Barriers and Weaknesses in Iran's Exports

Wasting Opportunities

The reality is that we are always in a state of missing opportunities while others are seizing them.

Many Iranian products are being sold in global markets as competitively as brands from countries like Turkey, Spain, India, and even Afghanistan.

Iran has a rich history dating back to the dawn of humanity, and we have long had a presence in global markets.
However, due to neglecting certain issues, we have lost our grip on our markets today.

Customer Acquisition Skills

Customer acquisition skills are the most important factor in selling goods and services worldwide.

Furthermore, people all over the world are seeking to purchase goods and services.

Therefore, one must think of ways to attract more customers.

Branding and Marketing

Customer attraction skills have two main branches: branding and marketing. Undoubtedly, marketing is the most essential principle in every business today.

Marketing is a specific and implementable strategy on all aspects of a business directly related to customer needs.

Branding

In branding, several principles need to be followed:

• Target: Clarity in your objective is crucial as it establishes differentiation between you and your competitors.
• Consistency: Staying consistent in pursuing your objective is key. The more consistent and cohesive you are, the more recognizable your brand will become.
• Emotions: Customers do not always make rational decisions, so finding a way to connect with them on a deeper, emotional level is essential. Use emotional triggers to strengthen relationships and enhance customer loyalty.
• Flexibility: In a rapidly changing world, maintaining flexibility is necessary to sustain relationships.
• Employee Engagement: It is important for your employees to be aware of how they engage with customers and present the brand, which is a fundamental principle.
• Loyalty: Loyalty is a significant aspect of branding.
• Competitive Awareness: While you may offer similar products and services like other companies, to make your brand unique in business and commerce, you must take distinct actions compared to your competitors.

Market Making

• Market Making: This model is a novel approach to improve business performance and increase customer base in a marketing company. To market effectively, one must adhere to a principle. Familiarize yourself with the company, customers, competitors, environmental factors, and most importantly, yourself. 

• Marketing: Refers to activities in the market based on customer needs, demands, and keeping up-to-date. These activities include product research and development, customer relations, pricing, and service distribution.

Market Making vs. Marketing

The difference between market making and marketing is that in modern marketing, the emphasis is on meeting customers' needs based on their demands and interests.

Market making, on the other hand, encompasses a set of behaviors used to prepare the market for the acceptance and transaction of products.

After achieving results and successes in marketing strategies, marketing eventually takes precedence.

Therefore, market making is superior to marketing.

The similarity of market making and marketing

The similarity of market making and marketing is that if basic market making  is done, marketing will be successful.

Therefore, both have common goals to promote and improve the position of organizations in global markets.

Increasing customer attraction, increasing sales, increasing customer satisfaction and increasing market share are their common goals.

Customer attraction

To achieve customer attraction skills, it is necessary to observe two important and necessary principles, neglecting any of them will cause your brand to burn in the society and international markets.

Paying attention to logical advice and correct introduction of the product can remind you of the right time and place in the markets.

Correct understanding of the market and the needs of the target countries are very important and vital and guarantees your presence in the market of a country.

Product introduction

Your correct introduction of the product is the biggest guide for the buyer, which causes the trust and satisfaction of the customer.

Also, keep in mind that a customer doesn't buy from you just once.

Communication skills

Communication skills means establishing effective communication by using people's intelligence, which requires listening well, speaking correctly and on time, observing and empathizing.

Communication skills have various forms, such as face-to-face interactions, telephone conversations, digital communication, etc., that knowing the types of communication skills facilitates a negotiation process and brings the customer closer to you and your company's services.

Being a listener is sometimes a difficult task because most people prefer to be speakers rather than listeners even without knowing about a topic.

Listening and paying attention to what customers say shows respect for them.

How to deal with each customer is different.

Customers may be quiet, emotional, aggressive, angry, etc.

It is you who determines the type of communication and dealing with them.

A clear voice is very important in communication skills.

Setting the tone in communication will attract or repel customers.

Also, not having control over the voice is a sign of your weakness in communication.

Try to understand the customer's feelings.

Many customers do not buy rationally, and in certain situations, it is with respect, empathy and control of your emotions that sales are made.

Making eye contact, the way you sit and walk show the customer how much you can solve their problem.

You must know your products and services from zero to one hundred.

