All Told Latest http://www.alltold.co.nz/Default.aspx?TabId=236&rssid=2&categoryid=7 The latest news from the All Told team. en-NZ SunBlogNuke v2.6.2.0 Bridging a trade divide digital Export wine Food and beverages http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/31/bridging-a-trade-divide <p>Many times in my career, the courage and acumen of New Zealand exporters has inspired me.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG /> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves /> <w:TrackFormatting /> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF /> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> 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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography" /> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading" /> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--><!--StartFragment--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial">This happened most recently when I interviewed Bob Richards of Wine Technology International Ltd for a case study for the New Zealand Export Credit Office (NZECO).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial">Bob related how he appeared to be in a bind.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial">“It was a stressful situation,” he said. “I had to assess from all angles the risk associated with the deal. Without the deep level of trust I had in my partner, and the knowledge I had of the industry, I wouldn’t have proceeded.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial">Ultimately a high level of confidence was required.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial">Similarly, when I interviewed another exporter, Neil Cullen of Wimpex Ltd about a deal he was working on, he said at the end a leap of faith was needed.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial">After 18 months of exponential growth, his company had landed a large export order but it needed a big investment in machinery and stock to realise it. How could Wimpex secure the order and maintain its cashflow? You can read how it achieved it <a href="http://www.nzeco.govt.nz/casestudies/wimpex">here.</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial">I have also written a case study on NZECO’s assistance for </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial"><o:p><a href="http://www.nzeco.govt.nz/casestudies/mrapple">New Zealand Apple Ltd</a>.</o:p></span></p> <p>The brief has been to communicate in compelling, plain English what are complicated trade financial arrangements.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial">I hope the confidence, calculated risk-taking and hard work you will read of in these case studies will be an inspiration for you too in your ventures.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial"><o:p>&#160;</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial"><o:p>&#160;</o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/31/bridging-a-trade-divide#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/31/bridging-a-trade-divide Tue, 16 Sep 2014 20:08:00 GMT 2 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=31 Proposing city initiatives China digital economic development Export Leadership Porirua services Wellington http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/30/proposing-city-initiatives <p>Last month, the Porirua City Council published the third economic development discussion document I had largely drafted for them. The three documents are strategies for global business, and the digital and services industries.<br /> <br /> I was delighted to work with the council on this project, as I have lived in the wider city for 25 years in the seaside ‘villages’ of Plimmerton, Pukerua Bay, Whitby and now Titahi Bay – 20 minutes north of Wellington City.<br /> <br /> I first met the council’s economic development manager, Chris Lipscombe, on my trip to Shanghai in 2010 with the Wellington mayoral delegation. It was great to sit around the table with him again, and his colleague Sakirin Sapeas, sip some Chinese tea and share their thinking and enthusiasm.<br /> <br /> Each of the discussion documents&#160;needed to summarise international, New Zealand and Wellington regional trends in plain English for the city’s residents. They also had to be structured in an inviting way and propose half a dozen recommendations for the council to act on for the city.<br /> <br /> The council didn’t have a lot of money to plough into these recommendations, although it is uniquely positioned to act as a catalyst for them. The work drew on my 20 years of experience in economic development and trade.<br /> <br /> As well as assisting my local city, the project was an opportunity to discover some fascinating trends in the digital and services industries, and also in trade.<br /> <br /> Did you know for example that ultra fast broadband applications could reduce missed school days in New Zealand by 25 million?<br /> <br /> That the services industry accounted for 71 percent of New Zealand GDP in 2011?<br /> <br /> And that there are 20 exporters in Porirua City with a turnover of over $10 million?<br /> <br /> After a consultation phase, the documents will set out planned activities from next year and long-term goals.</p> <p>&#160;</p> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/30/proposing-city-initiatives#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/30/proposing-city-initiatives Fri, 13 Jun 2014 01:14:00 GMT 0 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=30 Ways ahead on a challenging journey Export http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/26/ways-ahead-on-a-challenging-journey <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">Remember the unrelenting gloomy economic reports we were fed by mainstream media editors as the 2008 financial crisis unfolded? Now they are starting again.