On October 25-26, The University of Missouri International Trade Center, along with trade assistance partners from across the region, hosted the 2023 Mid-America Trade Summit. The event brought together top exporters, global trade leaders and trade assistance providers from across Mid-America (Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and Kentucky).

As part of the event, we were honored to receive one of eight Outstanding Exporter Awards granted across the Mid-America region recognizing export success.

We also delivered a presentation, “Building & Sustaining a Successful International Sales Presence.” During that session, we reflected back on our long exporting journey and highlighted seven themes we’ve learned along the way:

1. Be Local: We leverage trade shows, associations, referrals, research, etc. to find the right local partners.
2. Get creative: We connect virtually when needed with representatives and customers, including forming new international partnerships through virtual trade missions.
3. Build relationships: We connect in person with our representatives when possible, check in regularly, and share new value-added resources.
4. Exceed expectations: We deliver operational excellence in quality, service, responsiveness, and logistics.
5. Grow resiliency: To avoid supply chain issues, we 3D print over 20 production parts, build in-house, source multiple backups, and stay in close contact with our suppliers.
6. Seek support: We are grateful for governmental support for international trade shows, marketing, etc.
7. Stay open-minded: We focus on exporting but also import and distribute complementary products.

Exporting has long been a focus of ours (as the newspaper feature below from over 30 years ago illustrates). Now, as we now enter our 90th year in business, we’ll continue to support our representatives around the world and help manufacturers conquer inefficiency with portable solutions, wherever they’re needed.

Tags: awards , outstanding exporter award , 2023 , mid-america trade summit , university of missouri , international trade center , presentations , building & sustaining a successful international sales presence , sessions , local , creative , relationships , expectations , partners , partnerships , representatives , resiliency , support , trade shows , exporting , exports , inefficiency , portable solutions

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