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6 GTM Mistakes to Avoid When Expanding Internationally
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This week’s research note includes:
GTM Research: Unifying Global GTM Teams
GTM is Better Together: Announcing our MC’s!
GTM Events: Events you should know about
GTM Research: Unifying Global GTM Teams
A weekly deep-dive into new GTM research and insights
This week, GTM analyst Lindsay Cordell spoke at the Pavilion GTM Conference in London about the complexities of managing go-to-market strategies in an international setting with an amazing community of experts.
Here are some of the insights she shared.
Treat New Geographies as New Segments
According to our GTM Operating System, international expansion is considered the creation of a new audience.
The GTM Operating System can provide guidance on making your geographic expansion successful.
Total Relevant Market: Are audience attributes the same in this new geo, or does it require you to identify different characteristics than your current segments?
Market Investment Map: When it comes to product fit, which features are differentiated for this market? Which features are fine but won’t build advocacy? Which features are irrelevant?
Brand and Demand: Will this segment be motivated by the language we currently use, or do we need to customize it for this segment of buyers? Are there translation requirements we need to account for? What does the competitive environment look like as compared to other segments you work in?
Pipeline Velocity: Do our commercial process need to change? Will this segment pay the same, buy the same way, and define value in the same way?
Customer Time to Value: Will this segment be onboarded, serviced, and supported in the same way? Do you need to hire native speaking resources? Do you need to develop new procedures that account for governance and security requirements?
Don't Blame Lack of GTM Alignment on Cultural Differences
Next, we need to address our own biases about cultural differences.
While differences do exist, be wary of broad generalizations that undermine your GTM strategy, such as:
“They move slower in Europe than in the US.”
“Spanish buyers don’t want to have a discovery call or need for us to build rapport, they want to be wowed by our knowledge.”
“Buyers are less feature focused in the UK. They are used to going for the most compliant solution due to GDPR constraints.”
“German buyers are generally more formal and reserved, so we can’t used relationship-based selling in the same way.”
You must find a balance between cultural sensitivity and GTM productivity.
6 Common Mistakes Made when Entering a New Geography
1. Basing Expansion Decisions on Logistics instead of Strategy
Make sure to weigh strategic considerations over tactical or practical concerns. For example, an American company expanding to the UK just because they speak English, or a British company targeting the US East Coast due to its closer time zone is not a strategic foundation for expansion.
The foundational question to ask is “where can we grow the most.” The answer might be to expand further within your own country or a country where you have a strong partner, regardless of practical considerations like language.
2. Underestimating Regulatory Challenges
Ignoring local regulations, compliance requirements, and legal issues that will impact ability to buy the solution will cause huge problems sooner rather than later.
Make sure you have the expertise you need to walk in with your eyes wide open.
3. Having a Weak Localization Strategy Across the Whole Customer Journey
Many companies fail to consider cultural nuances that impact marketing, sales, and customer interactions, because the people doing the planning don’t come from the culture they’re expanding into.
4. Lacking a Robust Strategy to Transition From Testing to Mature Execution
As you acclimate to a new market, plan to shift from an initial spearhead approach to more formal GTM structures.
Prolonging the "market test" phase can create tension, as mature markets receive more resources while newer regions are under-supported by the larger GTM team. A slow expansion could hamper the potential revenue impact of these newer markets.
5. Failing to Closely Track and Monitor Metrics
Not all markets will succeed, and it's crucial to avoid wasting resources on unviable ones.
Understand that entering a new market is like going back to problem-market fit. So in the early days, you’ll need to track activity-based metrics. You need a lot of at-bats to learn what works and what doesn’t.
As you enter into product-market fit in a new geography, be ready to evolve quickly to more mature metrics like CAC payback, sales cycle length, retention costs, and other key metrics.
6. Ignoring the Nuances of M&A
When entering a new geography through acquisition, implement a clear day-one strategy to engage existing customers and prevent value erosion.
Make sure to get clarity and alignment across the newly merged companies so sales people are not competing for the same business and marketing messages are not undermining each other.
Cheat Sheet to Launching a New Market
Finally we want to thank our Partners at Pavilion for giving us the opportunity to take about GTM at their conference, with special thanks to Sam and Kathleen for their support.
GTM is Better Together: News and Updates
“GTM is Better Together” is a revolutionary new vision that the future of GTM is better together with unified teams, tech, and trust. This is a weekly feature where we will share the latest announcements related to this important initiative.
Drumroll, please…
GTM is Better Together is going to be hosted by two inspirational folks that we’re pretty sure you are familiar with.
They’ve got strong POVs and stellar experiences that have helped tons of companies, operators, and leaders grow!
We’re thrilled to announce Jen Allen-Knuth and Morgan J Ingram as our MCs and hosts!
Ticket requests are open for all four shows!
August 28, 2024: Atlanta, GA
September 10, 2024: Boston, MA
October 22, 2024: New York City, NY
November 20, 2024: San Francisco, CA
Comped pairs of tickets (so you can bring a colleague from another department) are available if you meet all three of these criteria:
You’re a senior GTM Leader (marketing, sales, customer success, product, RevOps, or the leadership team)
You work for an enterprise company
You are a customer of one or more of our partners for this event (Demandbase, Clari, On24, Vidyard, Totango, Catalyst, MadKudu, G2, Technology Advice, or ZoomInfo)
If you meet the first two criteria but are not a customer of any of those companies, you can apply for a ticket here:
Hope to see you there!
GTM Events
A list of upcoming events of interest to GTM professionals
August 28, Atlanta: GTM is Better Together
September 10, Boston: GTM is Better Together
September 18-20, Boston: INBOUND 2024
October 16, Austin: GTM Made Simple Roadshow
October 22, NYC: GTM is Better Together
November 20, San Francisco: GTM is Better Together
Are you a B2B company between $10-100M in revenue who needs help with your GTM strategy and execution? We’d love to chat.
Let us know if there is anything you particularly like or don’t like about our weekly research note! We’re always looking to improve it.
Love,
The GTM Partners Team
