Marta Haustien from the US commerce dept talks about Medica

Welcome to the Global Sales Mentor Podcast for conversations that drive growth. When you are ready to grow your international sales, join the conversation with your host, Zach Selch. Welcome back to another episode of Conversations That Drive Global Sales. I have here a guest who's an old friend of mine from the American Commercial Service. Martha Halvstein, and we are going to talk a little bit this month in October. We're preparing for Medica, which is the big holiday of my year, and Martha will be there. So we're going to talk a little bit about what she does and a little bit about Medica. Welcome, Martha. Maybe tell us a little bit about yourself.

Thank you very much for the kind welcome, and thank you for talking a little bit about my favorite trade show, Medica. And I'm very happy to join you today on your, on your podcast to talk a little bit about myself. I am from the United States, from Fresno, California originally, and I've been working at the U.S. Commercial Service, which is a small agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, overseas in Austria, in Vienna, Austria, for the last 20-plus years.

I didn't realize you'd been in one location for that long. Wow.

I have. In fact, I have. Yes, I've had the good fortune to be able to work be able to work and live in one of the most nice and, and—

Livable.

Pleasant and livable cities in the world. So I'm very, very grateful for that. Yes.

Wow. So I got to come back to that because I thought they moved you guys around every couple of years. But, but that's really cool. So, and maybe before we get into that, maybe you can tell us a little bit about what exactly Commercial Service does. And how that differs from the other different government agencies that are there to help exporters.

Yes, I would love to do that. The US Commercial Service is, like I said, it's an agency that belongs to the US Department of Commerce. So it is an agency that exists at the federal level. That means that what we do is coordinated in a central location in Washington, DC, and we offer sort of a standardized set of programs and services. I know that the different state export promotion agencies offer a wide range of excellent programs, and I know that most of our clients work with both of us, work with the state as well as the federal level. And there are some things where I think we overlap, and there are some things where I think you're probably better off working with one or the other. So the way I like to explain what we do as the U.S. Commercial Service is we have basically 3 baskets that we work in, and all 3 of these have a single purpose, and that is to increase wealth and prosperity in the United States. So that's sort of the test if it is an action or an activity that we can take on. Is this something that creates jobs, that creates wealth? in the United States? If the answer is yes, then we can probably do it. And if the answer is no, then that's something that is outside of our scope and we would be passing you on to someone else. So the 3 things that we do, the 3 kind of baskets of activity, 3 pillars of our work are as follows. The first thing is export promotion. So everything that assists, supports, or bolsters the ability of a U.S. company to export a product or service that was made in the United States and has 51%, in most cases 51%, U.S. content, we can help with that. That means we can help you understand markets. We do market research. We do business-to-business matchmaking. We do promotional events on-site So everything that really can in one way or another help a U.S. company to export their products or their services overseas. We can help with procurements. We can help with advocacy if you have the feeling that the, that the playing field is, is not fair. So those are all things that we can do on the export promotion side. The second thing we do is something that's called commercial diplomacy, and that's just really a nice way of saying government-to-government activities. So wherever we become aware of a barrier to trade. Then we as the U.S. government, we are located as— I guess I didn't even say this, but it's important to note we are located at the embassies and consulates worldwide in around 80 different countries. We as the U.S. Embassy are in a really unique position to be able to reach out to a local government entity that may be considering or maybe also putting into place one sort of barrier to trade or another. So that's sort of the commercial diplomacy piece. And the third part of what we do is inward investment. So whenever there's a foreign company in the market in which we are located interested in investing in the United States, right, creating jobs, creating wealth, we help them decide, make decisions, and talk to people that could help them move to the next level. So looking at where are clusters of businesses, what, where are, what are their needs, do they need to be close to a major airport, do they need to be close to a major population center, and we have a whole team of experts who support foreign companies that are interested in investing in the United States. So those are basically the 3 things that we do in collaboration and cooperation with a whole range of partners, both within and without the government.

That was the most comprehensive summary of what you guys do that I think anybody's ever given me. So thanks a lot for that, Martha.

