When you’re trying to scale a business, there’s a lot going on. Some of it is inside your control and some of it is outside. There’s not much you can do about another country’s laws and taxes right? But, even the things that are inside your control can still cause you problems too. The obvious solution would be to outsource but you’d be surprised how many business owners are convinced they can go it alone and do it themselves. Worse than this, some people are put off by a whole load of misconceptions about outsourcing. None of them true by the way. But, if you wanted warning signs, there are countless companies who didn’t get their scaling right, and either ran out of money, had to put their plans back a few years and then there are some who weren’t able to hold it together at all and collapsed. Of course this is not always the business owners’ fault. Sometimes, there are venture capitalists behind the product or service who are too eager to see a return on investment and push a company to scale before it’s ready.
So, if you were to decide outsourcing isn’t for you, what will you need to be wary of?
Staffing Issues
You have a few decisions to makes here. Should you hire from your home country or should you hire in the new territory? Well, actually, doing it either way still causes more problems. You can’t take resources from your home company as they are the only ones making money until the company in the new territory turns a profit. You can’t just hire new staff from your own country, especially if there is a language barrier. They’ll also be facing the fact that they don’t know the market, don’t know the business culture and nor do they have existing contacts there. If you hire a native from the new territory you’ll have to find the right people, onboard them properly, train them fully on your product or service and give them time to become successful.
On the other hand, if you had an outsourced SDRaaS team, they would speak the local language, be highly knowledgeable about tech and know all the cultural business nuances of how things get dome there.
A slower ROI
When you’re trying to become established in a new market, you need to hit the ground running. So, if you find yourself with the kind of staffing issues mentioned above you’re facing a long time to get your name known in the right circles and a long time for money to come through the door. It’s perfectly reasonable that you could find and hire highly competent salespeople but if they have to be trained on your product or service and they’re not overly familiar with your specific domain, they’re not going to have the right contacts to build your business quickly.
An SDRaaS team though will already have experience in the market, in your domain, and that means they have a list of credible contacts on hand that they can turn into credible prospects from day one.
Market Knowledge
You can’t underestimate the value of local market knowledge. There are so many things that you need to consider from which marketing channels you should be using and who are your competitors to the business rules of the country you’re trying to scale into and how do you even know if you have the right go-to-market plan?
Our SDRs don’t just speak the local language of the country you’re scaling to, they’re actually local to the area as well. What’s more, that doesn’t matter whether you’re scaling within Europe, into the Americas or into Asia Pacific as we’ve got you covered there too. This means they know the market inside out and are more than capable of thriving in a business environment you are most likely unfamiliar with.
Not adapting well
You can’t treat every market in the same way. You need to be flexible and that doesn’t just mean translating your marketing material into the local language. Your whole approach, including sales, should be adapted to the local market behaviour.
With a fundamental understanding of the local market, an outsourced SDR team could put the right emphasis on your product in order to make it more suitable to local dynamics. You need to let those in the know, modify your pitch if necessary, to make it more attractive to those who would be willing to invest in it.
Complicated Laws
Every country has different rules and regulations. Occasionally, there can even be different laws in different parts of the same country. One area where you could really come unstuck though is labour law. Imagine the scenario where after all the struggles of trying to hire someone, you then have to let them go. How much of a notice period are you required to give them? Do you have to give them a lump sum payout?
With SDRaaS, these questions never come up. That’s because you can scale the number of SDRs up or down as your business needs dictate. And with no lengthy exit clauses on termination, outsourcing with us is both flexible and cost effective.
Watch your Money
Scaling to another country is expensive. It just is. All too often, a company’s budgeting is far too optimistic and scale-ups tend to run out of funds while setting up for market entry. Get the numbers wrong and you are exposing yourself to an enormous risk.
However, if you wanted to, you could use SDRaaS to test out the market’s appetite for your product or service without having to commit to a full move until you are more firmly established in the market.
To see more ways that you could benefit from SDRaaS, het in touch. We’re always more than happy to jump on a call.