International Growth
For many, if not all, growing businesses, initial clients are most likely to originate from the vendor’s local/domestic market. It makes perfect sense as the team will be very familiar and comfortable operating within their market.
Understanding its buying subtleties, and nuances will be second nature to them - having effectively ‘grown up’ living and working there. These businesses know how ‘the system’ works. These are often described as being ‘native’ in that environment.
If you look at the website of a non-local provider, you will be immediately aware of both subtle and often glaring differences to the way in which basic messages are communicated and products positioned. For example, narrative written by non-native language speakers can sometimes appear to read as instructions or highly questioning. It goes without saying that there is a reason why powerful international business will offer their websites in multiple languages, or for the needs of different regions. This is more than a simple translation exercise.
All these factors can create stumbling blocks and obstacles to challenge even the most experienced. It is common for the most confident sales and marketing professionals to be reduced to little better than average or worse when operating outside the comfort of their domestic market.