Sorry for that. I just kept going on and on. Zach, you got to stop me.

That was great because Very often, and I'm gonna come back. I took some notes that are gonna come back to some of the things, and we'll dig into it. First of all, what people mostly know are the trade shows, and then people who are a little bit more sophisticated might know the gold keys. Now you guys participate in a lot of trade shows, and what's really cool from my perspective, what's really good is, if you're a small company, and by small, you know, you're exporting less than a couple of million dollars, and you go to a trade show. and you do it with the US Commerce Department Commercial Service, you're typically going to get a better location. You're going to not have to deal with all the services. So like, you know, you go to— let's talk about Medica, for instance.

Sure.

You don't have to deal with the hallmeister, right? You don't have to deal— all these things are dealt with. You don't have to find an electrician or a painter or any of those things. All of that's done typically through the Commercial Service, you have those type of support services, and that's great. But also you guys set up— you, you, we were just talking about the matchmaking service and stuff like that, right? So there's a lot of services that you do to help support during trade shows, which people might not know about, but is a really, really good, you know, system. Now, you didn't mention this because it's sort of like a cooperation with states. and with the Small Business Administration. But a lot of people who come to a trade show, for instance, in the American Pavilion, they're taking STEP money from their states. That's actually federal money from the Small Business Administration. So this is sort of like 3 different government agencies working together.

That's right.

The, the Small Business Administration has money to help small businesses. They give it to the state. The state then divides it among companies which can use it to essentially— for $5K, you can pretty much cover being part of a state booth or something at the US Pavilion, right? So you can come and then get services from the state, from the Commerce Department, right? So these 3 departments are working together to essentially help get small exporters out in the field. And then the people doing the heavy lifting are you guys, actually. Right. So, so that— but, but there's a lot that you can do for that small manufacturer when they get to, for instance, Düsseldorf for Medica. Right.

Yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, you're exactly right. It's true that these organizations tend to work together for larger shows such as Medica. Quite honestly, the amount of time that the U.S. Commercial Service as an organization spends in supporting trade shows is not as big a chunk as you might think. I think that that is sort of the— a little bit the face of what we do for many of our clients. However, I would say for me, it's not even 20%. It's not even 20%.

Right. And I was going to get into— I don't know what you were going to say the next thing is, but for me, gold keys are a fantastic part of what the Commercial Service does. I've done—

You know, it's really interesting that you bring up the gold key because, you know, during the COVID pandemic when everyone was at home, Yeah. And people were unable to travel, it has really developed a lot. I mean, the traditional Gold Key, if you will, is simply a partner search. A US exporter will reach out to us and say, hey, I produce this widget and I am looking for a qualified distributor in your market, in market XY, that fits this set of criteria. Please find this person for me. And so then the office with whom you've spoken would figure out, you know, 2 or 3 people that fit those criteria and are interested in having a meeting with you. Then you fly over and you sit through 3, 4 meetings, and if all goes well, you will sign a distributor at that time. This is offered at a modest cost-covering charge. It's called a cost-covering charge. Of course, it doesn't really cover costs, and it's adjusted for the size of the company involved. It's a very modest fee for small companies.

I believe Right.

So that became impossible during the COVID period because nobody could travel.

Right.

And what we started doing was video calls, similar to the call we're having right now on Zoom. And most of the gold keys that, that we did in the past are done in video calls now. That has just saved everyone's time and effort. And for an initial conversation, A video call is terrifically convenient, and it's a great way to get to know each other. And then of course you can follow up that meeting, follow up on that meeting at a trade show, right?

Right.

Or hey, you know, add on some additional travel to an existing plan, and you save everybody's time and money. So that's, it's really been something that's involved, that's evolved with the times, I'm happy to say.

No, and that's great. So I've done maybe 110, 120 Gold Keys over the years, going back for years.

Wow.

