Exporting pays off - Brunton USA of Riverton, Wyoming manufactures and exports compasses - column

Business America, July 15, 1991

A Riverton, Wyo., manufacturer of compasses, is building up export momentum, with assistance from the Wyoming state government's trade office and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The president of the firm makes business contacts at overseas trade shows and in trade missions. The firm informs the world about its products at inexpensive catalog exhibitions. We select our export success stories, not because we endorse any particular firm or its business plan and activities, but because we believe their experiences will instruct other companies to improve their export performance. We welcome your export success story. Write or call: Business America, Room 3414, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230; tel. (202) 377-3251.

Hal Herron, president of Brunton USA of Riverton, Wyo., gives the Wyoming state government major credit for his firm's rising exports. The 40-employee firm manufactures compasses, which it exports, along with binoculars and cutlery for backpackers.

"The state's trade staff in the office of Governor Mike Sullivan has provided us with trade leads and encouraged us to participate in overseas trade shows," Herron said. "The trade staff is unlike any government I've ever worked with-they operate almost like the private sector. They're constantly on the phone with us, telling us about things that are coming up and might benefit us. "

The Wyoming trade staff, headed by Richard Lindsey, has encouraged Brunton USA to take advantage of the export services of the U.S. Department of Commerce through the Denver District Office of the International Trade Administration. The firm has been alerted to trade shows by the Commerce Department and has participated in its catalog shows and Matchmaker trade missions.

As a result of attending the IWA (International Trade Fair for Hunting and Sporting Arms and Accessories) in Nuremberg, Germany, in March, Brunton USA is now setting up a new and stronger organization of manufacturers' representatives in Europe. Also in March, the firm took part in a Matchmaker trade mission to Barcelona and Madrid, Spain, together with other U.S. makers of sporting goods and apparel.

The firm finds Commerce Department catalog shows to be an economical way "to feel out a foreign market," and to turn up leads. The cost ranges from $100 to $300 per catalog show for a company to display its product catalogs and sales literature in 10 to 25 overseas markets. (To participate in a catalog show, a firm should visit or phone a district office of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration-see inside back cover; or contact: Catalog Exhibitions Program, Room 2119, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230; tel. (202) 377-3973.)

Brunton USA has operated in Riverton since 1972 when a group of local businessmen purchased a division of a Denver firm that began producing compasses in 1896. Although Brunton professional compasses have been sold overseas for a long time, Brunton USA began an organized export campaign only eight years ago, primarily for its sporting goods products. Today it sells in 20 countries, including Japan and other nations in the Far East. In several countries, Brunton USA has marketing arrangements with locally well known and respected sporting goods distributors.

Five percent of Brunton USA products now are exported. Herron, who is the firm's one-man export department, says his goal is to increase the percentage to 20 in the next five years.