</span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">A banking leader says global money markets effectively froze last week; an economist is even quoted as saying, “We are at the fork in the road and we don’t know which path we are going to take”. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">Try to find an article aimed at helping the predominantly small businesses in New Zealand, particularly exporters, during these challenging times. They are few and far between. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">I recently attended a presentation by Massey University on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Achieving Growth in Difficult Economic Times</i>. It was based on their ongoing study of some 1,500 small and medium sized enterprises, tracked annually. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">Results for the 2007-2010 period were tabled. During this period, 43 percent of firms showed no growth in any of the four years. But 50 percent recorded growth in either one or two years. And 7 percent had growth in either three or four years.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">These results are not peculiar to New Zealand. In the US, studies conclude that only 10 percent of all publicly-traded companies sustain for more than a few years a growth trajectory that creates above-average shareholder returns.¹<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">Massey University was able to point to three broad attributes the growing New Zealand firms shared:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">flexibility – having a set of different strategies that could be combined to fit the company’s needs and resources&#160;</span></p> </li> <li> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana"><o:p></o:p></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">adaptability – being able to constantly change and adjust strategies to fit the dynamic environment</span></p> </li> <li> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana"><o:p></o:p></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore"><span style="font:7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">human capital – recognising and acting on opportunities for learning. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes">&#160;</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> </li> </ul> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">If you can tick these three off, congratulations, you are on the right path.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">And also take comfort from a further Massey conclusion: that in a recession, vulnerability is not “a given” – some small companies do beat a recession.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">You might also like to consider a figure cited by Stephen Denning in his latest book <i><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/06/08/why-leadership-storytelling-is-important/">The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling</a></i>: persuasion constitutes more than a quarter of the US gross national product.² If good storytelling accounts for at least half of that, then it returns over $1 trillion in the US, Denning concluded. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">I remember telephoning the leader of an exporter who was taking part in a biotech delegation to Melbourne a few years ago. I asked him if he needed a press release for local biotech media who were attending the conference. “Oh no,” he said. “We’re only going as part of the delegation. We’re not seeking individual attention.” Unfortunately that is how many of our exporters are seen overseas. One Shanghai businessman put it in a nutshell, “</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Verdana">New Zealanders seldom make a sound in the international market. They have no passion to introduce themselves to others.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">&#160;</span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">If New Zealand exporters applied as much diligence to the discipline of storytelling as they do to ensuring accounting compliance, how much more could New Zealand transform itself? And they would save themselves time and travel costs because if they make a strong heartfelt connection on first meeting, they don’t have to keep knocking on people’s doors to remind them they are there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">In troubled times, it’s so much more important to make an impression that works for you – to connect with both heart and mind and get the outcome you desire. When the world gets more competitive, we need to be cleverer. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p>¹ Chr<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">istensen and Raynor, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth</i>. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2003, page 7<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">²&#160;McCloskey and Klamer, ‘One Quarter of GDP is Persuasion (in Rhetoric and Economic Behavior’,&#160;&#160;<em>American Economic Review</em>, 1995, 85(2) 191-195<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana"><o:p>&#160;</o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> <!--EndFragment--> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/26/ways-ahead-on-a-challenging-journey#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/26/ways-ahead-on-a-challenging-journey Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:57:00 GMT 0 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=26 Communicating what sets you apart China Export India http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/18/communicating-what-sets-you-apart <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">'Communicating the value proposition' has been highlighted as one of the key priorities for New Zealand exporters by Victoria University's report <em>Service Success in Asia</em>.