If you've developed a hardware or software product, there might be a market for it abroad. But how do you find that market? How do you get your product to the right distributors or agents? How do you set your price? And how do you collect your money?

To help American businesses export their products, the government offers many services at little or no cost. The Trade Information Center (1-800-872-8723) is a "one-stop'' source for finding out about all of the federal government's export programs. They can provide you with information on getting started, locating foreign markets, financing, and other topics. Their free booklet entitled Export Programs: A Business Directory of U.S. Government Resources lists the names and numbers of contacts within various government agencies.

Before you take your first step, however, be sure to research the market for your product in the country you want to reach. Jody Bevan of The Solution Shoppe in Alberta, Canada trained a company in a German city formerly under communist rule. "There was a tremendous lack of knowledge [and therefore] a tremendous market for both services and products,'' said Bevan, adding that, as a result, both should be marketed together. The National Trade Data Bank is a database of over 100,000 documents on market research by industry, foreign interest and exchange rates, a list of foreign traders, and more. It is updated monthly on CD-ROM and is available for free at Federal Depository Libraries or at regional Department of Commerce (DoC) District Offices. You can also subscribe to it for $360 plus $35 per month for updates.

Software vendors will be particularly interested the Department's free newsletter, Software International. Other publications cover computer hardware and software markets in Eastern and Western Europe, Japan, Latin America, and other places. These reports include market size, political and economic conditions, regulations, key contacts, and more and generally cost between $120-150. Call the Office of Computers and Business Equipment at 202-482-0571 for a list of publications.

If, after reading about the markets, you want an assessment of how well your product will sell, the International Trade Administration (ITA), a branch of the DoC, will provide a customized report on sales potential, comparable products, going price, distribution channels, and potential customers. These reports cost $500-4000. Jim Geisman of Marketshare, Inc., Wayland, Massachusetts, helps companies do business in Japan. He suggests that vendors avoid vertical packages, since business practices in foreign countries can vary greatly.

Once you've found a foreign market for your product, you're ready to locate agents or distributors. For $125, the ITA will locate up to six qualified foreign representatives for your product. That's good to get started, but if you really want some hot leads, you might try one of their escorted trade missions. They will arrange meetings for you with pre-screened business contacts, provide interpreters, and generate local publicity. Of course, the price is a bit higher at about $2000 plus travel expenses for a one-week trip.

Both Geisman and Bevan point out that the biggest obstacles in doing business overseas are language and cultural barriers. But you also have to make sure that your product meets the quality expectations of your market. At Software '92 in Durham, North Carolina, Lynn Turner of Coopers & Lybrand in Denver cited five areas in which quality can lead to problems in selling software overseas: 1) inadequate market research, 2) faulty requirements analysis, 3) poor transition from requirements to designs, 4) incomplete testing, and 5) mediocre documentation. Turner added that companies not addressing all of these points probably will not make it as the global market becomes more competitive.

Part of your homework before you export your product will also include getting an export license. Most pre-packaged software falls under the GTDA general license. However, you should check with the Bureau of Export Administration's hardware and software group at (202) 482-0708 for details. Freight forwarders can assist you with license procedures and shipping.

For companies with sales over $25 million, hiring a consultant to help export products or services might be easier than doing the all of the legwork. Either way, when done properly, exporting might help you reach a very large market.