General Business and Finance Blog

Import and export are terms commonly used when referring to international trade. Trade leads are small messages that contain information about companies wanting to buy and sell products and services. In the old days, if business owners wanted to network with local businesses that might be able to help them (by buying their products or selling them something they need), they would head down to the local Chamber of Commerce, become a member and network the old fashioned way. This method works really well when you’re dealing with a small geographic area, but what happens when your business grows beyond the borders of your town or city and you want to help it continue to expand? Enter trade leads. While trade leads have been around for a long time, they suddenly became even more useful when the Internet took off. Today a business wanting to expand doesn’t have to travel to other cities (or countries) and contact the local Chamber of Commerce. Now, many websites and online communities have formed that allow businesses (especially those interested in import/export and international trade) to effectively communicate their trade leads with other people who are interested. Whether you’re a wholesaler, a manufacturer, a distributors, a buyer, or a supplier – if you’re interested in import export and international trade, trade leads online are the way to go. Trade leads can be about more than just physical products or services. They can also be used to let other companies know you’re looking for partnerships. Ok, so you’re convinced that trade leads are important for your forays into international trade … now what? One thing to consider is how you create your trade lead. In a vast sea of information, you want to make sure your trade lead stands out from the others. This doesn’t mean you’ll want to falsify or exaggerate your trade lead, but there are some simple things you can do to increase the effectiveness of your trade lead.International Trade Lead Tips KISS – Keep it Simple Silly. This age old advice applies to trade leads. You don’t want to give too detailed an offer to start out with. Think of a trade lead as your first impression. You don’t want to overwhelm the other party with too much information. Your trade lead should be clearly written and brief (not too much information – just the facts.) Do include details you think might be important, though, such as price, quantity, etc. International trade is big right now and getting bigger all the time. If you’ve ever considered increasing your business, trade leads and getting into the import export business is something you should think about. Just remember to go slow and do all your homework before you dive in. There are a lot of websites out there that will help bring you up to speed on the modern trade lead network online.

Copyright (c) 2009 Marco Carbajo

In the past during good economic times you may have become used to using personal credit cards to finance purchases, equipment, and even payments to suppliers or vendors when starting and operating your business.

Unfortunately times have changed for business credit for small business and what has become a shocking reality to many are the ramifications of what the co mingling of personal credit files for business financing has resulted in.

Many small business owners who have followed the traditional route of personally guaranteeing each and every credit card, credit line, or loan for business have come to realize that they have put their personal assets and family at risk!

The single greatest challenge during these tough economic times facing small business in America is adapting to change. Less than ten percent of business owners in America know how to truly separate their personal credit from business credit let alone understand how to set up a business credit profile an establish a good rating.

So what is business credit?

It’s the ability to obtain financing under the name of your business without using your personal credit or guarantee. Business credit should be separate and based on the corporation’s credit worthiness not yours! Recently Entrepreneur Magazine was quoted as saying “You should differentiate your personal credit from your business credit.”

If you own a separate legal entity for your business than you have a unique opportunity that no other individual or sole proprietor has. It’s the ability to establish a business credit profile that is completely separate from a personal credit profile.

If you think you’re business is just making it fine despite the current economic times and you don’t need the credit think again! The reality is that your business will at one point require an influx of cash in order to cover unforeseen operating expenses, development, expansion, legal fees, inventory or a range of other items that a business may require in order to grow.

One of the key advantages of having business credit is instead of putting your personal credit and assets at risk every time your company requires financing you would now be in a position to secure the financing you need with your businesses’ credit.

Some other benefits you can expect include:

*any debt you accumulate for the business would only report to your business credit file not your personal credit file.

*eliminating the co-mingling of funds–and this includes the “co-mingling” of credit profiles so you won’t jeopardize the protection of the corporate veil.

*protecting you and your family from personal liability when you get approved solely on your businesses’ credit file.

*improving your personal debt to credit limit ratios by transferring the balances of business debt used with your personal credit to your business credit.

*increase your businesses’ ability to obtain cash credit 10 to 100 times greater than you can obtain personally.

SAVING MONEY! For example, an individual might pay up to 13% interest on a $100,000 line of credit whereas a business could qualify for an interest rate of 7%. That would save you almost $40,000 in interest alone.

So how do you get started? Setting up and establishing business credit for your business can be broken down into eight steps:

1.Corporate Conformity – This is where you will set up your business entity whether it’s an S-Corp, C-Corp, LLC or Limited Partnership. This is the foundation part of your business credit so taking short cuts or side steps can result in poor ratings and reduce your chances for funding.

2.Business Plan – This is not a mandatory step, but it’s necessary for your overall business success as well as a door opener for some specific lenders.

3.Business Credit Profile – Once you have completed corporate conformity you’ll be ready to set up your business credit profile with Dun & Bradstreet. (The next 3 steps have to do with trade accounts also known as vendor credit lines. There are over 500,000 vendors extending credit to businesses, but less than 6,000 of them report your payment history to your business credit profile. Selecting the right vendors is also an important part of the process.)

4.Tier 1 Trade Accounts – This is the first step where you set up trade accounts for your business that are known to grant small amounts of credit to businesses that have no credit history.

5.Tier 2 Trade Accounts – At this point you set up business trade accounts for your business that are known to grant credit to businesses that have little business credit history. Because most Tier 1 accounts will now be reporting on your business credit profile you can now apply for Tier 2.

6.Tier 3 Trade Accounts – These companies will grant credit in higher amounts than what was granted from Tier 1 and Tier 2 accounts.

7.Tier 4 Cash Credit Accounts – Tier 4 accounts consists of creditors who will grant your business cash credit cards, typically with a Visa or MasterCard logo. Benefits at this step include no personal guarantees and affect on your personal credit profiles.

8.Advanced Business Financing – At this stage of the process your business credit file is built, you have history, business scores, rating; access to funding and you can continue to obtain even larger amounts of financing by following some advanced business credit building strategies.

After the recent economic downturn business owners like you are faced with a new era when it comes to business financing. Banks, lenders, suppliers, leasing companies and others are making adjustments, adopting new rules, and facing new regulations in the lending arena.

Now more than ever you need to be pro active and establish a new level of financial preparation which includes establishing a strong business credit profile, a favorable business credit rating, and a solid bank rating. I encourage you to start building your business credit today and enjoy the benefits and peace of mind that comes with it!