International Business Expansion
"Il Sacro Graal" for most for-profit organizations is the international business growth. To try and capture as much market share as they can. To find people that are willing to pay for the products or the services they offer. I want to share, according to my personal experience, some of the most essential things that every business entity has to make clear in order to achieve successful international business expansion (exports). Please keep in mind that everything has to do with the industry you are in. It is a little bit different for fashion, technology, automobile, food & non-food, different for various services, etc.
You have to make the respective adjustments according to your industry.
Ask yourself if you are ready for the international field. Your products/services, the packaging, the production line, the IT systems, the logistics.
Focus and explore as much as you can the market you want ( every market has different ways that can be approached).
Build a good, well-trained team. It doesn't need to be a 10 people team. It can be a 2 people squad.
It is essential to develop and apply a strategy. Keep your eyes and ears open and make the appropriate moves where it is needed.
Digital presentation. In that way you are accessible to everyone. It is very important to adapt IT tools.
Be aware of your competition and try to learn from the benchmark.
Differentiate as much as you can from the rest of your peers. Can be the product, the service, the price(be careful here) or even your approach.
Be agile, always there is a company more agile than yours.
Ask constantly for feedback, it makes you better.
Develop a budget for international trade shows and other activities.
Think to outsource to a third-party professional some of the functions for achieving exports. It is always good to have a third-party partner (outside the company) because you can have a different point of you. In this way the in-house team has the opportunity to focus on other important things.
Be very careful with your pricing strategy. Don't sell too low in order to be competitive because perhaps you will put in danger your financial position. Don't sell too high because most of the time there are competitors that can beat your price. Find the right spot.
Be patient, persistent and consistent.
Be honest and clear with the people you ask to buy your product/service.
Last but not least, don't be an a**h**e, nobody wants to work with them.
gregory
Blog
