Training
Most of your members will not have had an opportunity to receive
training on techniques for services marketing or services
exporting, as such training is still relatively new. Three sections
can help:
• Help with Services Exporting: information on a wide range of
topics, from designing promotional materials to export market
strategies.
• About Services Trade: links to sites with information on trade
negotiations to liberalize market access.
• Success Stories: ideas for members to become innovative in
their own services export delivery.
What you can do:
• Newsletter announcement. Publicize this site in your
association's newsletter (for sample text, contact slessor@intracen.org).
• Series of articles. Use the site's content to create a series
of brief articles on services exporting tips for your association
newsletter (please send a copy to domeisen@intracen.org).
• Roundtable. Sponsor a workshop or roundtable on services
exporting issues, drawing on material from the Services Exporting
Homepage.
Promoting your market
Most of the site's information is general, targeting a broad
range of countries. Your association can help by suggesting
supplementary country-specific content, contacts, conferences and
other trade events, to ensure that the site's worldwide audience
becomes more familiar with your market as an important provider of
services exports.
What you can do:
• Review the site's Contacts for Information section and propose
additional useful contacts in your home market.
• Review the site's Events section and add upcoming service
industry conferences or trade events in your home market. Send
information to ITC regularly to post in the Events section.
Publicity
You can use the Services Exporting Homepage in several ways to
make the capabilities of your members more visible:
• Association Assistance is a section that allows you to post
information on association activities, such as export awards.
• Finding a Partner allows you to create a link to your
association's web site (if you already have one), upload your
association's membership directory, and/or list your members (with
links to their web sites if they exist).
• Success stories are inspiring to read as well as being very
practical marketing tools. Lessons can always be extracted from the
experiences of others and applied to one's own goals and
circumstances. The Success Stories section supports this exchange
of international export experience, and allows ITC to create a
database of examples of success.
What you can do:
• Success Stories template. If members are willing to submit
their own success stories, provide a template for what to include
in a success story and tell them to submit their stories
electronically.
• Investigate local successes. If members are unwilling/unable
to submit their own success stories, interview selected members who
you know have had export success in order to gather information for
a success story. Draft the success story and, with approval of the
firm, submit the story electronically to the site
administrator.
• Links. If your association has a web site, contact ITC and
request a link to your association's homepage, and offer a
reciprocal link from your site to the Services Exporting Homepage
as a further service to your membership.
• Send announcements to ITC's site. Post information on
activities such as services export excellence awards on the
Services Exporting Homepage as they occur.
• Encourage exchange of contacts. Contact ITC for assistance in
uploading your association's membership directory and/or listing
your members in the partnering database.
Identifying export opportunities
Sector Profiles is a section with industry-specific global
market profiles which highlight market size, trends, market
information, niche export strategies, and on-line resources for
selected service industries. These profiles were developed
specifically for use by developing and transitional economy service
firms.
What you can do:
If your members have access to the Internet: Post a notice in
your newsletter or send an electronic message announcing the
existence of the profiles and instructions on how to download the
information.
If your members do not have access to the Internet: Distribute
profiles to your membership by mail or fax, and/or make copies
available at conferences and association events (please credit
ITC).
Tracking events
It is difficult and time-consuming for firms to research and
monitor sector-specific international events and international
funding for key projects. Your association can provide a valuable
service by tracking such information through the Services Exporting
Homepage and selectively advising your members.
What you can do:
• Check the Events section regularly. Notify members directly or
through your newsletter of upcoming international events of
possible interest.
• Monitor the Bulletin Board for export opportunities posted and
then notify your members.
• Monitor Help in Services Exporting to identify bidding
opportunities for your members.
Engaging trade officers
Most trade officers are much less familiar with how to promote
services exports than they are with promoting goods exports. In
fact, they may be unaware that different strategies are needed.
Helping them become aware of the Services Exporting Homepage and
its contents can help them be more supportive of your members'
exporting initiatives.
What you can do:
• Contact your government. Promote the Services Exporting
Homepage and its contents to trade officers in your Ministry of
Trade and your Export Development Agency.
• Send them relevant information. Monitor information on the
About
Services Trade section and forward it as appropriate to selected
trade officers.
Dorothy Riddle, an ITC consultant on export services
development, can be reached at driddle@compuserve.com
Service Exporting Homepage
Information and Contacts for Service Exporters in Developing and
Transition Economies
http://www.intracen.org/servicexport
What is it?
A "one-stop" resource to help service companies develop and
expand their ability to export services.
The Homepage provides information on all service categories and
sub-sectors as defined under the General Agreement on Trade in
Services (GATS), concluded as part of the Uruguay Round. It offers
help on bidding and tracking internationally-funded projects and
contains a list of important Internet links relating to services
markets and marketing.
The One-stop Shop features information, links and contacts that
allows visitors to share information, identify export
opportunities, locate strategic partners, develop international
linkages, learn from international success stories, exchange ideas,
discuss challenges and provide advice and solutions.
Who is it for?
Service enterprises, professional associations and
governments.
Access to the One-stop Shop is available to everyone. Listing on
the enterprise database is limited to developing countries and
economies in transition. Business opportunities sought and offered
by enterprises in industrialized countries are displayed on the
on-line bulletin board.
For more information:
Peter Slessor, Trade in Services. Tel.: +41 22 730 0517;
fax: +41 22 730 0578; e-mail: slessor@intracen.org