CHAPTER III
Growing Your Business
Maximizing Your Cash Flow
Money in, money out—don’t let it make you lose sleep!
CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT is a critical key to survival and success, particularly with a new business. The nature of each business is unique, but every business aims to maximize revenue and minimize expenses. It’s an ongoing process.
Payment terms
Some businesses require prepayment; others ask for payment on delivery; still others give customers payment terms that may not generate revenue for weeks, or even months. If your products must be created and held in inventory until they are sold, the total time span from incurring manufacturing expenses until revenue is received could be many months. If you provide a service, you may need to invest in training, marketing, staff and a host of other things before you deliver your first round of service, bill it and get paid, so you face the same problem as a manufacturer.
If these scenarios apply to your business, you need to manage that lag from the time you pay for your initial expenses until you receive your revenue. And this cycle repeats itself for every product or service you create, just on different schedules. Obviously, these cycles can consume significant capital, both at startup and also for any business with growing sales. As an entrepreneur, you have to ensure you have enough capital reserves (i.e., money) or credit instruments (i.e., credit lines or loans) to cover operating expenses until your ships start coming in.
The other reality is that as your company grows, the demands for money generally get bigger. Sadly, it is entirely possible that your extended customer payment terms (receivables) combined with shorter terms you are given by your vendors for your manufacturing expenses (payables) may leave you with no money to fund the growth of sales. And that situation, when the amount of capital “in suspense” at any one time is not accessible through credit instruments or capital reserves, can lead to disasters.
Two completely different models
This may seem a little dire, but the point is to understand the importance of receiving your revenue as quickly as possible and getting the best possible terms you can for paying expenses. Ideally, you’d get paid before you put out any money or deliver anything. And there are businesses that do that: Welcome to the real world of various insurance products. The insurance industry has always been the premier example of a business sector that collects revenue in advance, while promising to pay for an insurable event in the future. By gaining the use of capital for an extended period before paying on most claims, the basic insurance model profits in two ways. First, the actual expense of administration and paying claims, when deducted from the premiums collected, usually yields a profit. Second, the premiums collected can be invested and generate additional capital for the insurance company.
The extreme opposite model is the traditional lending that banks and other primary lending institutions do. Here, the lender incurs the upfront expense by providing the money to a customer, given a promise by the customer to return the money with interest later over some prescribed timeline. Obviously, the cash flow model for a lender requires significant capital resources, in order to fund lending activities up front that will produce profit in the form of interest as loans are paid back.
Enhancing cash flow
For most businesses, cash flow requirements fall somewhere in between these extreme models. The key is to follow proven best practices that optimize your business’s cash position at all times. Some of these enhance the speed with which you collect revenue and others create methods for extending the period before your expenses are due. Let’s look at receivables first. Here are some effective practices for maximizing your cash in hand:
• Develop and communicate clear, written customer credit policies that specify appropriate credit limits, exact terms for payment, interest penalties, and recourse for lack of payment.
• Set a very strict schedule of payments for customers you grant higher credit limits to.
• Obtain your customer’s credit card authorization, which allows you to debit the card if her invoice becomes past due. This is an excellent control mechanism for protecting your cash flow, especially with a customer who does not have strong credit. Bear in mind that an unreliable customer might also have a low credit card limit (or may have exceeded it), however.
• Provide a reasonable discount for payment within 10 days if your normal terms are up to 30 days.
• Maintain frequent and direct positive communication with customers who pass their payment due date. Don’t be afraid to call daily if necessary.
• Consider offering special pricing or extra discounts in exchange for accelerated payment schedules. For example, if a customer agrees to pay all invoices within five days of receipt of goods and purchase a minimum volume of your goods and services in a given period, you can provide lower pricing. If you do this, also consider applying that discount at the end of the period in which the target is met—not on a rolling basis—to ensure you don’t provide the discount and then not receive the orders you expect.
• Set up a risk deposit for a poor credit risk who is unable or unwilling to work on a Cash on Delivery (COD) method of payment. This is a sum that represents the amount of an average order (or other negotiated amount), that you may keep in the event they fail to pay an invoice by the due date. This lets you treat them as a normal billing account but still protect receipt of funds for the company.
