Here are 5 reasons that you should build an international sales strategy today:
1. Grow your revenue base (TAM)
The simplest reason is also the most obvious: the larger your market size, the more potential revenue from your product or service.
With the exception of businesses that must deal locally, any business can expand their market size simply by crossing international borders.
Some may say my product is too high tech/complicated/localized/cultural/unique to sell to another country. With the right sales and marketing approach, most products sold in your domestic market have at least some appeal in other countries. Don't buy into this excuse and miss potential revenue.
2. Diversify Your Customer Base
With investments, intelligent diversification is the name of the game. It's no different with your market. Extend your market internationally to include markets less affected by your current market risks.
The current financial crisis in the USA highlights this case. The UAE is one of the least affected markets during this crisis. If you were selling your product there, you would be seeing some sales growth even if your revenue from other markets was way down.
3. Enter High Growth Markets
An international sales strategy allows your business to enter growing marketplaces, which may not be present in your home country.
As an example, consider the US market for web hosting versus the Vietnamese market. The US market is saturated by dirt-cheap hosting companies, offering lower and lower prices to lure away customers in a stagnant marketplace. Vietnam, on the other hand, is rapidly expanding as its young population grows.
If you were a hosting company in a country with a saturated market, where would you rather focus your sales efforts? The benefits of competing in these growing marketplaces are worth the efforts to establish and maintain an international sales strategy.
4. Less Competition (Sometimes)
International markets often have fewer competitors than domestic markets, especially if your product is unique. Less competition means an easier sales process, less pricing pressure, and more flexible product requirements. Any time you can move the competitive landscape in your favor, that is a good thing.
5. Market Testing Grounds
Have you ever wanted to try something new with your product offering, but resisted because of the impact it might have on your sales? Fear no more! Developing an international sales strategy gives you the fringe benefit of readily available test markets that are independent from your domestic sales. Since any international market is separated by at least a border, changes you make won't directly affect your other markets. If the change works, you can roll it out in more markets with justified confidence. If the change doesn't work, only a small piece of your sales will feel the effect, and you've gained valuable knowledge that would've cost you a fortune had you run the same test on your domestic market place.
Whether your business is small or large, there are clear benefits to selling internationally. Of course there are intricacies to establishing an effective, profitable international sales presence.
Source : ezinearticles
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