In an ever changing economy, small business experts are urging Ashe entrepreneurs to look abroad to market products and give their company stability and less reliance on local economic trends.

Counselors with the High Country SCORE office have come together to provide tutorials on how small businesses can export their products in the international market and what advantages it can bring to owners.

SCORE is a national small business oriented organization that has provided counseling to more than 8 million small business owners nationwide.

Counselor Herman Metzler explained that small businesses which sell their products internationally have better survival rates and can provide higher salaries for workers compared to businesses who limit sales to the local market. Businesses that export are not reliant on the national economy and can actually prosper in more stable international markets. These businesses may also be entitled to certain incentives for exporting through the current stimulus package if that piece of legislation is approved by President Barack Obama, Metzler said.

In an effort to enlighten small business owners to the advantages of exporting, SCORE will conduct a special program entitled Exporting 101 on March 15 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in room 210 at the Ashe Campus of Wilkes Community College. The seminar is free to the public.

“The number one thing that we will be covering is that businesses that export usually have much better survival rates,” Metzler explained. “We’ll also talk briefly about how to export, select distributors, what markets to export to and what barriers to entry into market may exist in different countries.”

Metzler said that some regulations for distributing products abroad are different in international markets and counselors will provide information on how to avoid these potential speed bumps in selling overseas.

Other impediments into the international market transcend government regulations and come down to a matter of understanding differing perspectives.

“We’ll talk about how to deal with different cultures and what they expect,” he said.

To date, Metzler has counseled only a handful of small business owners who are looking to get their feet wet in the world of exporting but he is optimistic that more will come forward with inquiries once they see the advantages of selling to an expanded customer base. Although the notion of selling abroad may seem revolutionary to some local business owners, it has become a routine business practice for most small firms. In fact, 97 percent of all U.S. exporters are small businesses and account for 30 percent of the nation’s export revenue, Metzler said.

Small business owners who do decide to look abroad for product merchandising should stick with it and not look at the practice as a quick fix to the current economic downturn, Metzler said.

“What people shouldn’t do is take this opportunistically but rather plan it,” Metzler said. “If you continue to export you will be more profitable, have much higher salaries available for workers and those workers will be able to use the technology available much more efficiently than non exporters.”

SCORE has also planned an Exporting 201 program at the main Wilkes Community College campus down the road and hope to use the inaugural session as an introduction of more to come.

“We’re trying to lead people to the well and hopefully they’ll drink,” said Metzler.

Exporting 101 will be held in room 210 of the Ashe Campus. For more information contact Metzler at (336) 982-5330.