The issue of expanding your business internationally, especially to the USA, is that a lot of it is guesswork. Validating your hypothesis takes a lot of time and money too. The good news is that expanding your business to the US is possible, even if you take the long and winding road to get there.
But what if there was a way in which you could cut times significantly and save a lot of money? Is soft-landing in 90 actually doable? The answer is hell yeah!
At Base Miami, we have created a unique proven methodology called Market Fit, which allows companies to accomplish in 3 months what usually takes 18 to 24. Today, we would like to share our methodology with you because we believe in the power of helping the community. So, get your favorite note-taking system ready because we are about to shed some light on some pretty juicy information!
Market Fit - Our 90 Day Proven Methodology
Entering the US market can be daunting. We know that from experience. After all, at Base Miami, we are Latin entrepreneurs that have soft-landed in the US and grew exponentially from there. So, everything we say, we say out of first-hand knowledge.
Let’s cut to the chase here by saying that your US expansion planning and launching ultimately comes down to five simple steps: discovering the market, validating it, story creation, engaging the market, and process adaptation. Yup, by following those five steps you could be looking at a whole new market and the chance to skyrocket your business model.
Ready to learn how we do it? Let’s get to it then!
Discovering the Market
The first step is kind of like brainstorming. It’s about forming assumptions about your business model and figuring out HOW to go market in the US with your product or services.
Here you’ll need all hands on deck. You want your team to de-construct everything they know about your current market and start thinking fresh. The US is a behemoth of a market and it’s entirely different from that of Latin America. So, everything you think you know, erase it from your mind.
Once you’re in the zone, you want to start your research. This is the step-by-step process we follow with our clients:
1. Review your current business collateral e.g. pitch deck, product demonstration, marketing materials.
2. Lean Canvas Business Model: Lean Canvas is the tool we use to model key business and go-to-market assumptions.
3. Petal Diagram: This is a method to determine company positioning in the competitive landscape of adjacent, overlapping, or alternative solutions.
4. Provide a market research piece into the US ecosystem for your industry e.g. Trade Shows, Industry Associations, etc.
5. Provide access to US research reports into your market, industry, and competition.
Related: Entrepreneurs and Innovators Need Lean Canvas Models for Their Business: Learn Why
Validating the Market
Now that you’ve got your assumptions and your initial research into the US market, it’s time to validate everything. This step is crucial to reduce potential risk, avoiding investing money and time into a strategy that won’t ultimately work out.
So, validating the market consists of 3 steps:
1. Top Ten Questions: It’s a document articulating the biggest anticipated risks and unknowns around the market entry.
2. Creating a target list of industry experts within your network.
3. Hosting 2-5 Feedback Sessions with Industry Experts.
This will give you the necessary information to discard wrong assumptions and fine-tune the right ones.
Story Creation
Now it’s time to build your brand in a way that meets US standards. Because you’re entering an English speaking country, every branding and marketing piece needs to be specifically tailored to accommodate English-speaking customers.
In order to build a strong, cohesive, US branded presence online, we guide our clients through these steps:
1. Wow! Statement: A short yet powerful articulation of your target customer, value proposition & positioning.
2. Slide Deck - to present the company to customers, partners, and investors in a US-centric way.
3. Company One Pager: a one-page summary to introduce the company and help it get meetings.
4. Ideal Customer Profile: a precise demographic of who we are targeting in the US Market.
5. Target List: list of potential customers & partners we want to reach to test go-to-market assumptions.
6. Outreach Script & Plan.
7. Website adaptation advisory: you may need to make changes or have a US-specific website.
8. Review of Revenue and Pricing Model.
Related: How to Dazzle US Investors with a WOW! Statement
Engaging the Market
Once the target list and outreach scripts have been created, you can begin to reach out to your network. The goal here is to get warm introductions to those companies and individuals and schedule meetings with them. These “customer discovery” meetings will help you turn business assumptions into “hard” facts and adapt the go-to-market approach as needed.
*(This part of the process, we typically do with our team at Base Miami. But you can do it yourself alongside your team and there shouldn’t be any hiccups.).
Adapting the Approach
Last but certainly not least is modifying your sales collaterals. The goal here is to reflect your “latest and greatest” understanding of the customer and the market.
Parting Thoughts
After adapting the approach and all the collateral, you should have a pretty solid idea of your new target market and the strategy you need to follow to penetrate it. At Base Miami, we have followed this Market Fit program with many clients and we are always stunned with the before-and-after results.
It’s pretty common for business owners to believe that, because they have massive accounts as clients and a fair understanding of the market they navigate, that it should be the same for the US. When in all honesty, it can’t be further from the truth. The US market is one of the most highly coveted markets in the world, and it’s not without reason. The US has its own rules and standards. The approach to penetrate the market should be a carefully-thought-out process, rather than pure guesswork.
With this guide, however, we wanted to share with you the proven-track methodology that we have successfully implemented with companies like Digibee, GEGO, and Ionosys. If you follow it to the letter, you will be at the least, with one foot inside the US market. The rest it’s taking the plunge, setting up shop, hiring the right people, and getting those clients to start generating some pipeline.
If you’re interested in this process and would like to benefit from our expertise and industry players’ network, you can contact us for more information on the Market Fit program. We can conduct a quick assessment of your business to see if you would be a right fit for it!
