Apperson

Apperson is a national leader providing testing and scoring solutions for the education community. The organization offers DataLink test scanners, answer sheets and reporting software for K-12 and higher education. Their products and software captures data from paper assessments and tests, saving educators time. Based in Cerritos, California, Apperson has 125 employees.


Challenge

Sales were good, but the organization believed they had hit their peak with domestic sales and wanted to develop a new growth strategy. The company had engaged in some international business before with a handful of countries such as Mexico, Malaysia and Australia, but there was no official strategy or organized exporting plan. The company needed strategic guidance to identify new target countries and customers.

Solution

Apperson connected with CMTC and began participating in the ExporTech™ program. C-level executives from companies attend three workshops over the course of three months with individualized coaching between sessions. All workshops are delivered by multiple exporting experts and are based on proven methodologies and real-life success stories.

The first session included recognized exporting leaders who discussed best practices and how manufacturers can overcome the typical challenges and misconceptions associated with exporting. Guidebooks and worksheets were provided to share information about logistics, regulations, intellectual property and finance.

The second session featured successful exporting executives who came to share their real life experiences. Apperson found this particularly helpful because it enabled them to ask direct, candid questions to California exporters.

The final session was a “hands-on workshop” where Apperson presented their exporting plan to a panel of experts for evaluation and assessment. The experts provided specific recommendations for improvement.

In conclusion, the company used their plan, new contacts, tools and ideas to improve business with their current international business partners and formulate connections with new countries.

“CMTC’s exporting services were critical to helping our company strategically enter international markets and increase sales by more than $233,000. Exporting is now a crucial component of our organization’s strategic growth.”

- Abel Garcia, VP of International Sales

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