business

Neil Crocker describes his company, Schaefer Ventilation Equipment, as "an accidental exporter." The Sauk Rapid-based company does about 10 percent to 15 percent of its business outside the United States but has gotten those sales from contacts made through its website or at trade shows.

Schaefer currently doesn't have an overall plan for finding new customers in markets around the world. "It's on the list of things we should do better," said Crocker, president of the manufacturer of thermal comfort systems for the agricultural, horticultural, commercial-industrial and rental markets.

An export assistance program that's soon to be offered for the first time in Minnesota aims to help Schaefer and other businesses that find themselves in the same situation.

ExporTech is a series of three full-day sessions for manufacturers seeking to develop international expansion plans. It's a national program from the U.S. Department of Commerce that has been around for about four years, and so far about 230 companies in 18 other states have participated.

Minnesota's ExporTech program begins next week and will be overseen by the Minnesota Trade Office, the U.S. Commercial Service, the Commerce Department's trade promotion arm, and Enterprise Minnesota, the state's affiliate of the Commerce Department's Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

Enterprise Minnesota CEO Bob Kill said Crocker's description of Schaefer as an accidental exporter could apply to many businesses his nonprofit consulting organization sees.

"It used to be a fax machine. Now it's a website," Kill said of the way they wind up selling products in foreign markets. "Some of our most successful companies are exporters that have developed a strategy rather than an ad hoc approach."

Kill said small and medium-sized manufacturers appear to be showing more of an interest in exports as they continue to get back on their feet in the recovery. Part of the reason is that economies in some countries are bouncing back faster than the United States.

The most recent figures on Minnesota exports showed a 19 percent year-over-year jump in the second quarter, with total exports nearly matching the state's record high in 2008.

Exports also figure prominently in the Obama administration's economic recovery plan. The president has set a goal of doubling them nationwide by 2015.

ExporTech isn't directly related to Obama's National Export Initiative, but it complements the federal government's overall emphasis on export assistance. Ed Dieter, acting director of the state's trade office, said the program is designed to give businesses plenty of individual attention, with sessions limited to no more than eight participants.

They're also spread out over three months to give businesses a chance to take what they've learned back to their companies and start putting it to use.

Dieter described the first session as "Export 101," an overview of how to evaluate foreign markets, customs and other regulations and service providers like law firms that specialize in advising companies doing business internationally.

The second session is more one-on-one, working with companies to come up with a customized plan. At the third session, participants present and get feedback on export growth plans they have put together.

ShoreMaster, a Fergus Falls-based maker of boat lifts, docks and commercial marina systems, has used the guidance from a recent Exportech program in Grand Forks, N.D., to target markets in Europe, according to sales manager Ryan Knox. The company, a subsidiary of Otter Tail Corp., previously had limited experience in foreign markets, exporting mostly to Canada and Mexico.

Knox said ShoreMaster learned more about how to get its products European Union certification. The sessions also helped with market research on things like boat ownership and sales, disposable income and climate to help the company target which countries presented the best opportunities.

Sweden and Germany emerged as good prospects, Knox said. Norway did not, because ShoreMaster discovered that shoreline there is owned by government entities. "You've got all these fjords but the shoreline isn't in private property owners' hands," said Don Hurley, ShoreMaster's residential products sales manager. "We could have wasted a lot of time pursuing that as a market."

That type of increased awareness is one of the benefits Crocker said he and his management team at Schaefer Ventilation hope to gain from the upcoming ExporTech in Minnesota. The company continues to see opportunities to grow in its current export markets in Mexico, Canada and the Middle East. "We want know more about where else we should be invested," he said.

Susan Feyder • 612-673-1723