Hoping to take your business global? Most companies are and many fail because they do not have the right data strategy in place. Their databases and marketing lists are filled with domestic leads.

The American market is huge and full of opportunities. However, it isn’t large enough for most marketers.

For such growth-minded entrepreneurs, the world is their oyster. But, for most American B2B companies, their business databases is made up of domestic leads. What happens when you decide to go international? How do you plan to take the first step towards expansion when all the leads in your database are within the United States? Read on to find out. Let’s start with a few advantages of taking your business global.

• Find new markets to sell your products and services
• Extend the sales life of your products and services
• There would no more be a need to be entirely dependent on domestic markets
• If your revenue is dependent on seasonal changes or demand cycles, compensate by tapping new markets with different demand cycles
• Get an opportunity to compete against foreign companies in their own battlefield

The most important reason to go global is to improve your potential for expansion and growth. The obvious opportunities are the markets in EMEA and APAC. But those only scratch the surface. There are multiple other fast-growing, yet less-competitive markets you can tap into. Just spin the globe and you will find an opportunity to sell something, somewhere. Unearthing just the right opportunity for your products and services will involve more work, of course. While we highlight the factors that can make or break your business, here are a few questions you can ask yourself.

Where is my target market? Does my product cater to my target market?

You’ve heard over and over about how well businesses can do in certain geographic locations. One country may sound like a golden opportunity for your brand, but have you really given it a thought? I mean, really and truly? You need to find out if there is a real demand for your product or service in the chosen target country. Is there an actual need for your product abroad? Do your market research, locate prospective customers and truly find out where there is potential for your business around the world. This way, you’ll be ready to penetrate the right market for your product.

Do I understand the cultural implications of the sales process?

If you do business with people from cultural groups different than your own, it would be wise to invest some time to understand their culture as well as what they expect from your products and services. If you want to build relationships and do business with them, you have to understand their needs on many levels.

Do I have the right data to go global?

Data isn’t just data. It takes a lot of effort and investment to build and maintain a top-quality global database. With the right combination of firmographic, demographic, and technographic data, you can target the audience you need quickly and accurately.

How much do I know about the popular products offered by local competition?

When you have decided to take your business global, it would be resourceful for your sales team if they had the data on the companies that are in the market to purchase and looking for your products or similar services right at this very moment.

Why SMARTe?

With over a decade of human-verified research expertise, SMARTe can create 100% accurate contact and company profiles by harnessing our extensive background in cleansing, verifying, and maintaining data powered by Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Heuristics. Since we have a vast experience of dealing with global data across APAC, EMEA, North America and LATAM, our analysts and proprietary tools have what it takes to handle multi-lingual titles, aliases, variation and other aspects.

SMARTe’s data platforms provide detailed intelligence and comprehensive profiles of the most important decision-makers and organizations worldwide. These profiles include business intelligence about levels, functions, technologies installed, purchase intent, and over 85 additional data points. Our verified email addresses and direct-dial phone numbers are highly accurate and SLA guaranteed.