</span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">The report was<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> </i>unveiled in Wellington on April 4 as part of a nationwide presentation supported by the new Ministry of Science and Innovation, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Export New Zealand and local chambers of commerce.<o:p></o:p></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana"><o:p>&#160;</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">The report is based on interviews with 160 managers in 70 firms exporting to India and China, as well as interviews with 25 customers in each of these two countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">In a video clip of one of the interviews, the manager says India is a hugely competitive country and New Zealand exporters need to be able to stand out from the crowd. <a href="http://www.alltold.co.nz/our-people.aspx">We at All told</a> believe it’s all about good storytelling. For that, New Zealand exporters need the help of experienced professionals.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana"><o:p>&#160;</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">I went to the Wellington presentation which was held at the Wellesley Hotel. There was a strong turnout from ‘NZ Inc’ in the room.<o:p></o:p></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana"><o:p>&#160;</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><br /> </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana"><o:p>&#160;</o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/18/communicating-what-sets-you-apart#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/18/communicating-what-sets-you-apart Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:39:00 GMT 0 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=18 Reborn from the debris Christchurch Export manufacturing http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/17/-reborn-from-the-debris <p>Last week I worked with two Christchurch companies that are repositioning themselves after the February earthquake.<!--StartFragment--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">Both had been trading for over 20 years and both had been serving a Christchurch customer base. Those customers are now no longer buying.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">Both companies had realised they needed to reposition themselves for a broader New Zealand market and to begin exporting to Australia. One was already carrying out market research in Australia and preparing to manufacture a new product line. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">I referred both to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise’s perceptions research&#160;so they could see how Kiwi exporters are perceived in Australia and tailor their approach accordingly. They also wanted a new story that could be used on websites and brochures.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">Like a number of other New Zealand business people, I had registered some free services on the&#160;Recover Canterbury website for companies that, due to the earthquake, could not afford to pay for them. I wrote them each a new promotional story. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">I brought an outside perspective and an understanding of trade. With my questions, I was able to dig for and identify what would be interesting to other people and what sets the company apart. I was also able bring out the business owners’ characters and motivation, making emotional connections with potential customers.&#160;<o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">I could see that both companies’ stories were strong. One was a quest for excellence, the other a rebirth. The people were determined to rise above the trauma they had been through. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">&#160;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&#160;</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Verdana">&#160;<o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/17/-reborn-from-the-debris#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/17/-reborn-from-the-debris Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:22:00 GMT 0 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=17 Telling engaging stories in China China Export Wellington http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/14/telling-engaging-stories-in-china <p>The New Zealand China Trade Association has published an address&#160;I made to the Wellington City Council’s Shanghai Expo Workshop on telling stronger export stories. You can read it <a href="http://www.nzcta.co.nz/articles/1171/strategy-telling-stronger-export-stories/">here.</a></p> <p>The workshop was held for exporters considering going on a trade mission to China in June led by the Mayor of Wellington, Kerry Prendergast. The delegation will visit Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and also Xiamen from June 5-14. I'll be accompanying the delegation in Shanghai and will write some freelance articles on&#160;its experiences for trade websites.&#160;</p> <p>The Shanghai Expo Workshop, held on February 26, was attended by about 60 people. It included a half-hour slot for All Told to give practical advice on how Kiwi exporters are perceived in China, the need to tell good stories and what good storytelling can lead to.&#160;</p> <p>This included an interview by Diana Burns with an exporter experienced in trading in China, Steve Kulevski of <a href="http://www.pertronic.co.nz/">Pertronic Industries</a>.