And, and yeah, during COVID I probably did 15 or 20 searches of some kind or another using video calls, and it was very, very effective. I, I've come around a lot on that because I liked being able to go and see somebody's office and all of that. But I think the, you know, just the effectiveness and the efficiency of the video calls has really been very, very helpful. For the— for those type of projects. I'd say 9 out of 10 people I talk to who are doing some exporting are not aware of these services, which is sort of funny because this is really a good bang for your buck. You know, you get introduced to maybe 3, 3, 4 pretty good fits of distributors for less than $1,000 typically, right? Some countries it's a little bit more, some, some it's a little bit less, you know. So I think that's a really, really good value. And the one thing I'll say with this, and I've said it to people, you know, many times from the Commerce Department, so I'm not trying to ambush you with something, is some of the people are better at it and some of the people are worse at it, right? Some of the commercial—

Well, you know, Zach, you know, you know what they call the doctor who graduated last in his class? The one who almost flunked?

Doctor, right? No, that's true. But you have people, you have people who are really, really incredibly dedicated to finding being the very, very best distributors. Now you have people who are less so. I mean, look, there you said 80 offices, that's maybe 400 people involved around the world. Some of them are better than others, but I've gotten some really, really good work out of, out of a lot of them over the years, and it's worked out really well. So, you know, that's what I'd say is, uh, it's, it's a very good, uh, system. So that, that's, you know, uh, one thing that you guys, uh, do along with the, um, you know, uh, trade shows, gold keys, partner searches. Um, so what else?

What about the single company promotions? Are you familiar with that? Stakeholder events? Have you ever done one?

I've done a couple of them and they've been really good. I was going to dig into the advocacy program, but let's talk about the single— let's talk about the single company promotions for a second.

So yeah, that's something that I find that a lot of companies aren't aware of, that they're not aware of. Like, I, I, like, I neglected to say at the beginning of our conversation, um, our colleague are located around the world in embassies and consulates. So that means if you have a particular target market where you need to reach a different set of decision makers, maybe you need, you know, maybe you're at the technical level but you need the C-suite, you know.

Right.

Or maybe your distributor just cannot get access to the very, very top, you know, fish in the pond who are making the decisions. That is a great time to pull in something very, very special, such as an invitation from the U.S. Embassy. It— I can— I would— I have to say, after 20 years, there are very, very few groups of individuals who are not extremely pleased to receive an invitation from the Embassy to do something. And that is why these stakeholder events are really very, very efficient and effective at getting you to the next level of contacts.

Right. I'm a heavy user of your services. So I've used this sometimes in very interesting ways where sometimes all I've done is I've said, look, I would like to take somebody out to dinner. Can you get, you know, can the commercial officer and I go out to dinner with X? I'll give you his name. And they've set that up and Again, like you said, when the, when the U.S. Embassy calls and says the U.S. Embassy is calling for Mr. Smith, you know, Mr. Smith picks up the phone, right? Typically.

That's really a tremendous advantage that we have. It's true for all of the cold calling we do as well. You know, when they're looking for a partner search, you know, if you're Joe Blow from, you know, from the ABC Company, the chances of you getting through to the right person are just not as high as when you have someone calling from the U.S. Embassy and speaking the language. Right. So that's really a terrific advantage of ours.

Exactly.

Well, like you said, it's very adjustable to what the needs are of the client.

Right.

So like you said, you know, you're looking to take someone out to dinner, beautiful. Somebody else might be looking to have a cocktail reception at the ambassador's residence.

Right.

We can also do that. So it really, really depends on what you're trying to— a business breakfast for a specific set of individuals who are, I don't know, interested in investing in one of the US states, we can do that. So there's— it really is very, very— we try to pick up where you need us and not say, okay, this is what we offer, it's product X, you have it, take it or leave it.

That's exactly right, and it's been very, very useful to me over the years, and I think it's a really good, you know, really good system. And, you know, very often, you know, like you said, you could— I've used it to set up a dinner, I've used it— I have set up a cocktail once or twice. I brought people into a hotel where we did a big presentation, things like that. But I find that knowing the people and getting to know the people in the commerce— I always, whenever I go to a new city, I always look up people in the commerce department and I get to know them because it's good to know these people. And they move. And so I was going to say, they very often move around. So I know people who have, you know, I met them in Germany and now they're in Tanzania, or I met them in Tanzania and now they're, you know, They're in Tokyo or something, and it happens a lot. It's very interesting. So how did you end up in one city for so long, as nice a city as it is?

