Say you’re the CEO of a young
Israeli Start-Up with a great technology.
Your staff is limited as is your budget, but you have a ground breaking
technology that could have significant impact.
You’ve done some business abroad, perhaps even generated some sales, but
that’s been the result of sporadic opportunities and not a well-thought
strategy or effort. You understand that
to generate true growth you need to expand globally but find yourself contemplating
a number of constraints – who will lead the effort? What is the cost involved? Will the effort generate sales quickly enough
to justify the expense?
Nobody said being a CEO is
easy. But here are some tips that might
save you time, effort and ultimately – money.
To begin with, make no
assumptions about your value add – invest in figuring out what it truly
is. Dig deep into your product and
extract its key differentiators. Figure
out what makes it unique or special. Why
would busy people consider your solution, as oppose to other solutions? Israeli companies typically compete on
groundbreaking innovation, which could mean addressing a challenge that is not
currently being addressed, greatly simplifying an existing solution or creating
a more optimal combination of cost and quality.
But key differentiators could also relate to product quality, materials
sourcing, management experience or expertise, financial strength, global
presence, and much more.
Identifying one’s competitive
factors is crucial to building effective core messages, which could be used to
approach prospective partners or customers or as content for marketing
materials. But here’s where it starts
getting tricky – have you considered all possible audiences for your
product? Have you evaluated the effort required
to pursue each of these groups or the expected benefit of going down one path
versus another? These, and more, require
some strategic thinking and market research.
One must first begin with some
assumptions, but those could be expanded through a process of creative thinking
and both theoretical and practical research.
The speed and efficiency of the latter depends to a degree on the size
and relevance of your existing network as well as on your ability to
effectively build a new and relevant one within the given time constraint.
You’ve now essentially started
building a market entry strategy, but now it’s time to formalize it. How do you define your prospective
clients? Where do they reside? How should you approach them? What’s the competition doing? What barriers will affect you and how should
they be overcome? How would you market,
from where and by whom? Have you
factored in personnel and product logistics?
Is a local presence required and if so, of what form and location? What about ongoing customer support and
repeat sales?
There’s a long list of issues to
consider and it’s likely you’ll modify your strategy over time. But you need a starting point. And then you need to implement.
Reaching out to prospective
partners and clients, investors, media, competition and others requires a
skillset comprised of many factors: experience, business acumen, intercultural
awareness, creativity, goal-orientation and charisma among many others.
Sounds cumbersome or too
elaborate? Consider the time and effort
spent on experimenting different angles with no strategic thought or
process. Particularly as a Start-Up you
should be cognizant of waste and the risks involved to reputation, future
investments or important strategic relationships.
If you’re convinced and now
looking for the right support, consider Ncompas. And if Germany happens to be among your
target markets, consider joining our upcoming seminar: http://ncompas.evolero.com/germany.
Ilan
054-302-3378
