Find the Right Strategic Partners in European Regions to Accelerate Your Market Growth
Identifying the right opportunities and focusing resources strategically from the onset, can accelerate a successful build-up into different or new European markets. While your growth plan may be similar to how you conduct business back home, here’s our recommended approach to consider if you are looking to attract new clients in unfamiliar territories.
Look at Your Existing Customers and Who Local Competitors Are Already Targeting to Create Your Ideal Prospects List
Consider your existing customer base to determine the ideal customer segments that you would like to target and pursue. Research who your competitors are already targeting in the location as well when getting started drafting your business development plan based on these persona characteristics.
Who are the key stakeholders within these companies? Get specific, make a list, and figure out how to connect with them in a meaningful way with your outreach and local inbound marketing to capture their attention. Consider the following when determining which companies to target with your offers:
- Make a list of potential key accounts based on industry, niche, and region.
- Explore the local community: Are the problems your products solve the same as in your home market or are they different? Analytics Tools like Google Trends and SparkToro and others can help you get a clear picture.
- Determine if it makes sense to localize some of your content to connect with your ideal prospects (usually it does make sense to).
- Refine your proposals to suit the local needs and standard contract requirements.
Embed yourself in a local industry to attract new clients as part of your global outreach strategy to accelerate your brand presence and deepen social trust in your value proposition to grow local revenues faster.
Create an Outreach Strategy to Connect with Key Industry Stakeholders
Starting off with a suitable customer base from the onset can give you a boost in momentum if you can win a few strategic accounts in the early stages of your build-up. Having the right logos in your portfolio can not only accelerate brand credibility, it can also pave the way for new opportunities within these accounts into new international markets.
While serving smaller customers can and should be part of your business growth plan, it is essential to look out for the local beacons that can support you in excelling your local growth plan to gain a stronger footing.
Beware of some large organizations preferring to work with local companies that can demonstrate that they are already connected to the local community.
Be Realistic with Sales Cycle Timelines and Focus on Companies that Make Fast Decisions in Parallel
Though we recommend targeting large key accounts, expect that the sales cycle for these larger accounts can be significantly longer than some quick win smaller accounts. Internal approvals, higher volume, and budgets can slow down the decision-making process. It is vital to target customers that are quicker in making their decisions so you have a diverse base of prospects to gain traction and quick wins from the onset of your launch.
Align Sales and Marketing with an Agent Who Understands the Local Market Nuances
At the end of the day, people do business with people. Work with a local agent that knows how to effectively approach your targeted customers and empower them to initiate and develop meaningful, long-lasting relationships between your company and your ideal local customers.
Having a local presence that can meet clients face-to-face, attend local networking events, and connect with local media will not only save time, but the local representation also understands the local culture and how to conduct business respectfully in the respective market.
Ultimately you will need to target critical decision-makers with a solid inbound marketing strategy that promotes your domain knowledge, and who also understands the culture of the local market. Translating content, attending events, finalizing agreements, and maintaining the relationships by listening to the needs of your ideal prospects, may be different then how you do things in your home market today.
Remember, Happy Customers Are the Best Referrals
If you take care of your customers they are the best referrals to help you grow locally. Whether that is in direct referrals or providing social proof in the form of case studies, testimonials, or other marketing collateral can speed up the trust in your value proposition. Happy customers do not change their suppliers. In order to maintain these positive relations, you may need to manage large customers carefully and provide access to local support as needed.
When you create value for your customers, they reciprocate — allowing you capture some of this value back in the form of monetizable value.[i]
Attracting the right strategic accounts can help you get a foothold in a new market faster. Working with a local agent that understands the business culture, competitive landscape, preferred business language, and can provide local representation creates the ideal conditions for successful growth.
[i] https://blog.leanstack.com/the-customer-factory-manifesto/
