Catalog and video/catalog shows generate trade leads

Business America, Sept 25, 1989

Catalog and Video/Catalog Exhibitions are an effective, low-cost vehicle for small- and medium-sized U.S. firms to introduce their products and services in many overseas markets. The exhibitions provide firms with an opportunity to find customers and to solicit agents and representatives from qualified prospects. We describe the Catalog and the Video/Catalog shows in this second article in Business America's series on Commerce Department export services.

The cost and time required for small- and medium-sized companies to travel to foreign countries to develop markets is often prohibitive. For many smaller markets, so little statistical and marketing information is available that it's hard for a company to know whether it has a reasonable prospect for sales there. Even developed markets represent largely unknown potential for small or novice exporters.

How can a firm test the waters without incurring steep travel and exhibition expenses?

Over the past 20 years, the Commerce Department has developed two low-cost trade promotion techniques to help such companies generate leads, whether they are looking for sales or representation for their products or services: Catalog and Video/Catalog Exhibitions. To participate, U.S. firms send their product catalogs, sales literature, and video presentations to the Commerce Department. In advance of the exhibition, overseas commercial officers in the Department's U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service work with local chambers of commerce, trade associations, and other business organizations to sponsor events at which local prospective agents, distributors, and buyers are invited to review the material presented by American companies and to evaluate whether business connections with them would be to their advantage. Each local firm visiting the event is interviewed about its qualifications and interests and is directed at specific U.S. participant catalogs and videos.

A Catalog Exhibition costs a U.S. firm $100 to $300 to display its product catalogs and sales literature in 10 to 25 overseas markets. Fifty to 500 firms participate.

A Video/Catalog Exhibition costs a firm $1,000 to $1,500 for the development of a video presentation that will be shown in 10 to 50 overseas markets. Participation is limited to 20 firms. The Commerce Department arranges for a private contractor to produce a master video show from audio-visual materials furnished by the participants. The show will usually be an hour long, with a three-to-four minute presentation for each participant. The video show will be made in the language of the countries where exhibitions are scheduled and will be converted into the video process used in each country.

Commerce Department overseas commercial officers provide a staff at the shows that is fluent in the local language. The commercial officers observe the reaction of visitors to the shows and prepare a report for each U.S. participant listing the names and addresses of visitors and a concise report on their particular interests. After a show, they keep the catalogs active, using them in later promotional events or featuring them in embassy libraries.

A typical participant receives 50 detailed, qualified leads for each Catalog or Video/Catalog show it enters. For example, BIRD-X, a Chicago firm representing bird and rodent control products and dental laboratory supplies, has received 120 trade leads as a result of participating in U.S. catalog exhibitions since last October. Mary Kisinger, the company's International Sales Manager, said, "We consider catalog exhibitions to be a very cost-effective means of showing our products overseas."

A Video/Catalog show featuring auto parts and accessories now making the rounds will eventually be seen in 20 countries in Latin America. In Monterey, Mexico, the two-day event drew 150 visitors, of whom 100 were considered "solid" business contacts. Results included four specific trade opportunities and 436 trade leads. In Honduras, the video was shown in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, with good attendance.

Catalog shows now under recruitment or being planned include "Marketing USA" in the Asia/Pacific area and the Middle East; Tourism Equipment and Supplies in the Asia/Pacific area and the Caribbean; "Transportation Systems USA" in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; Oil and Gas Field Equipment in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia; Medical & Analytical Instruments, worldwide. Video events being developed include Plastics Production Technology in Latin America; Food Production Technology, worldwide; and Airconditioning & Refrigeration, worldwide. A firm can obtain complete calendars of all Catalog and Video/Catalog shows from any district office of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration.

Firms interested in learning more about such events, or how to participate, should telephone James Boney or Louis Quay on (202) 377-3973, or write to Catalog Exhibitions Program, US&FCS/EPS, Room H2119, U.S. Department of Commerce, Wash., D.C. 20230.