If you want to do business in Sicily, this may be the most useful page you'll find on the Web. Textiles, furniture, industrial components, fashion, jewelry, wine, pasta, olive oil, architectural ceramics, ceramic art, candy and liqueurs are just a few Sicilian products available for export. Finding the firms that sell them isn't always easy. Simplifying the process is one of the main ideas behind our consulting service. It's a practical and cost-effective way for you to bring Sicilian products or services to your local market. Here's why...

And we want you to find the products you're looking for. Sicilian wines, olive oils, ceramic products, shoes and specialised travel services (to mention just a few products) are virtually unknown in New York, London, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney. Misdirected marketing has left them in the "hidden" Sicily you never see. Yet there is a growing interest and market for Sicily's products and services in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Argentina, Canada, Russia, Ireland and many other countries.

Business-to-Business, Person-to-Person
The most direct way to identify Sicilian firms to do business with is to have your own representative here in Sicily. It's logical, and now it's possible with our consulting service. Foreign trade has been an important part of Sicilian commerce for three thousand years, but this unique service is the first of its kind because it gives you complete control over evaluation and selection. It also opens new markets for many Sicilian products. Our philosophy is that business-to-business begins with "person-to-person." Until now, the international sale of certain Sicilian products was the exclusive domain of a few importers with network resources in Palermo or Catania. Our services change that by opening the market to firms like yours. Welcome to The New Sicily!

A Direct Approach
Sicily is our favorite product. If you've been to to our delightful island, you may have asked yourself why certain Sicilian products and services are not marketed in other countries. Like you, we believe that Sicily's fine products should be available to everybody, with a greater presence in the international market. The fact is that the various public promotional agencies, such as the chambers of commerce (camere di commercio), which sponsor trade shows and other initiatives, inevitably overlook some of Sicily's most appealing companies and products. Hundreds of small companies have been started in Sicily in recent years, and very few are represented by promotional agencies. These agencies represent and promote the products or services of their own members and affiliates, a tiny minority of Sicilian firms. The objective of commercial (private) marketing promoters is selling you the products of their own clients. To cut costs, these agencies usually organize trade shows to represent Sicilian products generally, instead of promoting firms by category or industry. (But is information about furniture manufacturers very useful to somebody who markets food products?) In practice, few of their personnel or their interpreters speak English competently, and this leads to frequent misunderstandings. But an intrinsic disadvantage with either kind of service is that it's paid to represent its local clients instead of your company, and that's a serious conflict of interest. We prefer to represent you.

Working for YOU
Rather than referring you to companies with which they, the local marketing folks, are directly associated, wouldn't it be better if somebody put you in direct contact with firms that offered products you really want to sell? That's what we're here for. We avoid possible conflicts of interest by working exclusively for you. By helping you find products that interest your customers. In fact, we're the only Sicily-based consultants that represent you instead of specific Sicilian businesses. Simply Sicily's suggestions are impartial because we're not paid to promote particular local companies. That means no bureaucracy and no nonsense. Simply expressed, Simply Sicily represents the buyer rather than the seller. We're the only commercial representative in Sicily that works exclusively with non-Italian firms.

Strategy
While we offer a range of services, the most frequently requested one is the old-fashioned product search. In other words, finding firms that offer certain products you want to sell. It works like this: You provide us with your requirements and we develop a list of candidate companies with contact information accompanied by basic descriptions and evaluations. It's a remarkably simple, honest, efficient procedure that works, saving you precious time and effort in tiresome research. Hundreds of Sicilian companies want to enter the international marketplace. We routinely contact Sicilian firms that considered foreign markets beyond their reach before we presented the possibility, since few of these companies are represented at trade shows. (Some can't afford the inflated participation fees, while others have been disappointed with past results.) More importantly, we get real results for foreign-based companies like yours.

Targeting Results
Let's be realistic. Finding the right supplier or partner takes more than pulling a name off a list. Our analytical approach produces good choices. It's the first step in working with a company that you otherwise may never have known existed. It's easy for us to represent you because our multinational staff understands national markets beyond Italian shores. Our international experience is also an asset if you require practical advice on dealing with Italian firms. In that regard we're more objective than most "local" Sicilian consultants, while we're better informed than most foreign consultants about local production. It's the best of both worlds.

Costs
Our commissions are based on a flat rate linked to the time involved in research, rather than a percentage-based fee structure. Our affordable fees are the same for everybody. Let's look at a sample project. A typical search resulting in a detailed list of six companies, with clear descriptions and current contact information (as well as a letter in Italian to facilitate your direct contact with them), would cost around €450.00 (less than US$450.00). That's considerably less than you would spend using costly hit-and-miss methods like trade shows or a stay in Sicily tracking down products --and since few Sicilian firms have English-speakers you might have to hire interpreters or translators. Our search reflects a higher quality of results because we contact the companies directly before including them in the list, ensuring that they sell what you want and that they're interested in the international market. It's a small investment if you're serious about doing business in Sicily.

Email us to begin.