I was hired in Vienna. I was hired in Vienna.

Oh, interesting. So, oh, okay. So wait, are you considered a local?

I'm considered a local staff.

I did not— I thought you were an off— I thought you were a Commerce Department officer based out of DC originally. Your accent is so good and your English is so good, I thought you I thought you were a commercial officer out of D.C.

Yeah, well, I am. I'm actually from Fresno, California originally, so that would explain the accent.

Hired locally. Okay, that makes perfect sense.

Zach is almost speechless. You're almost speechless.

I actually—

This is not something that happens often.

Yeah, because I thought you were one of the people who move around cities. You know, they do a city, then they go back to the States, and then they do a city, and then they go back to the States.

Okay. That I'm, I'm someone who decided not to do that.

No, that's fine. And I love, I love Vienna. I remember in my— well, going back about 30 years, I was based in Düsseldorf for a while, and I went to Vienna a couple of times. I thought, you know, shoot, I should have moved to Vienna because I love Düsseldorf, but Vienna was a— it's still a beautiful city, but it was 20, 30 years ago, it was just a little bit cooler. It's become, um, you know, it's, it's, it's become a little bit more, uh, westernized isn't the right term, I guess more Americanized, a slight little bit, maybe not too much. But I— but Vienna is a beautiful—

It's become a bit more international, I would have to say. Yeah. Um, one thing that I compare it to is when I first moved here, at the beginning of the '90s, um, there it was— there were only 2 different supermarket chains, and neither one of them had any fresh vegetables in the winter.

Yeah, yes.

And now that has changed dramatically.

You know what, actually, I remember, which is a silly little thing, in the square under the opera house Yeah, right. Um, there is now McDonald's where there used to be a really nice cafe, and I used to love to go down and sit there and have a cup of coffee. And then one, one year I went and I'm like, there's McDonald's here, this is strange. So things change.

By the WrestlePark. By the WrestlePark. Very interesting. But anyway, Zach, I think we're getting off on a tangent here.

We are a little bit. So let's go back to Medica. Talk about what we're doing at Medica and what you're doing at Medica and what the Commerce Absolutely.

Absolutely. Well, I'm very excited about Medica because this is officially the largest medical devices trade show in the world, bar none. And I think it lives up to that reputation every year. It, it just gets more and more interesting. The quality of the exhibitions, of the conferences, of the people you meet is always excellent. What's going to be interesting this year is to see to what extent the show will bounce back post-COVID. You and I were there last year, and I think we both agree that it was at around, what, 1/3? Yeah, maybe 1/3 of what it usually is in terms of the quality people.

Traffic, just a lot quieter. What I thought was funny was they made—

it seems like they made the hallways bigger, like the passageways much Are they trying to hide the fact that they didn't have as many exhibitors?

That's what I feel.

As a result, I mean, walking through, usually you're, you're, you're kind of pushing your way through the crowds, and, and last year it was like, oh, I fit, I can walk through. Well, let's, let's, uh, I mean, what I, what I understand is that it's, um, that it's closer to 2/3 this year. Um, at least that's what I understand from the, from the exhibitor numbers, um, is that instead of 1/3, we're going to be looking at 2/3 of a Normal, normal Medica. And hopefully we can retain the quality. And yeah, I'm very much looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a terrific show, a fantastic show.

Yeah, I'm very much looking forward to it. You know, like I said, in my household, it's sort of like Christmas. Everybody knows when it happens and they know what's going on. And, you know, nobody bothers me in November because I'm always stressed and getting ready for the show and stuff. And I can go I like to say that I've been going— the first year I went to Medica, there were still 2 Germanys. So that's, that's a lot.

Now that's impressive. Um, what about, um, what's the, what's the one thing— can I turn this question, can I turn this around and ask you a question? What's the one thing about Medica that you hate? What do you hate about Medica?

