One of the reasons why I started this blog 3 years ago was because I hear too many objections from businesses about why they’re not going international.
I live in an area outside of Paris where there are a lot of small and mid-sized businesses. And almost every time I leave my house I run into a successful business owner or local business man. After the usual greetings, and given my international business background, this person almost always tells me they want to develop their business internationally…
But they always add an excuse. And I don’t find most of the excuses I hear to be valid reasons to stop you from developing your business internationally if that’s what you want to do.
Here are the three excuses and objections I hear the most often.
#1: Fear Of Change
“We’d love to develop our international business, but you know what, our business is fine as it is. We don’t want to change anything.”
In order to get international clients you usually need to make changes in how you operate your business. And although the businessmen I meet have successfully built companies they seem to be afraid of change when it comes to international markets.
Tip: Take things slowly. The advantage to this is it will help you to acquire the change of mindset you need to adopt to develop your business in other countries.
A good first step is to ensure you don’t push away any international clients.
#2: It Costs Too Much
“We’d love to develop our international business, but we don’t have the money for it.”
This really depends on your particular business and the path you choose to take to get international clients. But don’t confuse things by making assumptions too quickly.
There are 5 different way to create an international business and 7 traditional paths to develop your international business. You can sign a contract with an international sales distributor or open up shop in a foreign country and these options have different costs.
Do your research first and don’t assume you know how much it’s going to cost.
Tip: International content marketing for a broad international audience combined with proactive social media networking might be easy to include in your budget today… specially if you are already marketing online. And this will help you find the best path to international sales for your business to take.
Strategic content marketing at this level can give you the feedback you need from international markets to make the right decision for your next step towards an international business.
#3: We’ll Do It Later
“We’d love to develop our international business, but you know what, we’ll do it later.”
Fair enough. There’s a time to actively go after international clients. You’ll need the right international resources and the right international business skills. But there is something you can do beyond simply watching what your competitors are doing abroad.
Tip: Look for hidden opportunities to develop your international markets. If you’ve got an online presence the chances are that you’ve communicated with people from other countries. But what have you done with this communication? What have you learned from these interactions?
Many businesses don’t really do anything. In addition, so many businesses make the false assumption that a few international sales means they already have an international business and don’t need to do anything else. But that’s not true.
Your business needs to learn how to market and sell your products and services in different countries before you can develop your international markets. And your initial communications are where you can begin learning how to do this. You’ll figure out how to get more international business when you look for the opportunities that come to your doorstep.
Develop Your International Business
There are many reasons to seek international business and there are certainly some good reasons not to. (I’ll write about those later.) But as you can see from above, some of these excuses not to develop your international business can cost you sales. It’s foolish to not do anything about developing your international business.
This is why I blog here. To inspire and get businesses unstuck when it comes to getting more international clients.
Of course, it’s easy for me to think it’s simple. After all I’ve been in international business development for over 25 years in the field. And I know there are steep learning curves and some international markets are not always possible to develop and you need to recognize them. But there’s no reason for you to add additional barriers. And that’s where I try to help you here.
Please let me know more about you and where you’re stuck in your international business.
- What’s your excuse for not doing more to develop your international business?
- Are you learning about your international markets from the international clients you already have?
- What have you changed to get more international clients?
