Maarten De Jeu has given his advice to many business owners. He has mostly worked with CEOs who aspire to make their companies international. Since this matter id a frequent matter among his clients, he created a practical checklist to maximize your chance of success.
Should You Enter A New Market?
It is not surprising that business professionals want their firms to go global. However, it’s vital to understand than a bigger scale does not directly involve a sales increase.
It is a common mistake to expect that things will go just as fine in a new market by replicating your existing business model. Unfortunately, even the smallest cultural changes require you to change your approach so that you can expand properly.
Now, Maarten excludes the majority of virtual companies that rely on the Internet. This advice will help physical companies with real products that want to build an international brand.
Maarten’s Guide To Corporate Globalization
The first step is always to identify the demand. Before you learn about other markets, create a list of potential ones you could involve. If all markets were the same, every company would already be international.
If there are high demand and competition, you may want to look for a more aggressive approach. If the sector is not developed in the region, you can bring innovation to that market and dominate it.
In some cases, your offer may be so unique that it doesn’t exist in foreign markets yet. From Maarten’s perspective, it can save you a lot of time and uncertainty to have a native professional who has already succeeded in your new marketplace.
Quality In Product Creation And Marketing
Due to the many variables, Maarten De Jeu suggests sticking to principles such as saving money, creating cash flow, or increasing productivity. The increased uncertainty requires us to prepare more than we estimate.
You should have a foreign representative to guide you in the new market and present it to the public with advertising and inbound marketing.
Imagine if you perfected your supply chain before the expansion. A good example of it could be the JD e-commerce business. Before thinking of globalization, the CEO ensures the highest efficiency, so they can deliver packages within 24 hours. As for product quality, JD uses different box qualities depending on the value of the product, as seen on JD Luxury. Learn more: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/maarten-de-jeu-recommends-innovative-thinking-as-a-core-need-in-corporate-development__trashed/
About Maarten’s Career
Maarten De Jeu studied the principles of international expansion by surrounding with Fortune 100 Companies and studying their strategies. Today, he is a tactical business advisor in charge of a consultancy firm and a tech startup and is active in the life insurance sector working from Chicago.