Oh, that's a great question. Nobody's ever asked me that Okay, I've got an answer. I'll tell you. Sorry, you take, you take the question.

I'll tell you what I hate.

I can't think of anything I hate about Medica. What do you hate about Medica?

I hate the public transportation, getting there in the morning and trying to leave in the evening. That is such a—

You know what, that's, that's a good, that's a good call. Um, that's a good call because it does get pretty wild. Where do you normally stay when you're at Medica?

I usually stay in town, like by the, by the main station. So I basically have to— I go from the main station and I just get squished into a train, you know, just there's people pushing you in.

If you're early on the train, then you at least— some people, like if you're in like by Nordstraße, you, you're not getting on a train pretty much.

Oh yeah, forget that. Don't even think you're gonna get on because everybody gets on at the main station and then the trams are just full. They're just completely full. So If they could figure out a solution for that, then Medica would be perfect. I saw a guy get trampled. I saw a guy get trampled.

Yeah, I'll tell you what, coming from the States, any German public transportation looks good to me. So, you know, I wouldn't even say I hate it. And I'll tell you what I do, to be very frank, I like to walk along the river. So very often I walk to Medica and back. Um, I'll go from the Old Town, and that— I love walking along the river and getting a little bit of fresh air, uh, in the park, because there's a park right along the river. You can go all the way from the Old City to, to Medica in like, um, in park, in a park area. So I like that.

How long does it take you?

45 minutes, an hour.

That's not too much different on the train.

It's not too bad. And I, I like to get a little bit of fresh air before I start because I'm typically I'm in meetings all day, every day at Medica. So, and I, you know, and, you know, some years by the time you get— well, when you get out, it's dark, right? So, oh yeah, you know, it's like you don't—

every year it's a nice way to see a little bit of fresh air.

So I'll do that.

That's a good point.

But that's a good point. That's, I think, a good point. It used to be when I had— I haven't had my own. I've been part of the American Pavilion now for a few years. 5 or 6 years ago, for about 15 years, I had my own booth. So dealing with the electrician— I was gonna say dealing with the electricians, dealing with all of those things can become a big hassle. Waiting for your boxes at the end of the show, you know, to pack up. Those were the things that I used to hate, but I haven't had to deal with them for 5 or 6 years now.

Lucky you.

Because I'm having a booth at the American Pavilion.

So Oh, you know what, something else, um, that people should be aware of is that like the backpack gangs, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Who would have thought about that? I mean, every year one of my colleagues gets her backpack stolen. It's like you think Germany, you know, they're so correct and they, you know, they stop at the red crosswalk and I mean they're so very proper and correct and yet There are apparently these groups of organized thieves who just do trade shows.

They're very organized.

Trade shows is their only thing.

Yeah.

So I mean, I would warn everybody who's at Medica for the first time, it's a great show, but don't lose sight of your backpack.

Yeah, don't leave a laptop on your desk.

Don't leave your laptop.

People will steal laptops, they'll steal backpacks. There's a lot of petty theft. Petty theft.

Petty theft. Exactly. Yeah.

You don't really, I don't, I don't wanna, you know, steer anybody wrong, but I don't think you have to worry about being mugged at Düsseldorf during the—

No, I don't think so either.

There is a lot of petty theft and pickpockets and stuff.

No, you just kind of have to be aware of, of where your stuff is at all times. But my favorite part, I think my favorite part of MEDICA, in addition to the, you know, talking to all the people and the quality of the meetings that I always have, I always get all of my, you know, outreach done for the year, basically. Um, and the people I'm reaching out to is US companies that are looking for distribution in Austria, basically.

Right, exactly.

Um, and, uh, the most fun part though is, uh, is the booth hopping on Tuesdays.

Yeah.

Is to go to the parties. You can just go from hall to hall. Every hall has a party, and it's— you can just— it's really fun.

And that's— and for me, I like— I find there are people I've been doing business with for 35 years at Medica, right? So I see people, it's like, uh, you know, my high school reunion. Union for me every year. And I, I love to see those people. And I, you know, typically, again, I get most of my— I get a lot of business done for the year of Medica.