&#160;</p> <p>Steve emphasised the importance of making an emotional connection with Chinese customers and telling a wider story about Wellington, your family and how you got into business. As well as finding a way to relate on a personal level, it was important to be patient and professional he said.&#160;</p> <p>Other speakers at the two-hour workshop included Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Charles Finny, New Zealand commissioner general&#160;for the Shanghai World Expo Phillip Gibson, Wellington City Council’s international relations manager Tom Yuan, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise’s international market manager for North Asia Joanna Hickey.</p> <p>&#160;</p> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/14/telling-engaging-stories-in-china#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/14/telling-engaging-stories-in-china Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:15:00 GMT 0 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=14 How basic plots can help your export storytelling Export Plots http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/13/how-basic-plots-can-help-your-export-storytelling <p>Many ‘stories’ presented by New Zealand exporters are really only fragments of true stories, without the dramatic tension needed to engage a customer. I re-appreciated this as I read <em>The Seven Basic Plots – why we tell stories</em>, by Christopher Booker, over the summer holidays.</p> <p>In some situations where time is limited – say a two-minute conversation in an airport lounge – it is difficult to present more than a slice of your story. You may just have time to recount a situation that illustrates how you could help a customer solve a problem. But on websites and in print, you have plenty of opportunity to tell a full story.</p> <p>As an exporter, you will have been through many situations that created drama – a customer needed something at short notice, a competitor stole your IP, your container with your first order got held up in customs. The list is probably endless.</p> <p>But very rarely will you find any of these situations mentioned on a New Zealand exporter’s website. Most often you will read of their products or services.</p> <p>Yet here is what marketing strategist <a href="http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/">David Meerman Scott&#160;</a>writes in his latest book <em>World Wide Rave</em>: “Don’t talk about your products and services again. Instead, focus on your buyer personas [a distinct group of potential customers] and how you can solve problems for them”.</p> <p><strong>Seven basic plots</strong><br /> By understanding the seven basic plots described by Christopher Booker, you will also be able to model your story on one that resonates with these people you want to do business with.</p> <p>Booker spent 34 years studying and preparing his book which traces common threads in stories that are cultures and centuries apart. These plots will help you in whatever country you export to.</p> <p>The seven basic plots he illustrates are:&#160;<br /> • overcoming the monster <br /> • rags to riches<br /> • the quest<br /> • voyage and return<br /> • comedy<br /> • tragedy and <br /> • rebirth.</p> <p>With the exception of tragedy, all of these plots can be used as a model for exporting stories. The quest, for example, is well suited for those people who try to find the perfect solution to a customer problem, such as a cure for a disease.</p> <p><strong>Comedy<br /> </strong>I’ll just illustrate one plot in this article – the comedy – which has the power to disarm and unify.</p> <p>Booker writes that the essence of a comedy always has three stages:</p> <p>• we see a little world in which people have passed under a shadow of confusion, uncertainty and frustration, and are shut off from one another<br /> • the confusion gets worse, until the pressure of darkness is at its most acute and everyone is in a nightmarish tangle<br /> • finally, with the coming to light of things not previously recognised, perceptions are dramatically changed. The shadows are dispelled, the situation is miraculously transformed and the little world is brought together in a state of joyful union.</p> <p>Now watch this series of short comic videos developed by IBM featuring their own people. See if you think they successfully follow the plot of a comedy.</p> <p>When<em> The Art of the Sale </em>series first began, it showed IBM wasn’t afraid to poke a little fun at itself. The first video has been watched on YouTube by a quarter of a million people. How else could they have got so many people to learn about their mainframe, and soften up their image?<br /> &#160;<strong><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSqXKp-00hM">Watch video</a></strong></p> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/13/how-basic-plots-can-help-your-export-storytelling#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/13/how-basic-plots-can-help-your-export-storytelling Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:59:00 GMT 0 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=13 Creating compelling trade stories Checklist Export http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/12/creating-compelling-trade-stories <p>Here is a 12-point checklist to help you prepare a memorable story:&#160;</p> <p> Are you putting yourself in the shoes of your customers and articulating the emotional and rational needs they have, or a problem they want solved?<br />  Is your story dramatic? Is it set out as a quest for a perfect customer solution or does it begin with a challenge that has to be overcome?</p> <p> Does your story set out the value you deliver that sets you apart?<br />  Do you have engaging details about the main players in your company?