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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Our View: Cheers to RCC, jeers to juvenile justice ... Opinions mixed at marijuana town hall forum ... Rural Jackson County residents wary of pot 'gold rush' ... Our View: Cheers to RCC, jeers to juvenile justice ... Opinions mixed at marijuana town hall forum ... Rural Jackson County residents wary of pot 'gold rush' ... INTERNATIONAL TRADE Tools available for exporters wanting to expand markets Tools are available, but it takes careful planning, too Comment By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 20, 2015 at 5:10 PM By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 20, 2015 at 5:10 PM » Social News Microvellum has grown to the point where it has employees in multiple time zones and continents. Still, the Central Point-based cabinet and manufacturing software producer has questions about how to expand current markets and move into new ones. Operations Director David Fairbanks asked some of those questions Tuesday afternoon at a regional workshop for exporters put on at Rogue Credit Union by Oregon Small Business Development Network, Business Oregon and the U.S. Commercial Service. The purpose of the workshop was to make local exporters aware of tools available to them through state and federal agencies. "I've done quite a bit of research on the Internet and I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for," Fairbanks said. "Today I learned about the little branch of the business that can help me with my business decisions for international exporting for software." Microvellum has exported its computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing and computer-integrated manufacturing software, primarily to Australia and Canada. "We are interested in exporting to China and the United Kingdom at this point," Fairbanks said. Small Business Administration grants help companies make connections in foreign markets at trade shows, but the agency suggests careful planning. "We try to outline it so you have a plan without shotgunning the whole world," said Dana Shannon of Business Oregon. "If you said now we're going to go to a trade show in China and now to one in South Africa, and then one in Toronto, we try to help you focus so you have a strategy so you are not going to a trade show where there may not be any return. We'll put you into a market where your money has a greater opportunity of getting a return." Scott Goddin, director of the U.S. Commercial Service office in Portland, said his agency puts material in the hands of its counterparts in 78 countries. Companies looking for connections in overseas markets fill out questionnaires and are matched with potential contacts. The more involvement, the higher the fees involved. Sometimes the service can raise hackles, Goddin said. One Ashland company whose current distributor wasn't performing to expectations asked the agency to do a new search and provide five new names. "On the questionnaire, there's a box indicating someone you shouldn't contact, like your current distributor," Goddin said. "They hadn't checked that box. They got a really nasty email back from the existing distributor asking, 'Why are you doing this to me?' That company, the existing distributor, then had its best two quarters." Among the array of services provided are due diligence vetting potential relationships. "If you're talking Canada, get a credit report," Goddin said. "If you're talking the UK, get a credit report. Kazakhstan, if it looks like it's really interesting, some other countries where things are a little more dicey in terms of financial reporting, accounting, that kind of thing, you're not going to just use us. (You're going to triangulate it with some other information). Then it's worth coming to us." For more on global exporting opportunities, see www.oregon4biz.com/Global-Connections/ . Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness , on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31 , and read his blog at www.mailtribune.com/EconomicEdge . By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 20, 2015 at 5:10 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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