Okay.

Um, it's always been very nice. And I love, you know, I'll go out to certain beer, you know, beer places every year and all of that. And I have a beer safari for my clients, and I'll do stuff like that. And I, I don't, I don't think personally I couldn't eat German food every day. But for 4 or 5 days a year, I love eating German food and I just sort of dive into it. So yeah, it's— it can be great. And so tell us a couple of funny stories about, about the work you've done with the Commercial Service or, you know, stuff you've done at Medica. What, you know, people always love these, these funny stories about people doing business internationally.

Okay. Well, my goodness, I— after 20 years, I've got a whole bunch of stories. that I could tell. One of, really one of my favorite times in my life was the support that my office and really a whole bunch of my colleagues around the world provided for a U.S. company who was the victim of a trade secrets theft.

Oh, wow.

It was an American company. Yeah, the name of the company was AMSC. As a matter of fact, this story has a appeared on 60 Minutes. So this is— this was my 15 minutes of fame, although my name was not mentioned, unfortunately. But it's a company that had a research and development software development office in Austria, and one of their employees, a disgruntled employee apparently, and it was in fact was convicted of supplying the software code to their main customer, which was a wind turbine producer in China called Sinovel. Yeah, and so this, this came to the embassy for our information.

That's a big thing. Yeah. Wow.

Yes, yes. And what happened is that the Chinese company, once they had the code to put into the wind turbines that they were producing— I mean, the, the way the relationship was working was that the producer of the software that ran the wind turbines was this American company, AMSC, but then the Chinese company was a producer of the wind turbines themselves, and then they used you know, the US technology, which was the software. And so once that code had been transferred, the— there was no reason anymore for them to continue with the relationship with the US company.

Of course.

And then several hundred million dollars worth of goods were then rejected at the port. And the, the worst part of this was that this Chinese company was selling their wind turbines into various procurements worldwide, right? They were the 2nd largest wind turbine producer.

I've heard that China is like the biggest producer now of wind turbines.

I guess this is related to that. And this is, this is related to that. So We at the U.S. Commercial Service, a very large group of us along with our interagency colleagues, put together a program through which we were able to shut that down, basically. We were able to shut down that— the ability of that company to continue to exist while using the stolen software.

Wow.

And that involved informing countries that were considering purchasing these products as part of their procurements that the products themselves contained illegally obtained software. And then at one point when the company sold into a project in the United States, the product was shipped, it was confiscated, and then legal action was taken, and the company ended up paying a record Fee or not fee punishment or whatever. Yeah, punishment. What is what is the word for it?

Punitive.

But they ended up paying nearly a billion dollars in yeah over eight hundred million dollars.

Wow! Again, you've made this twice here, Marco. Wow!

Yeah, so that was one, and this this was a process that took over seven years, and it involved a big group of people, and that that was just. You know, as much as trade is able to bring people together and to make the world a better and a safer place and to distribute wonderful products and technologies worldwide, you got to play by the rules.

You got to play by the rules.

You got to play by the rules.

Look, I'll be very frank. This is one of these stories you hear about that I've never been involved in anything like this. I always say to people, You're not gonna sue somebody. If somebody steals from you, you're not probably— if you're a small company, you know, most of the people I'm working with are a couple hundred million dollars at best, right? You're not gonna put lawyers on a plane to Brazil, and they're not gonna have their day in court and all this. You're gonna, you're gonna basically— that's life. So you have to work with people you trust. You have to put in place safeguards.

Yeah.

But you gotta realize that But, you know, you can put down a 20-page contract, you're probably not gonna see a courtroom, right? That's just the way it works. I've never been involved in an actual court case in 35 years of trading, right? So that— but you have to find people you can trust, and you have to be trustworthy yourself. You know, if you—

Absolutely.

Yeah, I say to people, if you ever screw over a distributor, you should change jobs. Because somebody sometime in the future is going to hear that story, right?

Yeah.

