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After narrowing down some of your options, it is often very beneficial to visit the country (or countries) you have deemed the most attractive for your exporting plans. By visiting these target markets, you will be able to:

• Gain a first-hand experience of the cultural and customary practices that may be in place.
• Have a better understanding of the size and scope of possible opportunities
• Gain a clearer insight on customers' needs and wants by meeting with potential customers
• Observe how the products or services are used in the market and by whom
• Identify the costs involved and the distribution channels

Department of Industry & Investment has an active Trade Promotion Program focusing on important markets and key industry sectors. The program includes:

• Trade missions that cater for a range of products/services or are industry specific
• Support for participation in selected international trade exhibitions
• Independent market visits tailored to meet an individual company's needs.

As a member of an official government trade mission, participants often gain access to key decision makers that would be difficult to access if going alone. Check out DSRD's website: www.export.nsw.gov.au to see if your chosen market is in the list and if so, take advantage of the opportunity.

Planning the visit

Prior to undertaking a visit to any potential country for exporting opportunities, you should:

• Try to set up a local contact on the ground to help you such as a distributor to help with transport and meeting arrangements during your visit, particularly in countries where you are not familiar with the culture or  don't speak the local language
• Accomplish as much as possible before the visit, you should write a basic day by day plan of what you want to achieve and estimate how long each activity or meeting will take and don't forget to factor in local travel times.
• Try to setup appointments and meetings etc. before you leave so you don't end up with unnecessary spare time while you are away.
• Try to make accommodation arrangements before you leave as far as possible, particularly for your first few days as you don't want to arrive and not have suitable accommodation
• Try to estimate as far as possible your on ground costs such as transport and accommodation etc so you don't get any unexpected high expenses
• Be aware of local culture and protocols, do some reading before you go, particularly if the country you are visiting is one that has a culture you may not be very familiar with
• Determine any required material for the meetings and where possible send company profiles etc to potential customers in advance so they can pre-read before meetings
• Estimate the approximate time required to accomplish the tasks

Note: The Department of State & Regional Development manages Visit Programs to many of Australia's key trading markets, which can ease the organisational burden and often deliver better quality contacts in the selected market.

During the visit

To maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of your visit, you should:

• Use the visit as an opportunity to try and finalise any local distributor or representatives.
• Confirm suitability of distribution channels selected
• Find out about competitors' pricing, product characteristics, perceived strengths and weaknesses, buyer behaviour, customer service of competitors etc.
• Analyse competitors' promotional activities, including packaging, advertising and other communications
• Review industry standards and other regulations and determine the cost of any applications, testing and approvals which impact on your product/service
• Collect any industry statistics available which provide further information on your market
• Develop more in-depth relationships with prospective distributors and confirm the marketing strategy options
• Meet the prospective distributors and evaluate the shipment, review the order dispatch and shipping cycle, develop control systems for forecasting any future orders
• Attend sales meetings as the product release program commences^[1].

Post-visit actions

It is highly recommended that you follow up your visit as this is an effective way to show you are keen and enthusiastic to conduct business. In addition, your visit may not be considered complete until all the outstanding actions have been satisfactorily fulfilled. Other follow-up actions may include:

• Review meeting notes, business cards and contact lists
• Confirm mutual expectations in writing
• Maintain regular follow up.

^{[1] Winning Exports Workbook, Pitman}