<br />  Have you woven in personal anecdotes? If you feel you are putting yourself on the line, your story is more likely to be engaging.<br />  Is your story complemented with interesting visual images?<br />  Is it framed by good design?<br />  Does your story show how your New Zealand location shapes your services or products?<br />  Does your writing demonstrate and show, rather than under or overstate?<br />  Is your story told in plain English?</p> <p> Have you tailored it to the medium and timeframe?<br />  In reviewing your story, does it touch your customers as people?<br /> &#160;</p> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/12/creating-compelling-trade-stories#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/12/creating-compelling-trade-stories Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:48:00 GMT 4 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=12 Trading on credentials Credentials Export Natural products http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/11/trading-on-credentials <p>‘Natural’ is the number one consumer interest in 32 countries surveyed by HealthFocus International. <a href="http://www.nzte.govt.nz/features-commentary/Features/World-business-trends/Pages/Natural-leaders.aspx">This article </a>shows how Kiwi companies NZLavender and Antipodes demonstrate their product claims using evidence that has international standing.</p> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/11/trading-on-credentials#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/11/trading-on-credentials Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:36:00 GMT 0 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=11 Why Kiwi exporters don’t tell stronger stories Export Food and beverages New York http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/10/why-kiwi-exporters-don-t-tell-stronger-stories <p>In May 2003, in an office in New York, Martin Gold the president of Martin Scott Wines Ltd, which then had a portfolio of 300 wineries, looked at me and said about New Zealand:</p> <p>“The people are dynamic and exciting, the country is beautiful and the product is wonderful. I fell in love with all of it. You have a great story to tell.”<br /> Why then do many of our exporters tell weak stories?</p> <p>Perceptions research by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise shows that in all our main markets Kiwi exporters are perceived as underselling themselves. They are not developing strong emotional connections through persuasive storytelling.</p> <p>In a study of exporters’ websites recently, I noticed that three key elements in good storytelling were repeatedly missing:</p> <ul> <li>market demand was not stated</li> <li>interesting detail about the main players in the company was absent</li> <li>where the New Zealand location was highlighted, it was not used to show how it shaped products and services.</li> </ul> <p>By articulating the ‘market pull’, exporters build a bridge with prospective customers. Even some of our leading exporters don’t profile the market demand on their website.</p> <p>For example, one of our honey exporters talks only of the quality of their honey. They don’t talk about how in stressful societies, where people are trying to stay healthy and active longer, manuka honey has ingredients that will help them – and yet that is really the hook for their product.</p> <p>Many exporters have few details about their main people. You will just see their name and title, or perhaps, “My grandfather established Smith &amp; Sons in 1926. Two generations later, we are still going strong.” Now, there is a compelling story under there – it’s just not told.</p> <p>On the other hand, Icebreaker and Trilogy are both good at weaving personal anecdotes into their stories. “Our father arrived chainsaw in hand to carve a great hole in the wall between our two offices,” the Trilogy sisters Sarah and Catherine write. Interested? Anecdotes are vital detail in a good story.</p> <p>All exporters know that New Zealand has a strong perception overseas as being ‘clean and green’. Companies that want to be associated with that image need to demonstrate, however, how it shapes their products and services. <a href="http://www.nzlavender.com/">NZLavender</a> shows with images of Canterbury fields how they create its lavender oil. But a textile manufacturer that featured scenic images of Horowhenua made no link between its setting and its textiles, other than to say they were manufactured there.</p> <p>Why are these three elements repeatedly missing in good stories? There are several possible reasons.</p> <p>One is because to do it well you do need the perspective of an outside writer to dig for and identify what is interesting. It’s hard, skilled work writing in a style that demonstrates and shows, rather than one that under or overstates.</p> <p>Another reason is New Zealanders’ modesty and understatement – we don’t talk about ourselves as easily as say Americans do. But have a care, that understatement can be misinterpreted in overseas markets as being conceited, giving an impression that we’re not ready to empathise with customers’ situations.</p> <p>Building a personal story means you also have to put yourself on the line, and that’s scary for all of us.</p> <p>In reviewing your story ask, “Would that touch a customer as a person?” That’s the key to any good story. It’s also the hardest part to get right.</p> Chris Wilson http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/10/why-kiwi-exporters-don-t-tell-stronger-stories#Comments http://www.alltold.co.nz/latest/entryid/10/why-kiwi-exporters-don-t-tell-stronger-stories Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:34:00 GMT 0 http://www.alltold.co.nz/DesktopModules/SunBlog/Trackback.aspx?id=10