And it's going to make it difficult for you to work because, you know, I say to people all the time when I talk to people I don't know who, you know, about being a distributor, I say, look, go on LinkedIn and ask people if anybody has a story of when I screwed them over. Look, look, try to find somebody who can say that I did something dishonest with them. Because you're not going to find it. And, and that puts me in a pretty good position with people I'm working with. And, and, you know, so all—

I think most people don't. Most people are not, are not going to, to cheat, and most people are happy to, to stick with the rules, I believe. Um, but what— well, the one thing that I would say that I've noticed, um, that I think many small companies could do a better job of, um, Is responsiveness.

Ah, yeah, that's true.

Responsiveness, following up, being responsive. Because I work for— in terms of finding export partners for companies, I work exclusively with US companies, US mostly smaller businesses that are looking to find distributors here in Europe where there's a time difference of 6, 7 hours, right? And especially language difference where people are pretty uptight about time.

They're not like— nobody ever said it's lax in Austria, right?

You know, let Austria Austrians are, I think they're, if you would, if you wanted to be very stereotypical, you would say Austrians are extremely impatient people and people who plan. They plan everything from the beginning to the end.

Yes.

But be that as it may, I think that the US company that is able to overcome the distance and the, and the, and the, and the disruptions that are involved in having a different language, having a different time zone, and having a different culture, let's face it, are the ones that are responsive. They, they answer back within a day or two. They have an out-of-office message. That's easy. So that's a biggie. It's small, but it's, it makes a huge difference. Huge difference.

That's exactly right. I want to touch on— before we run out of time, I want to touch on the advocacy program, which you mentioned, because a lot of people aren't aware of this. And this can be very powerful. Do you want to talk for a minute about the advocacy program?

Yes, absolutely. The advocacy program is something that is available to US companies that are able to fulfill certain criteria. in terms of the products or services that they are trying to sell overseas. Mostly it's a 51% US content, but not always, because the advocacy program is specifically designed to help US companies overcome barriers in government procurement programs. So when a foreign government is procuring a particular product or service or item, and it is above a certain threshold, and there is a legal requirement that it be open—

Right.

To all qualified bidders, often it will be the case that there is a particular bidder that the procuring agency has in mind, and that is often not the U.S. company.

Right.

And it is at that point when we start to see issues of fairness.

Right.

Is there really a level playing field in that particular procurement? And if the U.S. company that is part of the procurement has the feeling that that is not the case, that there has been— there's a decision that may come to be that is not made on the merits, but rather on other factors, that is when they can come to us and we can begin what we call the advocacy process. It is really a very carefully monitored and very legally binding process. There is a set of agreements that need to be signed by the US company that is requesting the advocacy. It's a formal process, and it is then— it is not necessary that your company be the only US bidder in this system. It can't. There may also be more than one US company. We will then advocate for all of the US offerings, and the advocacy itself then, once you have been accepted into the situation, into the program and the the process has been discussed and everybody understands exactly what the situation is, then the actual advocacy itself is done then according to what the company desires and requires.

Right.

So at the, at the lowest level, at the most simple level, it might be a phone call. Someone like me might give the procurement agency a call and say, hey, You know, I'm from the US Embassy, and I understand there are a few US companies that are also bidding on this, and very excited to see, you know, the participation of some excellent US solutions that are part of this procurement. That gives the procurement agency the un— the unmistakable signal—

We're watching you.

That we're watching, yes. Yes, yes. So things become much more fair when, when they know that they're being watched. And, and quite honestly, I myself personally have done that several times with very positive results.

Yeah.

Each time, each time. I know this is going to be a fair process. Great to know that we have US companies that are also bidding. And it can, it can go, it goes up from there. I mean, you heard about the Sinovel case. That would be advocacy at the, at the gold star level, we were calling heads of state and telling them that those procure— those wind turbines that they were considering procuring contained stolen software. So it's a range from picking up a phone call to a little guy who's making a decision on a procurement all the way up to bringing this up at major head of state discussions. Yeah, and everything in between.

