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was guaranteeing the debt of the customer wascorrupt. The officers of that bank ran away withall the money and left Patton holding the bag.He went to the Department of Commerce whocontacted the U.S. ambassador. Patton recalled:“The ambassador went to bat for us in Algeriato try to recover that money. So that was agreat benefit.”Patton also had competitive deals in Moroccothat looked like they were not so competitiveand appeared to be wired for a particular vendor.“We were able to exercise some U.S. CommercialService consulting to have the U.S. ambassadorthere also talk to the minister of communicationsand let him know that the United States was veryinterested in this particular deal. Just knowingthat other people were watching kept that on theup and up and made it possible for us to win somebusiness in Morocco.”Lessons LearnedWhen the company started, Patton immediatelybegan to look for international buyers. He used adirect mail campaign and also attracted inquiriesfrom his website. Then he got on an airplane andwent to Europe to see some of the contacts, andwhile there he found others in local phone booksand called them from his hotel.At that stage, exporting was a very small part ofthe business. Now, though, it has become about75 percent of all revenue. Through persistenceand planning, Patton now has thousands of resalechannels in about 125 countries on nearly everycontinent. Devices are made in the United Statesand shipped around the world.As the business grew, Patton added staff outsideof the United States, mostly in sales and technicalsupport roles. He explained: “A big part of our goto-marketstrategy is to be able to communicatewith our customers in their language. So we havelocal language capability for technical support andfor sales as well.”Patton said he learned a lot about business,including the international side, from his dad,whom he calls “a serial entrepreneur.”“He modeled a lot of things for us. My father has10 children, so a big family. And we used to gatheraround the dinner table, and he would havebusiness meetings at the dinner table and a lot ofus kids would be listening in. So it was just partof the culture growing up—conducting businessat home and working with international repsand channels.”Patton is also an ardent believer in the power ofU.S. manufacturing as a powerful brand. “I thinkthe future for U.S. manufacturing is bright.”He said: “We have a competitive advantage justbecause of our brand recognition. So there’s hugeopportunity there. And the biggest thing thatkeeps people from entering into new marketsand new spaces is fear. And it’s mostly fear of theunknown. What I can say is that people are peopleeverywhere I go, that it’s really enjoyable to get toknow people in other markets. They have familiesand kids too, and they are trying to make money,and they have a lot of the same motivations. Andit’s very easy to get along with people once youstart talking the language of commerce.”Success Story: Patton Electronics Company181