BCBusiness

SEPTEMBER 2017 BCBUSINESS 31 *SOURCE: BC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND ABACUS DATA in. Customers now include Houston-based Occidental Petroleum Corp., Singapore's EMAS Oshore Ltd. and Santos Ltd. of Australia. Freeman, a former Air Canada pilot who joined Ken as a partner a few months after Vaughn died in 2013, estimates that the company exports 95 per cent of its products; half of that share goes to U.S. customers. He admits to some anxiety about the NAFTA renegotia- tions and President Donald Trump's rhetoric about buying American, given that purchasing materials and components such as steel and chain from the U.S. and selling Atlas products there has always been fairly easy. "Our customers are largely Trump supporters," Freeman says. "They wear Made in America hats. But we have a good rapport with them. They can always pick up the phone and call me; it's not like phoning a big com- pany. So I think the service we provide outweighs the Made in America thing." Atlas machines are de–nitely made in Canada— Freeman recently counted 130 suppliers on Vancouver Island. But the company, a Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce member, employs Americans, too. With about 500 casing hammers in use stateside, it has distribution centres in Milwaukee and Spokane, Washington, plus a third in Perth, Australia, to handle sales of component parts. Atlas will also signi–- cantly expand its U.S. sales with the recent acquisition of its main rival, Weldco- Beales Casing Hammer, a division of Edmonton-based Weldco Cos. Previously manufactured in Seattle, Weldco-Beales products will now be made in Merville. Other promising projects in new industries include the Mole Rat, which Anderson and his engineers developed after a Victoria environmen- tal remediation company requested a soil-sample drill that could –t through an eight-foot doorway. Now in his –fth decade of drilling, the self-taught Anderson enjoys the creative challenge of these eorts. "When somebody comes to us with a job, we take a good look at it and see if we can see something there," he says. "It's a lot more fun than just building the widget." TAKE A LONG WALK You don't have to pay the thousands of dollars typically required for a booth. Just show up and look around. You can do your market research, hear the speakers and make all kinds of valuable contacts: distributors, retailers, warehousers, graphic designers, cus- toms brokers and freight forwarders. SIZE UP YOUR COMPE TITORS Trade shows give you a chance to test the market in many ways–and see who else is already there. Boulton recalls her first wine trade show, repre- senting B.C. wineries in Shanghai. "I had no idea so many places around the world made wine. North Carolina, Turkey, Tunisia. I said, 'You guys make wine?' and they're like, 'Yeah, that's what we think of Canada.' We were all there trying to sell to the world's hottest market." WORK ON REL ATIONSHIPS There's a lot of dead time at trade shows, and maybe that's your chance to spend time with one of your partners. "If your Australian distributor has a booth, and you fly in from Canada, it gives the distributor an elevated status: 'meet the Cana- dian behind the product,'" Boulton explains. "Plus you can get to know your distributor, because there's always going to be hiccups. It's easier to work out your problems when you've spent a few hours with someone." PL AY TO YOUR AUDIENCE Learn about the market where you're landing, and cater to it. "Most people in Korea speak beautiful English, but when I did a trade show there I had all my brochures translated," Boulton says. "I received so much feedback. I was one of the only ones who did that." DON'T LUG YOUR SWAG If you have a booth and you're giving away logo-printed freebies, have them made at your destination and delivered to your booth for one less thing to carry. "There's a kind of ink that Canada allows that the U.S. doesn't," Boulton notes. "So if you bring 1,000 pens across the border, you're going to get some questions." Bestsellers B.C.'s international exports grew 8.6 per cent last year, to roughly $39 billion. Here are the top products by revenue W O O D P R O D U C T S $10 billion E N E R G Y P R O D U C T S $7.6 billion M A C H I N E R Y A N D E Q U I P M E N T $4.8 billion M E T A L L I C M I N E R A L P R O D U C T S $4.8 billion P U L P A N D P A P E R P R O D U C T S $3.9 billion A G R I C U LT U R E + F O O D O T H E R T H A N F I S H $2.5 billion F I S H P R O D U C T S $1.3 billion F A B R I C A T E D M E T A L P R O D U C T S $1 billion C H E M I C A L S + C H E M I C A L P R O D U C T S $1 billion P L A S T I C S + A R T I C L E S O F P L A S T I C $462 million A P P A R E L + A C C E S S O R I E S $106 million T E X T I L E S $68 million A L L O T H E R G O O D S $1.3 billion SOURCES: BC STATS, STATISTICS CANADA TRADE CONFERENCES ARE A GREAT ONESTOP SHOP where you can scope out a potential market and •nd the contacts you need. Allison Boulton, a Vancouver-based consultant with Aslin Canada Trading, which represents B.C. food and beverage companies in Asia, shares a few tips on making the most of them 26%* In a 2016 survey, proportion of almost 1,200 BC Chamber of Commerce members that said they generated revenue from international exports

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