Winter is Coming…
... and for 70,000 skiers that could mean tearing or rupturing ligaments of the knee, aka an injured ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). Repairing an ACL usually requires surgery, followed by time away from the slopes, nine months or more of painful physical therapy, lost wages and other fun stuff. Many skiers are turning to knee braces to avoid injury. Smart skiers also turn to KneeBinding, a Stowe, Vermont, company that manufactures innovative ski bindings designed to release before an injury occurs. The only manufacturer of ski bindings in the United States, KneeBinding is helping skiers worldwide.
KneeBinding, which sells primarily through distributors and retail outlets, successfully built relationships with companies in these channels throughout the United States. At the same time, the company attracted the attention of international buyers in Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and countries in Europe. The challenge for KneeBinding was the company, just as it does in the U.S., needed to offer open credit terms to international buyers in order to be competitive in overseas markets. The risk KneeBinding ran was the consequences if an international buyer did not pay: lack of recourse to collect the receivable, and loss of revenue.
Fortunately for skiers everywhere, KneeBinding’s COO, Steve Walkerman, connected with his local EXIM Bank representative to discuss how export credit insurance benefits small businesses by empowering them to offer “open account” credit terms to foreign buyers. With EXIM’s Express Insurance policy in hand, KneeBinding was able to accomplish several goals:
- Offer open credit terms to foreign buyers
- Grow the business by expanding into new markets with new customers
- Protect the company’s assets and mitigate the risk of nonpayment on foreign receivables
Small businesses like KneeBinding are building profitable companies through exporting. Express Insurance from EXIM is a low cost way to protect a small company’s assets while growing revenues, and EXIM works with the smallest companies and covers the smallest transactions. No business and no deal are too small!
So winter is coming … let KneeBinding and EXIM help protect you from harm.
By Kathy Yao, Desk Officer, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Elizabeth Thomas, Business Development Specialist, EXIM