Stellar domestic talent is difficult to find, and domestic markets may be getting overcrowded. Meanwhile, technology is making the stretch easier to make.
If you’ve been thinking about taking your business global, you aren’t alone. The prospect can be an exciting step in your growth. But that doesn’t mean the planning and execution might not make you at least a little apprehensive.
Fortunately, you needn’t jump blindly into the international fray. Here are four tips for increasing your chances of success when expanding your business internationally.
1. Partner Up
The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen once said that “Adventure is just bad planning.” Although venturing into parts unknown is inherently something of an adventure, planning is key to doing it well. Yet even planning for the unknown is a tall order, unless you have help.
Rely on the experience and expertise of an employer of record that’s established in multiple countries. An EOR can employ international talent on your company’s behalf, handling recruitment, onboarding, payroll, and other human resources functions. Compliance with foreign laws is the EOR’s responsibility, so you don’t have to establish a legal entity wherever you land.
Don’t wait until your global expansion plans are done and dusted before finding an EOR partner. An EOR can help you determine the best countries to enter based on your criteria. And it can educate you about not only laws, but local customs and culture as well.
Begin your conversation about going global with an EOR who knows the score. Rest easy knowing that if your business runs afoul of any local compliance issues later, it’s on them, not you. Partnering with the right EOR will help your expansion be more venture than adventure.
2. Dedicate a Dream Team to the Effort
Expanding globally requires a top-down commitment to the effort. This is a huge step and a major undertaking. You need to appoint a high-level team comprising your best talent and allow them to dedicate themselves to the effort.
HR, sales, marketing, customer experience, and information technology are all involved in making the move. Make sure you assemble a team that can cover those bases. If a critical seat is left empty, your expansion strategy will suffer.
Global expansion done well requires research, planning, execution, and oversight, paying constant attention to opportunities for growth. Your expansion team members must be visionary and flexible and bring more than a dash of creativity to the initiative. And again, don’t underestimate the value your EOR can contribute to this process.
Your team understands your company, its values and goals, and its culture. But recognize that some of those may change when you add a global dimension to your business. Rigidity will work against your efforts, so make sure that dream team includes true dreamers.
3. Set Goals
It’s highly unlikely that you want to expand your company globally just because you like the sound of it. There are always reasons for the business moves you make, and they usually involve achieving some sort of objective.
International expansion is like a business plan on its own. It is a strategy designed to reach certain targets. And that strategy involves multiple steps to get from where you begin to where you want to go.
Just as you do with any business strategy, set measurable goals and milestones and monitor progress. Since this is a new venture, the goalposts may move on you. Rather than letting barriers surprise or deter you, pivot and revise as necessary to keep on track.
It is a whole new frontier you’re trying to cross, literally and figuratively. Make sure you know why you’re rising to this challenge, and how you will know when you’ve arrived. Even if those goalposts move during the process, you can keep them in sight.
4. Establish a Budget and Timeline
Taking your business global is not unlike building a new house. You should work from a realistic budget, from planning the project through moving in. There should also be contingencies built in for the inevitable cost overruns and delays.
If your expansion just involves hiring remote talent, your budget will largely consist of HR, IT, and travel costs. Opening overseas markets to your products and services or to manufacturing gets more complex. Your budget will include brick-and-mortar, shipping, and supply chain costs.
You also need to establish a timeline that includes everything from engaging the EOR to revising policies and procedures. The longer it takes to get up and running, the more expensive it will be. Timing will be everything on multiple fronts.
Develop a reasonable and detailed budget and schedule with some cushion to keep your expansion plans on target. Be prepared to make some tough decisions and stick to them. Remember that when you’re building something new, the journey itself is part of the experience.
Take the Leap
To keep his expeditions from turning into so-called adventures, Amundson prepared for his voyages carefully. Your business may not be expanding into the North or South Poles, but scrupulous preparation is key nonetheless.
Expanding a business globally isn’t for the fainthearted. It requires vision, research, commitment, and a certain amount of faith — yet the potential rewards are great. Once you’re ready, take the leap.
