Expansion of a business into a new market is certainly a challenging and daunting proposition for a business owner.

1. Important Key Steps of New Market Entry
Expansion of a business into a new market is certainly a challenging and daunting proposition
for a business owner. However most of the pains of the process are now removed since business
owners/businesses have access to a huge pool of public information available online, specific
business contacts (through LinkedIn, Xing, etc…) and a process that’s worked in their existing
markets.
The key steps that one needs to consider before embarking on Market Entry are as follows:
1. Selecting the right market(s). It is an analysis phase were in you will rank different
prospect markets against one another with regards to overall macro attractiveness, overall market
size, detailed competitor ranking – what are the existing competitors doing well, what can be
done better at what price, evaluate technology or business model disruptions and their impact on
the prospective market and finally a high level consumer profiling (B2B or B2C based on your
product or service) Key take away or insights from this phase will let you determine which are
the markets you will want to enter and are what stages (maturity of the market for your product
or service)
2. Execution or Go-to market strategy. Once the markets for entry have been analyzed and
picked, the next stage will entail the actual design of your business in that particular market.
There are several models to consider as to how you will enter and compete – direct model, in-
direct model or JV/acquisition model. Markets with high level of maturity for your product or
business will demand a direct approach, which will more of a strain on cash, time and resources
for the short/near term. The indirect model will be to quickly identify, evaluate and confirm the
right partner who will help you grow in that market. In the indirect model it will always good to
start working with 1-2 partners initially, understand the business challenges during execution,
commitment and then build the business from there. The JV/acquisition option is especially
relevant for medium sized firms who have a stable business, cash reserves and management
pragmatic enough to take the right decisions for the long term Key take away or insights from
this phase of market entry will determine how you will compete in the market and with what
resources. This phase will help you budget for the expansion in one or several markets you have
selected.
3. Key client identification, prospecting and lead generation. In this stage, you will identify
the key clients or prospects to acquire in the market. Focus on is preparing a targeted list of
decision makers at those companies. Building out or adapting an existing CRM, marketing plan
for inbound or outbound lead generation. The overall strategy designed in the previous phase
needs to be tied in with the specific revenue targets, milestones and other KPI’s. Closing your
first deal in the new market, reassess and scale.
Key take away or insights from this phase will be your key clients, their decision makers and
methodology to effectively close business in the new market
Qiu Inc(www.QiuInc.com) is an international business development and market entry consulting
firm headquartered in Asia. Sandeep Balaji is the Director and has more than a 12+ year track
record in business development, new market entry and growth advisory for a variety of
businesses