Chasing Business Across the Border
You’ve heard it often, it’s all about The Chase. This applies to many contexts. And, certainly, is no different when considering how living in a Border City can shape your marketing and sales plan as a business.
Living in Buffalo, like any city, has its pros and cons. As a lifelong resident, I like to believe one of our greatest “pros” or advantages is our proximity to Canada.
I live less than 10 minutes from the Peace Bridge and worked for almost 25 years with a view of the Peace Bridge. That always came as a shock to my colleagues around the country. The same colleagues who would ask if I go shopping in New York City on the weekend. When I would tell them that Toronto is a weekend driving destination yet New York City was 8 hours away, some simply could not grasp the fact. Canada, to them, was no different than Europe - countries and worlds away. To us, who reside in Western New York, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Canada has offered us weekend beach time, a gateway to Toronto with nearly 10,000,000 people in its Greater Toronto Area. And, of course, for most of our history, a very favorable currency exchange rate. There is a dog sports and dog show community that sees the border as simply a stop, not an obstacle. And, likewise, commercial investment and business, occurs as seamlessly as possible over the international border, albeit with many rules on both sides that need to be followed.
If your business could benefit from cross border sales, there are many organizations willing to assist. For those Canadians coming south, start with Export Development Canada. Here is the link to an entire new opportunity for your business: https://www.edc.ca/ I had the pleasure of meeting with them over the years and saw, first hand, how they could assist Canadian businesses, particularly on the start-up side when bank financing could not be secured, a common issue on both sides of the border for out of country firms. For firms going north, the US Department of Commerce’s U.S. Commercial Service for exporting and importing can be found here: https://2016.export.gov/newyork/bflorochsyr/ There are local representatives in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. This is an excellent portal for getting started in a northern cross border initiative.
Consultants, attorneys, and accountants are your next step once you have determined exporting is a viable sales channel for your company. You will also want to become familiar with some of the differences at the border crossings. Here is the Canadian website for Canadian Border Services Agency or CBSA: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html and here is the US equivalent, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP): https://www.cbp.gov/. Click under the Import & Export Tab for CBSA and click under Trade on the CBP Portal. The websites are very user friendly.
There is a reason you see so many Ontario license plates around town and why so many New York State license plates are often found up and down the QEW. Don’t let the competition get ahead of you and join The Chase, you will likely find it well worth your research and time, eh?
