One of the major uses of the U.S. Customs data that Zepol provides is lead generation. Traditionally, transportation services providers (NVOs, freight forwarders, customs brokers, and 3PLs) use our product, TradeIQ, to find what companies are importing products in their sales territories. They then use the information provided on the manifest data to develop lists of leads for their sales representatives. In addition, their account executives will use the information to educate themselves on all aspects of prospects’ supply chains.

In a twist on traditional lead generation using trade data, several of our customers, who are importers of commodities rather than companies facilitating trade, are using trade data to find other importers who are only importing small amounts of product. They are able to offer these companies several advantages over importing the products themselves, including:

• Lower prices because they are working with much larger economies of scale.
• Less internal overhead costs because they no longer need to shoulder the burden of doing customs clearance or working with transportation providers.
• Lead time advantages through ordering from a domestic supplier rather an international firm with a 6 to 12 week lag.

In the end, these companies are using trade data to create win-win scenarios with their customers. Customers save time and money by not importing one or two containers of product a year and the importer grows revenue by finding a new customer. I imagine that these relationships, once developed, can last for years and be beneficial for both parties.

We recently added a video on how to find lists of importers on our video demonstrations page. This video focuses on finding lists of importers by a region (i.e. consignees located in a city or state), but the concept is the same for importers that want to grow sales. Check it out here.