Three Critical Questions in any Startup's International Expansion Journey

Navigating international sales expansion requires a nuanced understanding of local markets, especially when it comes to identifying and engaging your ideal customer profile (ICP). The are three questions I always ask in developing a localised go-to-market (GTM) strategy for a new country or territory. These are

• Question one: Who holds detailed information of your ICP (ideal customer profile) including organisation and contact details?
• Question two: Who has influence and the trust of your ICP? ?
• Question three: Who is already selling to your ICP? ??

The answers to these questions provide much of the context needed to craft a localised Go To Market (GTM) model suitable for that country or territory.

I always create a 3 x GTM matrix table to assess each countries GTM ecosystem

• On the horizontal axis you ask question 1-3.
• On the vertical axis you document all the local GTM ecosystem of players and influencers that interact with your ICP
• And then you colour code each cell based on impact (high, medium, low)

?A recent example of an Enterprise SaaS scaleup wanting to enter the US (they already have two enterprise customers from their ICP in the US) is

• ?Collaborate with Industry consultants who have moderate influence to co-develop content for inbound
• Use Industry Association events and lists for outbound due to their high quality of ICP contact data and moderate influence ?
• Managed Service Providers (MSP) sell-too motion, as MSP’s in this market have a very high sales engagement and support infrastructure integrated with the ICP
• Leverage Cloud Providers in a co- sell motion (so you will need local sales) to help the ICP spend their committed Cloud Provider dollars and to facilitate transactions

?As it is very technical enterprise solution, Produce Led Growth (PLG) is not appropriate?

Another recent example is an IoT sensor company entering Western Europe in the renewables industry is

• Collaborate with Edge hardware and Renewables consultants who have high influence to co-develop content for inbound
• Renewables Consultant Referral Program because of their high influence ??
• IoT Integrators Channel Program as the primary sales channel, because of the high sales engagement they have and the need for integration services
• IoT integrators supported local direct touch sales?and pe sales
• IoT Distributors for stocking, logistics, credit only. They have NO influence directly on the ICP, ?but someone need to support local logistics

Navigating international expansion requires a nuanced understanding of local markets, especially when it comes to identifying and engaging your ideal customer profile (ICP). These three critical questions are foundational in developing a targeted go-to-market (GTM) strategy that respects the complexities of new territories.

The responses to these queries are essential for crafting a GTM strategy that is not only localized but also highly effective.

If you're contemplating international expansion and want to ensure your GTM strategy is robust and tailored to your target market, let's explore these questions together.

What are the questions you always ask when entering a new country or territory?

Share your thoughts or questions in the comments! ??

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