Achieving accelerated international market entry

It is no secret that the route to a more balanced UK economy is significant and sustained business growth with exportation playing a pivotal role. With claims the Government is focussed on the measures that need to be in place to remove barriers for growth, the proposals so far only appear to tackle the financial concerns involved with exporting. But what support is available to businesses that have limited exportation knowledge and budget or resource constraints? Lee Hackett, director at Lead Creators, a specialist market development company, gives advice on how companies can best achieve rapid penetration of international markets.

To survive and thrive in today’s tough business climate it is essential for companies to adapt and diversify into new markets. However, there can be a certain degree of hesitancy from businesses to take their products/services to an international market. Typically this is because there is a perceived lack of internal knowledge on international trading, which results in the company being unable to effectively identify the risks involved with exportation.

The main challenges with doing business overseas involve uncertainty over budgets required, lack of resource and ambiguity surrounding how to drive demand for products or services. While it is impossible to completely eliminate risks, working with a partner, such as Lead Creators can help a business manage and minimise risk to cost effectively achieve accelerated market entry.

A vital starting point for international market development is substantial market research and analysis combined with a robust understanding of the company’s market positioning and USPs. Lead Creators works in collaboration with the UKTI during this phase to ensure clear identification of target market sectors, size and potential.

Penetration via innovation
Outsourcing in this way is an innovative means of developing new international markets that makes accelerated penetration achievable even for organisations with limited experience of the territory, restricted resource or budget. A reputable market development company should be able to provide an international market entry programme that is both flexible and scalable according to the needs of a business, making it accessible to smaller organisations. Choosing a partner that can seamlessly integrate with an existing team, will enable the smooth management of market development through to internal handover. In turn this means there is no need to employ any extra resource before there is a proven market for the company’s products or services.

A well managed market entry programme requires a number of crucial elements in order to achieve the ultimate objective of creating opportunities in the region. Effectively evaluating and deciding on the right route to market will be fundamental and a partner should be able to utilise experience to advise and implement this.

Sales pipeline management
Successful penetration of an international market will hinge on the ability to create opportunities in the region; putting in place a robust sales pipeline is essential. Staff undertaking the campaign should be consistent, professional and focussed with a clear and agreed procedure in place to ensure all enquiries are handled efficiently. At the initial point of contact with prospective clients, it is necessary to gather as much market intelligence as possible, such as who the decision maker is and when they are looking to place an order.

The final link is that all the information and progress of the campaign is reported back to the company to ensure seamless integration with the existing team. Working with a partner to manage international market penetration not only protects a company from preliminary sales peaks and troughs but can also support the steady growth of a business internationally until the territory is mature enough to justify dedicated internal resource.

About Lead Creators
Lead Creators is a B2B market development company with a specialist focus in the construction, engineering and related sectors. With a core capability of pipeline management and telemarketing, Lead Creators increases the effectiveness of campaigns by integrating high quality, relevant and competitive services such as: market analysis & strategy developments lead creation; social media; e-broadcast; market specific PR.

Headquartered in Liverpool and with offices in Florida, USA, Lead Creators was founded by Lee Hackett, a proven business leader who succeeded in delivering a rapid growth strategy which transformed a small construction materials company into a multi-million pound operation in under three years.

Tel: +44 (0) 844 822 3936 / e: info@leadcreators.co.uk  / Twitter: @LeadCreators