is already on the ground in the local area you want to get into.

There are also US Based sales representatives, representing a country, a port, or municipalities that will help introduce your business to like businesses or potential clients to expand your reach as a business...again, all FREE!

Finally, most states and the federal government have mission trips, trips where you pay a fee and the organization, local, state or federal, that will set up meetings with potential clients, partners and distributors, tailor made for your organization.

Yes, much of what is written here is "general" but there are specifics in each area that we can provide for you if you are interested. But, there are many cases where a small business has "blown open" their revenue line just by getting into one of these programs, making an outreach to an organization that can help and that these mission trips can be direct hits to expand your business and outreach.

Our organization here in Virginia is setting a strategic goal for 2012 to exploit all these opportunities available and let's see how it works for us.

If you want to discuss this further, please reach out to us and look for our new website, twitter feed, blog post and new software and online training products, being updated and deployed as we write this.

Have a great holiday season and we look forward to 2012...hope you will have a great year too.

ARTEMUS OUT!

Fees - Fees - Fees and More Fees

Good Day - all the talk in transportation for the public is the amount of money airlines and even banks are making millions on fees.  Fees for baggage, fees for the use of services provided by the service provider and as you all know, in the maritime business, we have surcharges, port fees, documentation fees, even fees to use the live customer service line instead of booking or using the online services provided by carriers and freight intermediaries. 

One good way to avoid fees is to get to know the details of the business and in doing so, do more yourself.  In international cargo shipping, you really need to understand the business in detail to avoid many fees. 

Documentation fees, for example...many exporters and importers can avoid many of these fees by doing certain processes themselves.  Exporters can file their own AES or Ex Dec.  Importers can do their own cargo customs reporting, to avoid paying brokers to do this for them.  Intermediaries can file their own AMS and ISF for their shipments and avoid this charge from the carriers.  Exporters and Intermediaries can electronically send in bookings to Ocean carriers without even picking up the phone. 
Understanding the details of how the business works and doing more yourself can avoid some fees that do add up over time.  These are also places where, if you are a carrier, freight forwarder, broker, importer or exporter, that you can add to your own revenue stream by doing these services for your clients. 

Yes, this is a self serving post because Artemus does provide training in how to "do it yourself" We even have a class coming up in Virginia Beach VA on November 28 that will review all the critical shipping process and give you the tools to "do it yourself".  If your not local, the same class is available online.

Artemus also provides software, systems and support to provide you with the tools and training needed to take your service under your own control, save money and hopefully provide more profit to your bottom line.

The bottom line is that the more you know about the process or service you are working with, the more you can ultimately save money by doing more yourself.   
And yes, TECHNOLOGY is key here so give us a call and ask us how we can help!  866-744-7101

Artemus OUT!

Does investment in Technology or Service give you an advantage?

Technology or Service - Some say they can be one in the same but the experience in our industry would argue that they are very different. Service is the interaction with the client (your people)...the alerts, the phone calls, the emails, the overtime hours getting the job done. Technology supports service but so many use Technolgy as a "service" or more specifically, "self service"

The way we see it here at Artemus is that service is and always will be human interaction with the customer. The "may I help you", or "would you like me to call you when.....". or even "there has been an issue with your shipment, we did X and all is back on track". or, "I'll do that for you" That's service.

Our clients are telling us that to compete, they need access to better systems and technology, they need to move, send, received and provide more information. But none of them ask us to make technology replace them. The small to medium size carrier or freight intermediary wants to be close to the client. They need the phone, the want to talk to them but they want the ability to proactively advise and service them, update them, counsel them or even replace much of the time consuming work they perform with smart technology applications and smart process improvements.

NONE of the client of Artemus ask us to find the most advanced technology for them so that they can replace their service with it.

The final facts are these...in international shipping, service will always be what makes you successful and technology will hopfully go from a mentality of "serve yourself" to let us serve you better and in doing so, technology will make our clients better service providers and also make them more profitable.

So, does an investment in technology or service give you an advantage? The investment in service, which includes people first and technology second, gives you an advantage and if you invest in people first, then the investment in technology should make you more profitable.

Artemus OUT!

TECHNOLOGY IN TRADE - YES, WE ARE BEHIND!

Technology usage in international transportation and trade is a must. One of the oldest industries is one of the slowest to ditch the paper and go "e". E-Commerce is an old term that is now be replaced by terms like "cloud", "virtual", "flash", "beam" etc etc. Moving information without even a file or just a transfer through blue tooth, beaming, place in a virtual environment.

But in international shipping, why can't we ditch the paper and go "E" in total.

Example....a Bill of Lading....still in so many places in the US, you have to present it to get cargo...why can we just show up and beam the information to you? Why can't I upload it to you from a flash drive....or why can I just send you one of these QR Code things on email or from my hand held device or smart phone?

Got a smart phone? Click on the image below and scan it with a smart phone app bar code scanner....You'll see what I mean!

I could put all the information in a Bill of Lading and store it on a little image like this....so when I scan it with my smart phone, it loads my system and WHOOSH...no data entry, no paper, nothing?

Why can't we get over it and lose the paper!

So many other industries, even RETAIL can keep inventorys with bar codes and scanners....I can use my smart phone, scan a bar code and get an instant BEST PRICE for an item with walking

distance...within seconds! Why can't the shipping industry DITCH THE PAPER and go totally "E"

At Artemus in 2011, our clients will have that option....and provide their clients with electronic transfer of shipment data, automatic upload and download to avoid data entry and state of the art communication abilities to lessen the time it takes to do the work and provide their clients with high end services in a totall web based, cost effective manner.

Artemus clients are going "E", why can't the rest of the industry go "E" in total for all transacting?

Cheers!