Also, in order to receive proper feedback, it is very important to send correct and logical information that is compatible with the customer's needs.

Many other issues are involved in strengthening your personal and corporate skills, such as etiquette, meeting room, how to interact, understanding non-verbal cues, familiarity with body language, etc.

Strengthen export skills

In this section, we will discuss the strengthening of export skills and examine the lack of success.

The type of contract writing, Incoterms, the type of packaging, bulk sale of goods, lack of familiarity with the laws of the destination country, the method of transportation, insurance, etc. are important points to strengthen export skills.

Export contract writing is an agreement between the exporter and the buyer that specifies the terms and conditions of doing the work, and its writing is of great importance.

In a contract or agreement, the following must be fully and clearly explained.

• The parties to the contract must be known.
• The validity period of the contract should be mentioned.
• The type of product should be written in the text.
• State the purchase price of goods and the type of currency.
• The method of payment should be mentioned in the text.
• Inspection of goods and place of delivery must be indicated.
• The responsibility of obtaining permits and paying customs fees and taxes should be specified.
• Also, what can happen in case of cancellation of the contract and the date of termination of the contract should be written.
• Where is mediation and arbitration to resolve disputes?

Incoterms rules

Incoterms rules are a set of terms that describe the responsibilities of the seller and the buyer in international contracts.

Incoterms in 11 branches was updated for the last time in 2020 and is known as Incoterms 2020.

To learn about Incoterms terms, you can refer to the Incoterms 2020 file and check the responsibilities of the parties to the contract.

Types of contract writing

There are different types of contracts, including sales contract, packaging contract, insurance contract, transportation contract, etc.

Lack of familiarity with the type of contract causes us to fail in situations where the work is brought to arbitration, and sometimes the lack of obligations of the buyer to the points of the contract of merchants and exporters causes irreparable losses.

Product packaging

The type of packaging is one of our biggest problems in exporting product packaging.

Appropriate and stylish packaging can guarantee our presence in international markets.

Getting to know the tastes and culture of the target countries can help us in building relationships.

Our packaging industry is weak and this weakness has caused serious damage to other sectors of our economy.

Types of Packaging

Packaging is divided into three main categories: primary, secondary, and export packaging.

The graphic and visual appearance of packaging should be designed in a way that attracts the customer's attention or indicates the nature of the product from a distance.

Products should be packaged in a way that makes it easy and convenient for the buyer to transport.

One of the most important points is that if the packaging of a product is not disposable, it should be possible to use the packaging as needed while taking care of and protecting the quality and nature of the product in the long term.

Secondary packaging is used at the level of communication between the producer and distributor for the storage and coordination of products.

Secondary packaging should be designed to be suitable for urban transportation, resistant during storage in warehouses, labeling the type and quantity of products in the packaging, and have the ability to unload and load without the need for mechanical equipment.

Export Packaging

Export packaging is mostly used to protect goods from dangers during long-distance transportation.

Export packaging can be classified into 8 types.

These include metal coils, cases, cartons, poly bags, jumbo bags, wooden crates, pallets, drums, and shrink packaging for bulk goods where extra attention is needed in bulk cargo packaging.

Iranian products in other countries

Some countries buy Iranian products in bulk at a cheaper price and sell them in the global markets with fancy and equipped packaging at several times the original price under their own country's name.

For example, Iranian saffron is exported to other countries with Spanish and Italian branding.

Our neighboring country, Turkey, also behaves in the same way with many of our products, taking advantage of the weaknesses in our packaging system and industry.

Transportation and Insurance

The safe transportation and packaging of goods are essential in the proper shipment of export products.

Choosing the necessary type of insurance and selecting closure conditions can cover potential damages.

Analysis and Volume of Goods

The minimum and maximum loading capacity in containers varies in different countries.

Unfamiliarity with the type of analysis used in the target country is another factor of unfamiliarity with the laws.

Conclusion

must be said honestly that we are very weak in exporting goods, and in this file, we have explained each part briefly, while each topic could be discussed and debated for hours.

It is worth mentioning that accepting mistakes leads to correction, and if we do not accept this, we will not improve.

Sometimes we see that the goal of sales is only momentary, and customer retention is not important to us, while survival and guaranteeing permanent presence in the market have a direct relationship with the return of loyal customers.