Welcome back. The subject of this video is how to do business internationally, including selling to countries where corruption is rife. without breaking the law. There are two laws you have to concern yourself with. One is the law on corruption in your own country. And the other is the law on corruption in the country you're selling to, even though the transaction actually takes place, in a country on the other side of the world, and even though that country is not going to prosecute you for acting corrupt in their country, if you're a citizen of certain countries, you may be prosecuted at home.

That's true. For example, in America and in the UK. How do you protect yourself? One of the most frequent methods is to have a local agent. Now don't appoint an agent just for this reason. In fact, I'm going to be uploading a new course fairly shortly.

On international sales, and it includes advice on how to choose an agent. And I suggest you don't appoint anyone until you watch that. Be that as it may, a local agent can be very useful. The agent will have good local contacts because if he doesn't, or she doesn't, you've chosen the wrong agent. The agent will also know how payments are handled in that market. As an example, for a number of years, I had a very good agent in two countries in the Middle East.

This agent was a man because in one of those two countries, you had to be a man if he wants to do business, and I found that as offensive as you probably do. But it was a fact of life and I had no power to change it. If I'd made a fuss about the way women were treated in that country, it would have been interpreted as fomenting unrest, and the penalty for that was death. public execution in fact, I was able to watch my agent in action. Many times, he had a nice line in patter when it became clear that the conversation was becoming bogged down because the prospect didn't know whether or not he was going to get the commission he was looking for. My agent would say, when i when i costed this proposal, I included an amount for marketing expenses.

It's 4% of the children. Sometimes it will be more than 4%. The agent knew the going rate for various product categories, and he framed it accordingly. Over and over again, I saw the prospects face relax when he heard that. Now, it was clear that my agent understood there had to be a financial reward for placing the order. Not only that, but they agreed the amount.

I'm not suggesting you use words like that. In fact, I'm suggesting you don't. That's why I'm telling you, you need an agent. I just want to show the sort of thing that oil is wheels. You won't always need an agent, but there will be some times when you really should have one. Take the example I mentioned in an earlier video, the procurement stuff in the Gulf, who came from another country and intend to have secured their financial future by the time they go back there.

Now, this is awkward. You've jumped through all the official hoops your target company has presented. Your product has been approved by the responsible manager or committee. you've submitted your ISO certificates, your technical data sheets, your safety data sheets, you have whatever government approvals you need. What you don't have yet is the order. And even though the company's senior management wants you to have it, you won't get it unless you bribe the procurement guy.

You can't dress this up. That tip I mentioned in an earlier video that I regularly paid customs officials in Egypt. That's a business expense, get it back with your other Cash Disbursements. Putting your invoice and paying the difference to the staff. That's a commission for helping you get the order. But this payment to someone in procurement, that's a bribe, and you can't present it any other way.

So what are you going to do? If you're French, you can take the standard French line, which is the law is for other people, a German salesperson working for German company will probably be relaxed about it. Because while business in Germany is about as clean as it's possible to be. Germans take a sensible approach to other people's ways. They don't see why this order and the jobs it represents should go to a French company or an Italian company, instead of their own German company. They find a way to pay.

But if you're British or American, and you don't already have an agent in that territory, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to let this order go. You'll be breaking the law and even if the local police don't Don't give a toss your own government will. What about entertainment? The next video, we'll discuss what you can and can't do with your customers in the way of entertainment and see you there.