Selling Latin America: A Problem in International Salesmanship. / What to Sell and How to Sell It

by William Edmund Aughinbaugh

It will soon be apparent, assuming that the official or representative who has gone over the field finds it pregnant with possibilities, that your business in Latin America may be conducted upon one of the following lines:

First. The opening of your own branch house for each country, or for a group of countries.

Second. Establishing an exclusive agency for each country with a resident merchant therein.

Third. Selling through your own representative directly and conducting your own shipping and banking.

Fourth. Marketing your article through some American export commission house.

Fifth. Exploiting your goods through your own representative and turning the account over to a local or native commission house or merchant for forwarding the goods and collecting for the same.

Sixth. Uniting with several manufacturers in allied lines and sending one salesman to represent you, on a co-operative plan.

Which of these particular forms of introduction is best adapted to your special line is a matter for you alone to determine.

Assuming that your capital and commodity warrants you in establishing a branch house in each individual country or in a group of countries, which is by far the best plan of conducting your business, the question of prime importance is that you should be located in or near the leading seaport in order that you may be close to shipping as well as to be able to superintend personally the discharge of goods and their clearance through the slow moving native custom houses. Great care should be taken to be on the leading line of railway, or near as many different lines as possible in order to facilitate the forwarding of goods to their destination and to the interior. These are vital factors and should be carefully weighed in determining your location. If your business is one requiring the carrying of a large and varied stock, it will be rather difficult to get proper warehousing accommodations especially in the metropolis or port and it may be necessary to erect your own building for this purpose.

The adoption of this system of introducing a line of goods requires careful planning and too much stress cannot be laid upon the selection of a tactful and experienced manager for your venture. Banking arrangements must be made. Municipal and state taxes must be provided for and the thousand and one details attended to that are unknown and unheard of in this country, each one of which requires patience and tact in solving and means the expenditure of money and the apparent wasting of much time. In other words the initial expense involved is far greater than a similar undertaking would be in the United States or Europe and only a business yielding large profits can be expected to withstand the immense financial drains to be incurred. While the salaries of the native office help will be comparatively smaller than the prices paid in the United States, still there will be noted an increased cost in maintaining a travelling force as well as the necessary American employes of the staff. Transportation charges are high and the cost of a salesman on the road in any of these lands means fully double the expenses of a similar man in this country. Travel facilities are poor, distances between markets long and much time must be consumed in each city visited, especially in the preliminary trips, all of which increases the cost of the traveller, and for the first few years makes him a rather expensive luxury. This must be submitted to with patience for upon his efforts depends your success. It therefore follows that the business to be done must be a large one to afford such preliminary charges and its future outlook must be of the brightest character. That such agencies can be maintained at a profit however is proved by the fact that all the large houses of Europe prefer doing business along this line, and within comparatively recent years this is the method being employed by the big American houses and corporations venturing into these territories. The Standard Oil Company, the Vacuum Oil Company, The Singer Sewing Machine Company, The National Cash Register Company and many of the larger mercantile houses and manufacturing concerns maintain their own branch offices in the principal cities of the Latin American countries and are entirely satisfied with the results.