Skip to main content

What to Think About Before Entering New Markets

Before you go global, you really need to understand the markets you are moving into. You can’t assume that they work the same way they do at home. It can be quite a bit different and trying to have the customer adjust to your products is not necessarily the best course of action.

Your products need to work well for your new customers, so really spend the time understanding and studying those customers before entering into those markets.

Also, make sure that the market is big enough before you decide to enter it. If the market is small and there isn’t really an opportunity to build a good business in it, getting one customer there is not going to do much for you.

Therefore, you really need to understand whether or not you want to get into those markets before making that leap. It is easy to be drawn to a market because you have one customer that is offering you a large contract. But you need to look at the overall market potential.

Long term is what matters and that market needs to make sense for you.

What I really believe is that you shouldn’t have global products unless you absolutely think that it is the right thing to do. You can focus in on a departmental system or a particular area of a customer’s business that you can replicate across the world.

Most importantly, there need to be similar needs across different markets – that’s critical. But if that is not the case, try to have local products that work within specific markets or national countries, and make sure you have people in your organization who understand the customer’s needs.

I think that’s a really good basis to build a business from and to continue to grow and generate organic growth. 

About the Author

Brian Beattie is the Chief Financial Officer at Volaris Group. Besides overseeing the financial health of the company, he works closely with Volaris’ legal and M&A team on all new acquisitions. Brian is an expert on every stage of the M&A process – from sending out the non-disclosure agreement to executing the sales purchase agreement.

Profile Photo of Brian Beattie