How to Do Your Homework,
and Who Can Help
Homework, research, and analyzing every facet
of your expanded new business abroad is the
key to surviving… then succeeding.
IT’S NOT GLAMOROUS. IT’S DOESN’T MAKE YOU ANY MONEY at the time. It’s time-consuming and often complex. But doing the necessary groundwork, and then laying the proper foundation for your expansion efforts, is absolutely vital for surviving and succeeding in a new market abroad.
Of course, the official starting point of expanding your business internationally begins with a plan. And that plan is the fruit of extensive groundwork: the preliminary fact-finding that you do, the results of which you then organize as the basis for your expansion plan. This initial step sets up all the other elements of your expansion that will be used to measure its viability. Once your groundwork is complete, and your findings are validated, you’ll have your rock-solid foundation for success.
Laying down your groundwork
Every aspect of your current local business gives you a template for your groundwork in preparing for expansion abroad.
Think about that business. There are certain features that you routinely analyze, review and adjust for its optimal performance. These features include, among others:
• The financial status of your company
• The current (and estimated future) status of the economy
• The line of products and services you offer
• Sales, marketing and potential growth strategies
• The performance and price/quality ranking of your vendors
• The opinions and viewpoints of your investors
• Expenses, revenues and taxable events
• Shipping, receiving, inventories and returns
• Customer service
• Competitors in the marketplace
• Market and consumer trends
All of these features will (eventually) be present in your target country if you are going there to sell or buy, and need consideration or projection when you expand internationally. And if your target market happens to be halfway around the world, there will be additional features to examine. You’ll need to address them to determine if your business can establish traction in the target region. When you have acceptable answers or estimates for these items, then your next level of groundwork can start.
Go deeper
Your findings will help you to begin focusing on a certain region (or a small number of them). Then, you can ascertain their viability for the products and services you plan to offer or buy. The findings may indicate that things will be very similar to your original location or to others you are already present in.
However, the findings may point to vastly different offerings due to consumer needs, cultural aspects, pricing or other factors. If so, and if you feel the rewards are worth it, you’ll need to dig deeper, and do more comprehensive groundwork before you move forward. At this point you should work out rough timetables showing how long it may take to accomplish this work (or when it is feasible to implement a stage). A partial list of those research undertakings includes:
• Seeking out the best location(s) for success
• Uncovering the best product sources or vendors, or discovering the best means of selling
• Learning and understanding the specific marketplace
• Grasping the local culture and respecting it
• Establishing an image and a presence
• Finding customers or specific vendors
• Determining the type of initial marketing/advertising you’ll need to do, or what it will take to establish strong relationships with the vendors you’ve discovered
Immerse yourself locally
Ideally, you’ve been performing Internet searches, reading trade publications and attending trade shows and related events in your target market. Actually traveling to those locations will be useful; do so if possible, as part of your initial groundwork.
Such scouting visits can be an invaluable means of making that final decision in moving forward (or not) to the place(s) in question. In fact, for some, it’s a mandatory step. But this particular phase of your groundwork can also be an adventure and a lot of fun. Immersing yourself in the local scene can unearth countless factors that research can’t provide. You can much more easily answer varied but important questions like these:
• Do weather patterns or cultural traditions influence the market?
• What time do shops have the most foot-traffic?
• What is transport or parking (or other infrastructure) like in the area I am considering?
• Are local or regional politics going to be a factor for my business?
• Who are the key players (suppliers, competitors and such) I need to consider?
You can relatively easily come up with a hundred or so questions like these to tailor your research further. It all helps lay the proper foundation for future success.
Even simple people-watching can provide incredible insights into how you may want actually do business in a particular place.
• How do people interact with each other on a busy day?
• Where do they gather after a day of work?
• How many different cultures are represented?
• How many languages are spoken?
• What local trends am I noticing (fashion, food types, etc.)?
These sorts of questions can add real human dimensions to the data you’ve already uncovered. Their answers can provide unique perspectives that can give you a substantial edge when launching in an area that’s unfamiliar to you.
And if you’ve had some experience in international expansion already, you may know that even a neighboring, seemingly very similar culture will have its particular quirks and customs. It can pay off well if you try to research such places with the same care you’d give to an “exotic” prospective market so you really can identify the nuances and work with them productively.
Help… please!
One of the single biggest downfalls of entrepreneurs is their reluctance to ask for help. Maybe it’s a pride thing. Maybe most of us feel as if we know the answers or can get them without assistance. Truth-be-told, the answers to those vital questions can often be answered by local contacts (sometimes even entrepreneurs in the immediate area) who have a direct history and association with the location you are investigating. Many people can give you a head start on the groundwork you need to do if you simply ask good questions. And a long-time resident or shop owner’s local perspective can deliver straightforward information that you could not obtain otherwise. Additionally, local governments, visitor and tourism bureaus, business guilds, trade or other associations, the press and similar resources can also supplement your overall research to help paint a comprehensive picture for your expansion plans. So don’t be shy, and don’t be too proud to reach out. It’s part of the fun of international business.
M.P.