SPAP COMPANY LLC is a hybrid, professional, independent, international, manufacturer’s representative firm that contractually assists US companies desirous of systematically engaging with foreign importer/distributor networks in overseas markets. Objective observers in both the USA and abroad know that USA goods are the most innovative in the world, but even with the benefit of that reputation preceding US manufacturers the International Trade Administration (ITA) states that “less than one percent of America’s 30 million companies export – a percentage that is significantly lower than all other developed countries”. With roughly 70 percent of the world’s purchasing power located outside of the United States, how to account for such collective, multi-generational inertia? Although there are many other, the main reasons seem to be the following:

  1. The self-satisfaction with a politically stable, lucrative market within US borders.
  2. Lack of flexibility in tweaking products, and/or obtaining necessary regulatory/registration approval, in and for foreign markets.
  3. An unrealistic emphasis by management for immediate results, even with the absence of Below The line (BTL) support for the foreign distributor.
  4. A business culture willing to cede foreign markets to competitors who will do what it takes to create import/distribution networks overseas.

With these points in mind, SPAP COMPANY LLC realized that there was a need by USA manufacturers, especially US Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s), for specialized, outside, international representative firms through which the US SME could systematically enter into specific countries or regions. US SME’s and/or VC-funded companies, too bogged down, preoccupied and focused on raising new or additional funds instead of putting in place some of the vital infrastructure needed to generate internationally derived revenue from the exportation of their products or services, might want to consider one or more of the following options to use SPAP’s services:

Many times the reason that no real export preparation takes place is because the whole process remains vague to the US company. The international variables can be so overwhelming that even though management sincerely wants to get the whole, export process started, the program remains in what Saul Bellow called a “warehouse of intentions”. To remedy this, hourly or project-based consulting can help better define the goals and programs that can then be developed to sift through and lift out predicate and non-predicate commercial signals from the raw, voluminous data that washes over all of us. Instead of simply ignoring this information and, by extension, ignoring foreign markets, in being able to get at the shaded, data crevices, the hybrid rep can help find the international importer/distributor who has a genuine hunger and ambition to be formally associated with the US SME who has created innovative products or services. The US SME’s current Export Readiness (ER) and Rep Readiness (RR) might be a work in progress compared to its state-of-the-art product line, and the actual comparitive size of the two principals might not be optimally matched, but such are the practical, mutual needs of the two principals that commercial, distribution agreements can and are made.

The absolute necessity to see the world, connect the dots and strategize accordingly is becoming much more than just a hollow slogan. Most US SME’s that export do it not only because it allows them the chance to tap into foreign revenue streams. There is also the existential topic of whether the company can sustain itself by only focusing on the US marketplace. Harvard Business School lecturer Shikar Ghosh reported in 2012 in his study on venture-backed start-ups that between 2004 to 2010, 75% of them failed. His more recent studies about VC infused start-up companies is that 90% of them fail. To help mitigate against this stark, statical reality, the ITA has pointed out that US SME’s that export provide an extremely useful hedge to help ride out certain fluctuations in the U.S. economy and not only survive, but even thrive, as a business entity.

Although geopolitical and economic trends obviously have to be factored into what countries or regions a US SME might put its export focus on, the genius of the American free enterprise system that encourages risk in US SME’s creating innovative, next-gen, US-Made and/or US-designed health, medical, life sciences, aesthetic and wellness products products is starting to recognize they are clearly under-utilizing their assets if they are only selling in the USA. As this preamble explains, if such a US company is also Export Ready (RR) and Rep Ready (RR). I would like to open up a line of communications with you about the possibility of adding your jaw-dropping product(s) and/or services to my line card for those international markets where SPAP already has a presence in, is building-out or is consistently networking into.

With the right information, with the right foreign relationships, the hinges to the various doors of international commerce can more fully swing open to new, IP-laden, innovative, US-made products, components and enabling technology that can change the world for the better. Instead of being resigned to doing exports on a spot basis, for those US SME’s that choose to be conservative and remain skeletally staffed until the appropriate time, the specialized, hybrid services of an international, manufacturer’s rep is able to step into the vacuum to champion the products and/or services of United States companies who are too busy, or not properly staffed, to do so themselves. The bottom line is that consumers from foreign markets want US-made, value-added products and services; the problem has been in neglecting lucrative foreign markets for want of reliable delivery systems through foreign importers/distributors. And those foreign delivery systems is what the SPAP COMPANY LLC agency is offering.

I hope this short overview gives you and your company a better idea of what SPAP COMPANY LLC does. For purposes of deeper context, the following articles and interviews on exporting and international trade (please tap the “Articles” tab), and my white paper on internationally pioneering US-made products and/or services are available for your perusal. I look forward to communicating with you and/or your Director of International Sales & Marketing about how we might be able to work with each other.