Export consulting for
Australian METS companies.
Most export consultants in Australia have never sold a thing into a foreign market. We have. Quarterdeck Labs advises Australian METS and industrial companies on export strategy, market entry, and the channel work that turns interest overseas into signed orders — led by someone who ran an award-winning export program, not read about one.
Good export consulting isn't a report. It's someone in the room who has done it before.
An export consultant helps an Australian business win work overseas: choosing which market to enter, working out how to reach the buyers in it, setting the price, finding and managing the distributor or channel partner, and building a pipeline that keeps producing. That's the job. The trouble with most export consulting services in Australia is that the advice comes from generalists who have never actually done any of it — they've run market research, not market entry.
We work the other way around. Quarterdeck Labs advises Australian METS and industrial companies as operators who have picked markets, built distributor networks, run trade missions, and closed deals in them. When we tell you a market is worth entering or a partner is worth signing, it's a judgement built on having made those calls before — and lived with the consequences.
Everything between "we should export" and a signed overseas order.
Export consulting done properly spans the whole path to market. Here's the ground we cover with the companies we work with.
Export strategy
Before anything else, a clear-eyed read on whether you're export-ready, what your real edge is overseas, and what a sensible sequence of moves looks like. A strategy you can act on, not a 60-page document that sits in a drawer.
Market selection
The single most expensive decision in exporting is which market to enter first. We help you pick one you can actually win — weighing demand, competition, buyer access and fit — rather than the one that sounds exciting at a conference.
Channel & distributor setup
Finding the right distributor, agent or channel partner in-market — and structuring the relationship so they actually sell your product instead of parking it. This is where most solo export attempts quietly stall.
Export pricing
Pricing for a foreign market is its own discipline — landed cost, margins, distributor cuts, currency, and what the market will actually bear. Get it wrong and you either price yourself out or leave real money on the table.
Compliance basics
The export controls, documentation and market-access basics you need to have straight before you ship. We're not a customs broker, but we make sure the fundamentals are covered and point you to the right specialists where you need them.
Trade missions & in-market
Getting you in front of the right buyers — trade missions, shows, and structured in-market visits into Southeast Asia and Latin America — with the follow-up plan that turns a handshake into a pipeline.
An export consultant who has actually run an export program — and won awards doing it.
The export consulting services you'll find across Australia are mostly run by advisors, researchers and agents. Useful people, but people whose experience of exporting is at arm's length. Our founder led export at an Australian mining technology company that won at the 2025 Australian Export Awards. That means the person advising you has built the strategy, chosen the markets, signed the distributors, and closed the deals — and knows exactly where the process bites.
It also means we're specialists, not generalists. We work with METS, manufacturing and industrial exporters — companies selling equipment, technology and technical services into overseas mining and industrial markets. We know how those buyers think, how those deals come together, and how long they really take. A generic export consultant advising a mining supplier the same way they'd advise a food brand is guessing; we're not.
And we work as an embedded partner, not a one-off. Export isn't a report you commission once — it's a program you run for years. We stay in it with you: market selection this quarter, distributor setup the next, a trade mission after that, all held together by Export OS so nothing falls through the cracks.
Four steps — from a paid read to a running export program.
Growth Audit
We start with a paid, structured read on your export readiness and your best-fit market — the moves worth making first, in writing. It's $1,000, and the fee is refunded when you move into a retainer. You see how we think before you commit to anything larger.
Pick the market & the way in
Together we choose the first market you can realistically win and the route into it — direct, distributor, or channel partner. This is the market entry work, and getting it right is what saves you the expensive year that a wrong first move usually costs.
Build the channel & pipeline
We help you find and structure the right distributor or partner, sort out pricing and the compliance basics, and get you in front of buyers through trade missions and in-market visits — then build the follow-up that turns those meetings into a real pipeline.
Run it as an embedded partner
Export is a program, not a project. As an embedded partner we keep the strategy moving quarter to quarter, and where you're spending on export marketing we make sure it's planned to suit the EMDG grant — so the government offsets spend that was always going to happen.
Export consulting, answered plainly.
What does an export consultant do?
An export consultant helps an Australian business sell into overseas markets: which markets to target, how to get in front of buyers there, how to price and structure a deal, and who to partner with on the ground. A good one does more than write a report — they help you choose a market you can actually win, set up the distributor or channel relationships, and build a pipeline that keeps producing after the engagement ends. The difference that matters is whether the person advising you has actually run an export program, or whether they've only ever read about one.
How much does export consulting cost in Australia?
It varies with the model. One-off market reports from research firms can run a few thousand dollars; freight forwarders and grants agents bundle advice into other fees; and embedded advisory retainers sit higher because someone is doing the work with you month to month, not handing over a document. At Quarterdeck Labs we start most companies with a $1,000 Growth Audit — a written read on your export readiness and best-fit market — and the fee is refunded if you move into a retainer. That way you see the thinking before you commit to anything larger.
What makes Quarterdeck Labs different from other export consultants in Australia?
Most export consulting services in Australia are run by generalists — people who advise across every industry and have never sold anything into a foreign market themselves. Our founder led export at an Australian mining technology company that won at the 2025 Australian Export Awards. That's operator experience, not theory: we've picked the markets, built the distributor networks, run the trade missions, and closed the deals. And we focus tightly on METS and industrial exporters heading into Southeast Asia and Latin America, rather than trying to advise everyone on everything.
Do I need an export consultant, or can I do it myself?
You can absolutely export without a consultant — plenty of companies do. Where an export consultant earns their fee is in cutting the expensive mistakes: the wrong first market, a distributor that ties up your product and does nothing with it, pricing that leaves money on the table or prices you out, and the twelve months you lose finding all that out the hard way. If you're export-curious and have time to learn slowly, do it yourself. If you have a real product and want to move quickly without the costly detours, that's when advisory pays for itself.
Which export markets do you focus on?
Southeast Asia, and Indonesia in particular, plus the mining regions of Latin America. These are markets where Australian METS and industrial companies have a genuine edge — proximity and reputation in the case of Southeast Asia, and a shared mining heritage in the case of Latin America — but where getting in demands local knowledge, the right partners, and patience. We concentrate there rather than claiming to be experts in every market on earth, because depth beats breadth when you're actually trying to win work.
How does an export advisory engagement work?
It usually starts with a Growth Audit: a paid, structured read on where you are, which market fits, and the smartest first moves to make. From there most companies move into an embedded retainer where we work as part of the team — running market selection, channel and distributor setup, pricing, the compliance basics, and trade missions on an ongoing basis rather than as a one-off. The whole point is that export is a program, not a project, so the advisory is built to keep going year on year, not to end when a document lands in your inbox.
Two ways in.
Both low-risk.
Whether you want a proper read on where to export first, or you're ready to build the whole program — both paths start the same way.
Growth Audit
A deep assessment of your export readiness and your best-fit market, in writing. You get a plan you can act on, and the fee is refunded when you start a retainer.
Book a Growth Audit →Strategy Call
Tell us what you make and where you'd like to sell it. We'll give you an honest read on whether we can help and how an export consultant would approach it.
Book a 30-Minute Call →Not sure if we're the right fit? Take the 3-minute export readiness quiz →