01
More exporters
Move from interest to active international opportunities.
State Trade Expansion Program
Your state may help pay for the export revenue system your company needs.
STEP is a federal program administered by states and territories. If you qualify, your state may subsidize or reimburse a significant share of this six-month program—sometimes 50% or more.
15 hours
Recorded training
48 hours
Live implementation
25-hour
Advanced library
!
Confirm your state’s requirements first.
Funding percentages and eligibility vary by state. Get the correct contact and instructions before spending anything.
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No obligation. No phone number required.
Free
STEP Application Guide
Get your state contact and application instructions
Tell us where your company is located. We’ll send the correct STEP administrator’s email and the practical steps for requesting support.
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We’ll use your information to send STEP instructions and relevant export-growth information. You can unsubscribe at any time.
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01
The Economic Outcome
Turn export capability into measurable commercial activity.
02
More export sales
Build the markets, partners, and systems that drive revenue.
03
More manufacturing activity
Turn foreign demand into production and jobs at home.
The Real Export Problem
You probably do not need another export course.
You need a disciplined system for producing export revenue—and experienced help while you build and execute it.
Too many markets
Your time and money are scattered instead of concentrated where you can win.
The wrong partners
Introductions and trade-show contacts do not become a qualified, active pipeline.
Weak activation
Partners are appointed without expectations, training, tools, or a launch plan.
No accountability
Relationships are managed, but opportunities, forecasts, and performance are not.
Revenue leakage
Weak coverage stays in place while attractive markets remain underdeveloped.
R
The Program Standard
Every lesson must pass the revenue test.
If it does not help you choose a market, recruit or activate a partner, advance an opportunity, improve performance, or increase export sales, it is not central to this program.
Choose a market
Recruit a partner
Advance an opportunity
Improve performance
Increase export sales
Six Months. Six Commercial Systems.
From export ambition to export execution.
Each month builds one essential commercial system—giving your team the structure, tools, and discipline required to create sustainable export revenue.
01
02
03
04
05
06
01
Month One
Build Your Export Revenue Operating System
Set objectives, pipeline, roles, KPIs and management cadence.
Objectives
Pipeline
KPIs
02
Month Two
Select the Markets Where You Can Win
Choose one priority market using opportunity, access and probability of success.
Opportunity
Access
Probability
03
Month Three
Recruit the Right International Partners
Define, find, approach, interview and evaluate distributors, partners and buyers.
Partner profile
Recruiting
Evaluation
04
Month Four
Activate New Distributors for Faster Revenue
Turn interest into expectations, training, tools, coverage and opportunities.
Onboarding
Activation
Launch plan
05
Month Five
Drive Performance and Accountability
Create opportunity visibility, scorecards, forecasting discipline and corrective action.
Scorecards
Forecasting
Corrective action
06
Month Six
Optimize Your Distributor Network
Strengthen, supplement, improve or replace partners—and launch the next revenue sprint.
Optimization
Coverage
Revenue sprint
6
Six connected systems One repeatable export revenue engine.
Focused Asynchronous Training
Learn the method online. Build it with supervision.
The required 15-hour recorded curriculum is delivered in manageable modules aligned with the six stages. Participants complete the relevant lesson before the weekly sessions, then apply it directly to their companies.
15
required hours
+
25 hours
Searchable advanced library
Required
15-hour curriculum
- Market selection and prioritization
- Ideal customer and distributor profiles
- Partner research, outreach, interviews and evaluation
- Partner playbooks, onboarding, training and activation
- Pipeline, forecasts, scorecards and corrective action
- Cross-cultural selling and revenue execution
Plus a searchable
25-hour advanced library
Participants can go deeper when they need help with organization design, team leadership, headquarters readiness, agreements, trade shows, advanced partner management or regional selling practices.
Every Week
Learn it. Apply it. Get unstuck.
1 hour
Live instruction
Purpose
Learn the next export-revenue method and assignment.
Participant experience
Focused teaching tied to the current monthly system.
1 hour
Guided workshop
Purpose
Apply the method to the participant’s own company.
Participant experience
Ask questions, show work, receive guidance and solve roadblocks with the cohort.
You will not be left stuck.
If the lesson and cohort workshop do not produce a usable result, Zach provides targeted assistance to help the participant complete the work.
Results and Takeaways
Leave with systems your team can actually execute.
Commercial activity begins during the program—not after it.
01
A documented export baseline and measurable revenue objectives
02
One priority implementation market and two secondary opportunities
03
A company-specific Export Revenue Development Plan
04
An Ideal Distributor Profile and partner-evaluation scorecard
05
A qualified foreign-partner or buyer pipeline and outreach process
06
Partner onboarding, performance, accountability and replacement systems
07
A 90-day execution sprint and 12-month export revenue roadmap
$1B+
Career sales
135+
Countries
35+
Years
1,400+
Channel partners
125
Quarters above quota
Built and Delivered by an Operator
Decades of international sales experience— compressed into one system.
Zach Selch has spent more than 35 years building and leading international sales organizations for startups and major manufacturers. He has worked with 1,400+ channel partners, sold to 100+ governments and beaten quota in 125 quarters.
This is not an academic survey assembled by a generalist.
It is the practical operating system behind those results.
What Leaders Say
Practical experience creates different conversations.
“Zach was not another consultant with a framework or a theory. What I found was someone who had actually lived it… Zach helped me see things that I was missing, and that is rare.
“This is the man who taught me everything I needed to know to buy the house I raised you in and send you to university.
STEP Cost-Share Support
Could STEP reduce your cost?
Depending on the state’s current STEP program and the company’s eligibility, STEP may pay or reimburse half or more. Some states use a different percentage, cap, contribution or approval process.
Do not enroll or incur an expense yet.
Obtain written approval from your state STEP administrator first.
Standard program value
$
5,000
Six months of training, implementation, commercial systems and supervised execution.
Potential STEP support
50% or more in some states
Get my STEP instructions
→
Funding is not guaranteed. Written state approval is required.
STEP Funding Questions
Frequently asked questions.
Understand the process before your company commits or incurs an expense.
Is STEP a federal grant?
STEP is funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration and
administered through participating states and territories.
Companies generally apply through their state program, not
directly to SBA.
Will STEP definitely pay for this program?
No. Eligibility, approved activities, reimbursement percentages,
caps, deadlines and application procedures vary by state and
funding cycle. The company must receive written approval from its
state administrator.
How much support could my company receive?
Some states may cover 50% or more of an approved activity, while
others use different cost-share rules or caps. The state
administrator provides the controlling answer.
Should I enroll before applying?
No. The company should not enroll, sign a non-cancellable
commitment or incur an expense until it has written approval and
understands the state’s reimbursement requirements.
What will you send me?
The appropriate state STEP contact, available program or
application links, practical application steps and instructions
for discussing the Export Revenue Accelerator with the
administrator.
Is this only for first-time exporters?
No. STEP programs may serve eligible companies that are new to
exporting or ready to expand export sales. Each state applies its
own eligibility rules.
Does completing the form apply for STEP?
No. The form requests guidance from Global Sales Mentor. The
company must apply through its own state or territory.
Start with the correct state contact
Request STEP instructions
→
