Over the past fifteen years I’ve spoken with numerous Israeli executives, in various hi-tech industries, about their plans for global market penetration. Israeli companies develop some of the most innovative technologies the world has seen, but face unique challenges as they must become export-oriented from day one. Many executives underestimate the challenges and time frames associated with this effort, and some believe that key to their success in this endeavor relies on expertise in their specific technological field.
Without derogating from the importance of vertical technology expertise, I believe the key to gaining global recognition and traction relies more on a mixture of personality traits and on a broad range of experiences. Technical-orientation, exposure to multiple technologies and short learning curves fill the vertical technology gap. The rest I divide into three categories:
External: the ability to establish effective lines of communication between the company and prospective customers, partners and investors, which should ultimately lead to sales, depends on one’s cultural mindedness, relationship and trust-building skills, and language proficiency. Also key, of course, is sales-orientation.
Internal: global marketing, business development and sales efforts are best performed by teams, which cover the various aspects of the endeavor: technical, scientific, sales, marketing, executive, etc. An effective team leader should be responsible, authoritative, energetic, and of course – a team player.
Self: successfully addressing the many aspects involved in bringing a product from point A to B, particularly when B is someone else in the world, requires a number of basic traits: proactivity, creativity, persistence and detail-orientation.
So in summary, there is no secret to fast (and effective) global market penetration. It’s an effort that requires a broad range of experiences, certain types of expertise, and a unique set of personality traits.
Ilan Friedman
Originally Posted on LinkedIn October 12, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment