Importing and Exporting - CEO Interview: Jeff Coppersmith, President of Coppersmith Global Logistics - October 24, 2010 - Segment Three

Betsy and Renee chat with Jeff Coppersmith, President of Coppersmith Global Logistics and President of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, about what exactly a freight forwarding company does and his thoughts about the overall state of imports/exports in the United States this day and age. Coppersmith Global Logistics was started by Jeff’s grandmother in 1948, who was the sixth female licensed broker in the history of the United States. When she passed away, Jeff’s father took over and ran things for about 50 years, until he retired about 6-7 years ago and Jeff took over. As Jeff explains it, there are two sides to what Coppersmith does, with the first side being the outbound side, or the “freight forwarder” side. For goods being shipped out of the United States, you use a freight forwarder, who takes care of all the documentation, arranges the truck to pick up and pack the goods if necessary, puts it on the ship or the plane, and makes sure it arrives overseas. The inbound side is called the “customs broker,” which is focused on getting the goods inside the United States that go to not only US Customs, but also the FDA, USDA, and all other government agencies involved in international trade.
The level of governmental involvement is no coincidence, as Jeff explains the various ways the United States government is seeking to improve overall exporting activity in the country. In addition to President Obama’s national export initiative—which is expected to double exports in five years—there is also the website www.export.gov, a resource sponsored by the US Department of Commerce that will help people who want to get into the export market find new markets for their products. As Jeff elaborates, one of the main jobs of the US Department of Commerce is to find buyers for your product. You can even physically go to one of their local offices and say “This is the product I make, and I would like to be able to sell that product to Germany or France” and they will contact their office at the embassy in the requested country, and find companies that want to buy your product. Even more advantageous is the fact that the US Department of Commerce works with the Census Bureau to keep track of what goods are going to and from every country. This resource exists because freight forwarders file documentation such as one form called AES, or Automated Export System. They enter the information into their computer, which subsequently feeds it to government computers, where they can tell not only what the product is by classification code, but where it’s going, what the value of it is, who it’s going to, and a plethora of other statistical information.
Jeff shares an example from many years ago to illustrate just how effective and profitable exploiting these resources can be. He had a customer many years ago who was just selling pipes domestically, who came to a seminar and heard him speak about the Department of Commerce. After the seminar, the gentleman went to the Department of Commerce and they gave him a list of about 100 companies who used pipes in Saudi Arabia, which is the market he wanted to break into. The gentleman sent out a one page letter to those companies, and from that, got about twenty enquiries back that said “This is interesting. We would like your product. How much does it cost?” With the help of Jeff, he put together some quotes outlining the various costs for selling 100 units of pipe, and was able to go back to those interested businesses and say “If you want to buy my product, this is what it’s going to cost, and I will send it to you in the port of Saudi Arabia.” As Jeff explains, out of those twenty inquires, he got about nine full-time customers, and about two years after that process started, his domestic market dried up, while the handling on the export side kept his company going. Now, Jeff says, the export side is much larger than the import side and the company has almost doubled in size, demonstrating the advantages of having foresight and being proactive in your business assessments. For those interested in contacting Jeff for more information, he can be reached at his e-mail address, jeff@coppersmith.com.

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