Export-import consultants · Professional services
Be the consultant an exporter calls when the first shipment is stuck.
A garment maker in Tiruppur gets a message from a buyer in Dubai asking for a quote on 2,000 pieces. Nothing the firm makes has ever left India. The owner searches "how to export from India", finds a government portal and a dozen YouTube videos, and still does not know who to call for the IEC, the HS code and the freight forwarder.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
An export-import consultant helps Indian businesses start, document and run overseas trade: IEC registration, HS codes, shipping and customs paperwork, buyer finding and compliance. Marketing for export-import consultants reaches owners when they decide to sell abroad or when a consignment stalls. GullySales builds that visibility and the follow-up behind it.
Many export-import consultants grow by word of mouth among exporters in one cluster, one port or one trade. First-time exporters and small importers who belong to no association yet have no such route to you, and Google is where they ask.
Last updated 18 Oct 2026.
How buyers decide
How export-import consultants are chosen.
A first-time exporter looks for someone who can say what to do first. The questions go to other exporters in the same industry, the family CA or the district industries centre, and then to Google and IndiaMART for consultants who handle that product. Importers look for someone who knows customs clearance, duties and licences for the specific item.
Established exporters switch consultants after a problem: a shipment held at the port, a drawback or incentive claim rejected, a buyer who did not pay. They want someone who has dealt with the same product and the same country before. An experienced owner can tell within a few questions whether you know the paperwork or only the portal.
Shipments repeat, so the consultant who handled the first container is the obvious name when the next one needs documents, compliance or a buyer search.
The problem
What usually goes wrong for export-import consultants.
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“Our page reads like a list of forms”
IEC, RCMC, LUT, certificate of origin. Owners search for their product and country, not for our form names, so they never land on us.
“Enquiries arrive in a panic”
A container is held, the buyer abroad is angry and the call comes at 9 pm. Planning a week around such calls is impossible, and nobody can tell which of them will become regular work.
“We do one-time jobs and lose the client”
We file the IEC and the exporter disappears. By the first container the paperwork is with someone else.
“First-time exporters trust nobody”
Every first-timer knows a story of a fee paid and a consultant gone. They ask around about you for weeks, and we have little on paper to show.
“We cannot show results by product or country”
A rice exporter wants to see rice. A handicraft seller wants to see handicrafts. Our site shows generic export services.
“Referrals come from only one port or cluster”
Everyone we know ships from the same place. When trade slows there, so do we.
What we do
What we do for export-import consultants.
Everything included for export-import consultants.
A page for each product and each country
Separate pages for the products you actually handle and the countries they go to, in the words an exporter uses, such as exporting turmeric to the UAE or importing machine parts from Germany.
A first-shipment guide
A plain guide that follows the steps in order from registration to getting paid, with a short form asking what the reader makes and where they want to sell.
An enquiry log with an urgent lane
A record of every enquiry, with a marker for shipments in trouble and a phone-first reply path for those calls.
A retainer offer after the first job
A short document that shows what ongoing support covers, such as documents, incentive claims and compliance reminders, handed over when the first job closes.
Case notes by product
Anonymised stories of a stuck consignment, a first-time exporter or a duty query, written for a rice exporter or an auto parts maker as the case may be.
How the result is measured
- Enquiries by product and by source
- Held-shipment enquiries and how many became ongoing clients
- First jobs that became repeat clients
- Retainers signed after a first job
- Referrals from forwarders, CAs and associations
- Calls that began from a search for a stuck shipment
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Every service, written for export-import consultants
Each has its own page: what it involves for export-import consultants, what you get, and what it is measured on.
- Lead generationBring in exporters and importers who need a consultant for their own product.
- SEORank for the product and the country, not for the name of a form.
- Local SEOBe the consultant an exporter finds when searching near the port or the cluster.
- Social media marketingPost what an exporter needs to see before trusting a stranger with a shipment.
- Content marketingPublish the guide an exporter reads before choosing whom to phone.
- Buyer personasDescribe the owners who hire you, one product and one worry at a time.
- CRMKeep every enquiry, shipment and renewal date in one place the team shares.
- Follow-up systemsFollow up the owner who asked about exporting before they ask someone else.
- WhatsApp marketingUse WhatsApp to take an exporter from first question to signed job.
- Digital marketingPut search, referrals and follow-up to work as one plan for your practice.
- WebsiteBuild a website an exporter can read in a minute and trust enough to phone.
Worth a page and a campaign of their own
IEC, RCMC and export registrations · HS code classification and duty advice · Export documentation and shipping coordination · Customs clearance and import licensing support · Buyer finding and trade enquiries abroad · Export incentive and scheme claims · Payment terms, letters of credit and buyer checks · Product certifications for destination countries
Priority campaigns
Campaigns for what export-import consultants most want to sell.
Each one planned around when your buyers decide, and measured against the baseline.
Export promotion council and trade fair season
A page and a message set for the weeks around trade fairs and council events, offering a short consult for exhibitors who have no export documents ready.
First export order checklist
A downloadable checklist and a WhatsApp follow-up for owners who have just received an overseas enquiry.
Stuck shipment search ads
Search ads and a short page for searches about held containers, rejected claims and clearance problems, with a phone number that is answered.
Registration and filing renewal note
A message for existing clients written around the dates their registrations and scheme filings fall due, taken from your own client records.
Beyond search
Where we reach buyers of export-import consultants, beyond Google.
Search matters, but it is rarely the only way this industry's buyers find a supplier.
Freight forwarders and CHAs
Forwarders and customs house agents at your port or in your city meet files they cannot move without a consultant: a wrong HS code, a missing certificate. A list of them, with an introduction note.
CAs and tax advisers
An outreach for the CA whose client has just received a first overseas order and asks about the IEC, LUT and incentive paperwork.
Industry associations and export councils
A talk or note for associations in your cluster, and a list of product-specific councils and associations outside it, where your current referrers have no contacts.
Banks with trade finance desks
An introduction for a trade finance relationship manager whose exporter client needs the documents in order before a credit or letter of credit request.
Who it is for
This is written for these export-import consultants.
- First-time exporters of garments, handicrafts and home textiles
- Spice, tea, coffee and food exporters
- Engineering goods and auto component exporters
- Pharma and chemical exporters, together with regulatory advisers
- Small importers of electronics, machinery and raw materials
- Traders and merchant exporters working with buyers abroad
- E-commerce sellers starting cross-border sales
- Agri producer groups and FPOs looking for export buyers
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- You want a guaranteed Google ranking or a guaranteed number of leads. Nobody honest can promise either.
- You need enquiries by next week and have nobody to answer them.
- You want posts and reach reported, not enquiries and orders.
How it works
How the work runs for export-import consultants
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
List your best products, ports and returning clients
The products, countries and ports you handle best, set beside the clients who stayed after the first job.
- 2
Trace the enquiries
How enquiries reach you now, which were urgent, and which first jobs led to a second.
- 3
Write the product and country pages
The pages and guide are drafted, and your team checks every rule and rate before publication, since they change.
- 4
Open the referral routes
Outreach to forwarders, CAs, associations and banks is prepared, with a form and a WhatsApp number for replies.
- 5
Track shipments and renewals
Each enquiry is recorded through to its outcome, and the pages are adjusted to the products and countries that bring paying clients.
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions export-import consultants ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Will you write about duties, incentives and customs rules?
Can you help me find overseas buyers for my clients?
Is IndiaMART worth it for a consultant?
Should I cover imports as well as exports?
How do I get more repeat clients?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
Part of Professional services. See the other industries in the sector.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.