Many of my clients are hard-working owners or operators of small businesses. They don’t have in-house compliance or logistics expertise so must wear several hats. Day to day activities or unexpected issues take up most working hours. As a result, functions such as logistics planning and import/export compliance are often unmanaged.

Making sure that your business is in compliance with import and export regulations is good risk management as well as good business. Think of it as insurance. I have written about compliance as risk management in previous blog posts. Here are a few:

• Manage the Risk, 01/15/2020
• Start off 2020 With a Customs Review, 01/09/2020
• Compliance Nuts and Bolts, 11/30/2019
• Red Flags, 09/29 and 10/06/2019
• Let Shippers Ship, 06/13/2019

Logistics consists of equal parts planning, execution, problem solving, review/adjust, rinse and repeat. If you find yourself spending a lot of time problem solving then planning and/or execution need to be improved. Trusted LSPs (Logistics Service Providers) and 3PLs are valuable resources. At the very least, however, they need to be managed through monthly or quarterly review meetings for which you set the agenda. Here are a few more blog posts for reference:

• Negotiate Value Before Price, 09/10/2019
• Managing Carrier Relationships, 08/08/2019
• Got Protocols? 04/16/2019

Don’t be an unmanager!

For help contact mitch@52.91.45.227