Yeah, no, that, that, that's great. And I've used this a few times. I'll be really frank, this sounds, as you were talking, no offense, man, it sounds very complex. But when you're selling to a government, you don't sell a government a $50 purchase order, right? You're talking a lot of money. And so you might have to do, as a company, you might have to do a little bit of work on this, and it might sound a little bit complex.

Sure.

But when you're dealing with, you know, a quarter of a million, a half million, a multimillion-dollar purchase order, right? And very often that's what we're talking about here. It's worth the work, right?

Definitely.

And I've found that, and I've used it also for things like, you know, a country is solving a problem. They know they have a problem to solve and they're looking at something else. And now we basically say, well, we just want to poke them and let them know that there's an American company involved here with something a little bit different that we'd like them to look at. And when you're dealing with government, you know, you're dealing with a government purchasing organization. And in a lot of the world, you know, I've done this in Africa and I've done this in Pakistan. I'm not— I don't remember if I've done it in Europe, but I know that I've done this in the Middle East and in Africa. And very often it's a matter of just saying, you know, the U.S. Embassy is going to call a senior person in the health department, the Department of Health, a Ministry of and say, there's an American solution that's being offered. Could, could you be fair? Could you take a look at it, right? Could you, you know, and, and that works wonders. You know, I could probably trace millions and millions of dollars worth of purchase orders to these type of activities that we've done. So it's a really valuable service to know about, right?

Absolutely.

And, and just To clarify for the guy, you know, the sales manager in Ohio, the way you trigger this is you talk to your local Commerce Department person, probably the specialist who deals with, you know, if you're in medical products or in construction, there's probably a specialist in Chicago or in Cleveland or wherever you are.

That's right.

You trigger that person. That person will then reach out to somebody like you who might reach out to some— to a specialist who deals with the government depending on— I know there is an office in DC that deals with advocacy, or at least there's—

That's right, the Trade Advocacy Center. Yes, it's always like that, that we— that the advocacy cases, they may start at the post. Like, for example, here in Vienna, it might start here if there's a problem here that triggers it. It may start at the US city level, like you say, maybe in, I don't know, let's say Chicago would reach out to then the international trade specialist there who would then— basically it becomes a troika.

Right.

It becomes the person at post, it becomes the person in the US, the, the, at the domestic office, and then they bring in somebody from headquarters, and that is the Trade Advocacy Center person who is very, very familiar with all of the ins and outs of the advocacy process. And between the 3, those 3 individuals, That is how one of these advocacy cases gets run. And they could be very short. And like you said, they could consist of a telephone call and just a couple of weeks of coordination, or they can be very long and take several years before they then come to fruition.

Right, right.

Yeah.

Great. Okay. Well, thank you so much for everything, Martha. If people— I mean, to be really frank, people shouldn't be reaching out to you. They should be reaching out to their local office who will then reach out to you. But if they do want to reach out to you, how would they find you?

Absolutely. The best way to find me, well, you can, you can Google Marta Haustein if you want. You'll find me like that. I'm on LinkedIn.

You're on LinkedIn, right?

I'm on LinkedIn. Or you can just write me an email. And, you know, Zach, to be very honest with you, I'm very happy to direct people to the people, to the place they need to go. I've been with our organization long enough to where I know most of my colleagues by name, and it's very easy for me to direct you. So before you, you are too worried about not finding the right contact person at the U.S. Commercial Service. I'm happy for you to— I don't know if you can put my contact information into this.

I will put it into the link when I post this. So yep.

I'm fine with that. And also, I mean, take a look at our website, you know, our Commerce Department website.

There are lots and lots of services. If you're not working with— if you are an American exporter and you're not working with the Commerce Department, you are missing Well, yes, I would say yes. Great. So thank you very much for your time. I am looking forward to seeing you at Medica.

Yeah, same here.

Great. And thank you all for listening, uh, to another episode of Conversations That Drive Global Sales. And, uh, hope if you are in the medical business, I hope to see you at Medica. And if you're not, I'll see you at another trade show or reach out to me on LinkedIn. Thank you very much. All right, thanks a lot, Margaret.

Bye-bye, Zach. All the best.