International Corner – Details, episodes & analysis

You’ve sold to a few customers and now you are trying to achieve repeatability in that new market.

Except… it doesn’t Work. But Why?

And no… the answer is not Product Market Fit.

Or rather… it is not that simple.

In the last episode of international Corner, I’m welcoming Maxime Renault, chief Strategy & Expansion Officer at Hublo who shares how he has made Product Market Fit more concrete to them to successfully expand internationally 

Here is a snapshot of what you can expect in this episode:

• Why blaming PMF for a failure to repeat sales is the easy answer

• The 4-success-factor matrix he has build to assess success rate in any market

• Tips to go from the launching to the developing phase in a market

• The criteria he looks for in a country launcher to make the market opening successful

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You’ve mastered operational skills to launch new markets… GREAT.

However, this is not enough. 

There are a number of soft skills you need to gain to become a global leader and be effective at scaling your company.

Communication is one of them.

• External communication: to create compelling messages, amplify them while navigating cultural differences in the different markets you will grow

• Internal communication: to scale your mission and vision & to make sure as you grow that communication doesn’t get lost in translation

  
  

How do you become this skilled communicator as a global leader? Victoria Rennoldson, communication coach and cultural intelligence trainer and the CEO and founder of Culture Cuppa, is sharing her best practices in this episode.

A snapshot of what we covered:

• The 4 pillars to master as a global leader to become a skilled communicator

• Tips to improve yourself as a communicator with 0 budget to invest

• Scale your company mission and vision

• Seeking help & advice at every stage of your career

• Importance of having a sounding board

A bit more about Victoria:

She helps professionals to elevate and amplify their communication so they can speak with clarity and confidence.

She supports individuals and teams to prepare to pitch, with public speaking, on video and in Lives to enhance their personal and business reputation and opportunities. She helps people with their speaking confidence, messaging, verbal and nonverbal communication so they can share their voice, speak up and become more visible to grow their audience and attract new customers and clients.

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What if you could reduce your Time to first deal by 50% in all your markets?

Imagine being able to have all your new Sales hires get their first deal x2 faster, in every market?

Well that is what Niamh Murray Lalanne, VP Global Sales Ena blement at Mirakl managed to do with her team.

The power of Sales enablement is often underestimated in organizations.

This business unit is often created at a later stage of a startup's growth.

And it is often created… too late.

Yet, especially to help you go to the next stage of international expansion, Sales enablement is key.

How are you making sure new insights & contents are not only rolled out in all markets but also digested and adopted by all Sales teams? 

How do you successfully onboard new comers to make them operational as fast as possible?

In the last episode of International Corner, we discussed how you can leverage Sales enablement to grow internationally.

A snapshot of what we discussed:

• When to start creating a sales enablement organization as you expand internationally
• The Mirakl enablement team organization and how they work with Sales folks and Sales leaders of different markets
• Proving ROI of such an organization to your board

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You sold to a firrst few clients in the US, great!

But how do you achieve repeatable Sales now?

How do you prove you can sell again and again to the same type of companies, the same persona for the same price?

Well, as usual for the folks who work on expanding internationally, you know there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

But there are stories worth listening to get inspired

There are mistakes worth studying to avoid losing time

There are ideas worth using in your own context to help you grow faster

And today I believe you will want to hear what Alex Louisy, CEO of Upflow has to say in the last episode of International Corner

We discuss how they managed to achieve repeatable Sales in the US market despite covid times that account now for almost 50% of their total revenue.

Content to look forward to:

• Why targeting the US was relevant for Upflow
• How they found their target market & the criteria that were key for them
• Their value-driven outbound approach to sell
  

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If you are working on expanding into foreign markets, you probably leveraged some of your current customers to expand into other countries.

This is the land and expand strategy

That’s most likely how most of us get the first 2-3 clients in foreign countries

But have you considered using this strategy as your main focus to grow internationally and not just to get the first few references?

That's what Anthony, CEO of Meeriad have done to expand into several markets.

They have mastered the art of landing and expanding into new markets.

Anthony tells us everything they do to make sure they convert their first POC or pilot into successful international cross-sells.

