Followup, Followup, Followup

Business cards from China Bakery Exposition 2018

The "trifecta" of food industry expositions in Asia is complete for May 2018!  Now the work begins.

Our objective to stimulate acceptance and sales of highbush blueberries in the global food industry.  To do this we go into the markets and conduct activities to:

It is not a quick process like a consumer choice at the supermarket.  For a food manufacturer to invest in a new product or new ingredient.  Most of our activities are designed to raise awareness for US highbush blueberries.  In export markets where there is strong competition, we work to differentiate our product.  This often means presenting ingredient solutions such as dried,,liquid and other formats.  For frozen, we promote the functionality of US blueberries which work well in so many applications such as fruit preparations, jams and jellies.

USHBC FoodTech in Korea, Sunyong Lee has 50+ years of experience in the Asian food industry.

At the exposition our skilled Blueberry Food Tech representatives make things interesting.  They know their stuff and the food industry appreciates this.  Most commodity organizations utilize "rent-a-staff" who merely pass out brochures.  We are there to add value to the proposition!  

We meet hundreds of visitors.  Some are already buyers, some looking for specific items and some just looking for advice.   We sit down, talk and follow-up with the answers.

Now, to the magic word: "leads."  At each exposition, seminar or meeting -- we inevitably meet up with companies who are ready to source.  We make very sure we are not interfering with someone else's current business.  We check out the company, look at web site, analyze the request.  You can tell a lot from a business card, and a lot from the type of request given.  We try not to waste the time of our packers back home!

Expositions: We are on a mission!

We categorize the leads by product needed.   Then we create a report with the business cards in English and foreign language with background information.  Nowadays in China fewer and fewer companies are leaving cards and have transitioned to We Chat social media.   We take care of these too.   

The report is posted on a drop box, where all companies who are on the USHBC suppliers list by choice are given access.   An initial invite is made to connect.  If the company connects then regular updates are made notifying of new files or lead reports added.  In addition if companies are not able to access, they can request the details e mailed.   

US packers appreciate the leads.  They followup and make sales.    Once the lead is pursued it is the customer's lead and we protect the confidentiality of the packer and new prospect.   We do appreciate hearing from industry that are making sales in regions of the world with the initial contacts coming from our vanguard efforts.   USHBC FoodTech and our packer community make a great team!