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Success story
FTS Forest Technology
Automated weather systems
Sales to Mexico: Up to $2 million
For those with patience, flexibility and a top-notch product, Mexico can provide great rewards. Just ask FTS Forest Technology Systems Ltd., whose clients include Mexico’s national meteorological service and navy.
Victoria-based FTS manufactures weather stations, which measure wind speed, rainfall and other meteorological conditions. President Brian Bolton says the firm got its start in Mexico in 1999, after meeting a Mexican sales agent at a tradeshow and signing him on. The agent helped FTS wade through complex trade procedures and the “heavy bureaucratic layer” that accompanies government contracts. Moreover, the agent knew people in the navy and weather service. Those relationships proved critical in a market in which, says Bolton, “there was no trust among strangers.”
FTS exhibited flexibility and commitment to the Mexican market by creating demonstration systems in advance of signed contracts and by providing custom-made, laminated Spanish-language manuals for field use. “They have people that are just as skilled as any of our technical people, but in far fewer numbers,” says Bolton. “We really bend over backwards to try to make them successful.”
Bolton has also learned that “you need someone who’s brilliant with paperwork — it’s more complex with NAFTA than ever before.” And if you’re after government contracts, be wary around election time as there can be little continuity between administrations. Even approved projects are at risk, notes Bolton, who advises other entrepreneurs to buy export insurance:
“If your project’s not under way before an election, then assume you’re back at square one.” — SB
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© 2004 Susanne Baillie