One key aspect he nailed to get there is this: How do you justify a soft ROI to your client?

Sometimes there is no direct relation between your solution impact and a company soft ROI.

For instance, how do you justify your solution can directly impact the retention rate of your customer?

Well… Anthony found a way. And you can find out how in today’s episode of International Corner.

What to expect:

• How Meeriad uses the land and expand strategy to turn POC and pilots into furthers Sales in other countries
• Justifying a soft ROI impact to your customers & prospects
• Getting the commit of your prospect/client during a POC/pilot to convert further locations

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Thinking about hiring your first local people in a new foreign market?

Greeeeat.

How can you avoid making mistakes?

Well… let’s be honest, you most likely will 😅

But you can probably limit them by learning from Amanda Simon, CPO at The Briars group with her 30+ years of HR experience overseing several markets.

We discussed 2 crucial topics that should be at the heart of your HR priorities as you expand in nex markets:

• Hiring the right way in foreign markets
• Growing a global corporate cultures in all markets you are in

A snapshot of what we learned:

• DIfferences in hiring professionals across EMEA
• Top 3 mistakes made by companies when they hire the first employees in a new branch
• Her 4-step process to make sure you set up a global corporate culture and you make it live across time

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It is better to stop investing in international expansion in these times of business uncertainty.

Especially if the new target market brings you close to 0% of revenue.

Very tempting to have these thoughts right?

Well, wouldn’t you miss the point as a founder if you close yourself off to internationalization?

There are ways to be more cautious about international expansion.

Actually, You can generate 10-15% of your revenue remotely before committing to having local operations

What are your current operations looking like?
Are there ways to switch to remote operations if they are local?

The idea is to cut costs while keeping your efforts on.

Zoltan Vardy, Founder of the Launch Code and Chairman at Antavo tells us more about how to expand globally in times of uncertainty.

What we covered during the episode:

• How to assess cautiously market relevance
• How to get to 10-15% of revenue generated remotely
• How to be efficient at localizing your business 

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They went from 5000 to 15000 active users in less than 4 months in Italy

How did Akt.io manage to be off to such a fast start?

Spoiler alerts, they didn’t spend much marketing budget

The key was to focus on 2 very important aspects:

• Leverage the right acquisition channel from day #1 - referral programs
• Create Trust for their users from the first release - cyber security and compliance are at the top of their priority

Kevin Régis, COO and CCO tells us everything about how they achieved these great results in such a short period of time

Expect to also hear about:

• Why they chose to expand in Italy
• How they created trust in their app so Italians would refer it in between each others
• The 3 KPIs he follows on a daily basis to ensure they are on-track
  

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How do you ask some key employees in your HQ to spend 20% of their time on a new market that currently brings 0% of turnover?

You don’t 😅

But then how do you build the right HQ organization supporting your internationalization effort?

There is no one-size-fits all solution.

But whatever you choose to do, it’s going to be key to successfully expand into foreign markets

Florian Garcia Business operation and New market Director at Alma shares how their HQ organization has evolved in 2 years to now support their growth in 11 markets.

Key aspects we discussed:

• Move from a core team support to a broader business line HQ support for international markets
• Business unit ownership vs functional ownership to ensure the best coordination between markets
• Their team rituals to make sure everyone feels like they belong

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Are you looking at a market where you can grow exponentially?

(I mean who is not?😅 )

Then make sure to include Brazil in your list of potential markets to consider.

In Sao Paulo only, there are 11M inhabitants.

Brazilians are actually really open to buying and using European products and solutions.

And France has actually a special place for them.

I mean… let’s not forget Carrefour is the #1 supermarket chain there and Blablacar has made Brazil one of their biggest markets.

But if you want to make it there, there are codes and specificities you absolutely need to master.

Danilo Gomes, internatio nal business developer at Business France in Brazil walks us through the Do and Don’t to make it there: 

• Tips to adapt to the local culture and seem warmer to Brazilians (spoiler alert, Brazilians see North American and Europeans as “cold” individuals 😱) 
• The number #1 lead acquisition channel to convert leads
• The networks you can leverage to navigate this market
  

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