The United States market is unique in terms of business opportunity. China and Brazil may dominate the headlines but remember that their growth is coming off a much lower base. Unlike developing markets, it is easy to do business in the US and the rules are clear. The size and openness of the market means that companies can dramatically scale their business. International companies do need to adjust their perspective to maximize their opportunity.

Think big
Companies from smaller markets need to readjust their goals. Do some analysis on market potential and plan to take a good percentage of market share over a five year period. Think about what you want your business to look like three years or five years out, write it down and then build a plan to get there.

A sales plan is not a plan
Many companies see the US market as simply a new market and therefore operate based on a sales plan rather than a full analysis of their business model. Look at your US operation as a start up. Critically analyze everything from your target segment, value proposition to your revenues streams and cost drivers.

Segmentation/value proposition/brand
Focus is the key to success. Identify the segments with the highest potential then develop ideal customer profiles and related personas to help with this focus. The generalist capabilities that are valuable in smaller markets are not valued or understood in the US. Buyers are looking for experts in their field. You have to be in the content business to build this expert reputation. A mix of blogs, white papers, speaking events need to be part of your strategy to build a market presence. Branding is important whatever your business. Rethink your business and make a decision on the one value or brand essence that you want to stand for. Build everything around that. Be different. Look at comparable industries and see how the most successful firms are going to market.

Channels
Most companies either work with a channel partner or hire a sales person in market as an initial step. You need to remember that winning the first US customers is not easy. If you are going to hire someone, you need someone who has the entrepreneurial drive and motivation to make this happen. A sales person used to working in established businesses will struggle with the transition to what is a startup environment. A channel partner’s sales force is unlikely to take a risk on a new product and put their current business at risk by doing so. Creative compensation and training strategies for channel partners and prioritizing start up experience when recruiting early employees can help to manage these issues. Create a budget for demand generation and other support costs whether you choose a channel or direct strategy. Also, think about the long term impact of these decisions. A channel partner might look like a low cost strategy initially but might not look so attractive in the medium term when revenue shares start to kick in. Founders and the management team need to commit to spending time in market to gain initial traction and support employees and / or partners.

Operations
Winning the sale is only one step. It is possible that you could end up with a customer in Boston and another in San Diego – a 3,000 mile drive. How are you going to support these customers cost effectively? Do your operational constraints impact the segments that you can target? Outsourcing of functions from marketing to human resources can make sense. Outsourcing makes fixed costs variable, allows you to access local expertise and networks as well as provides flexibility. The skills and processes involved with managing outsourced providers need to be thought through.