Capturing Business on US Soil: Foreign Vendors’ 5 step program

“What matters to me is working hand-in-hand with CEOs and investors and helping their sales and marketing teams feel like their jobs are fun and easy to do, and their products have relevance and purpose in the market. Together, we build sustainable, scalable sales success."

With a foreign vendor, there are mitigating issues that need to be dealt with even before focusing on convincing arguments to buy rather than build:

1. Margins: A foreign software company with a history of success around the globe will hopefully perform well in North America. But, be prepared... Regulations may create a different demand equation and there may be higher costs which may impact margins. Evaluate your new market for any unique price and cost indicators.

2. Go to Market: Once you establish a price at which your Gross Profit and margin are in line with projected earnings, assess the playing field. Where do you target your prospective business?

3. Direct and Indirect Revenue Streams: Make sense of where your revenue is going to come from. List companies you will sell to and consider multiple approaches; direct to buyers as well as indirect (include resellers, distributors and sales partners).

4. Territory Alignment: You can figure out your budget by aligning your territory. How many companies do you intend to sell to and who are they? Based on that, determine necessary head count.

5. Buying Process: North America companies will most likely buy differently than companies from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Do your homework to assess cultural and regulatory concerns as well as legal issues regarding licensing. Also, factor in Request For Proposal processes and commercials being agreed to by business owners’, legal and procurement teams.

With a necessary program in place, it’s exciting for companies to win business on foreign soil and watch their organizations grow exponentially!

Jeff Hoffman is the Founder/Principal of Jeff Hoffman, CRO.  Hoffman is a fractional and interim chief revenue officer working with companies around the world.