• Explore using pre-payment, partial pre-payment, or COD terms for new customers with poor or not-yet-established credit.
And here are tips and practices to help manage your payables:
• When setting up accounts with your vendors, always go for the most favorable possible timeframe for your payments due. This might require a step-by-step process with each vendor, as some vendors will allow more time if your payment history with them has been very reliable and consistent. You might start with partial pre-payment and a balance due in stages or on some single date for your first order. Then you might progress to payment on delivery, and then to payment in 30 days, moving to 60 days, etc.
• One method to secure this consideration or others may be to pledge a back-up deposit or credit card that may only be used in the event you fail to pay on the extended due date. After some specified timeframe, the back-up provision may be revoked, if your payments have been timely.
• Pay attention daily to the cost of money based on prevailing interest rates. If borrowing money is cheap because of low interest rates, you may find it better to negotiate an additional discount for early payment terms with your vendors, even if it means using borrowed funds. You might achieve a larger discount for immediate payment and get a lower interest expense for the use of the money for the period of time you would have waited to pay. By borrowing the money you still kept your cash position unchanged.
• When using credit cards for paying business expenses, maintain a regimen of paying the balance in full when it comes due.
• Keep close track of the closing date for each of your credit cards. Make your purchases on a given card as often as you can during the first days of a new billing cycle. Why? Suppose a statement period closes on the 20th of January and your payment is due on February 15th. If you make your credit card purchases on this card as close as possible to January 21st, the start of the next billing cycle, you won’t have to pay those charges until March 15th, about 53 days later. If you buy on January 19th, your balance becomes due on February 15th, giving you only 23-day terms.
• When purchases for your business require incremental payments for services done over time or work completed in stages, always negotiate for the least amount paid upfront as your deposit, with some reasonable portion held back until you are able to verify the satisfactory completion of the project.
The important thing to remember when looking for ways to optimize your cash position is to recognize that terms may often be a more financially important variable than price, both as a customer or as a business that serves customers. If your vendor gives you 90-day payment terms, you may find it is worth paying a slightly higher price to her rather than working with a lower-priced vendor who requires payment on delivery. The key is to always be aware of the cost of money, your specific cash flow requirements, and the options available to maximize your cash position.
Getting a Second Round of Funding
The great news today is that there is an abundance of opportunities for small businesses to grow. Here’s another one. Go for Round Two!
YOU SUCCESSFULLY launched your business. Now, after some time, or after a key milestone has passed, it is safe to assume that your new business has experienced one of three likely outcomes:
• Your business has exceed all expectations
• Your business has achieved about what was forecast on the original business plan
• Uh-oh!
Regardless of what has transpired during the initial stages of your new business’s evolution, one common denominator probably played a significant role in deciding the size, scope, scale and even the success of your undertaking: funding. As you well know, funding is a critical. It is a force that can dictate how and when a business starts, influence the future growth and expansion of that business, be a life-saving mechanism during tough economic times, or kill the business against all odds.
Many small businesses can be started using personal collateral, some financial assistance from family or friends, a small business loan from your local bank, or a combination of those funding sources. And usually, once the business has gotten out of the starting gate, that initial round of funding can be used as you see fit, too. The catch: from marketing and advertising to payroll, the monies you acquired for start-up and early survival must represent funding well spent.
Second-round funding basics
Many factors can come into play when a new business is attempting to expand or get to the next stage. It happens in larger, established companies, too. So, regardless of your company’s age or market position, second-round funding may be necessary to accomplish the goals you’ve set for your company. It usually is secured through one or more sources. The process usually takes place after the initial start-up phase, when a business is able to successfully demonstrate that it is positioned for growth.
As an entrepreneur, where do you go for second-round funding? The obvious first stop might be your local bank. But what if your business is unable to use secure debt financing? What if you are unable to acquire sufficient financing through a traditional business loan? There are other alternatives.
Enter private equity
When it comes time for a small business to seek an additional supply of working capital for growth, it may turn to the world of private equity. Private equity investments are made, by and large, by private equity firms, venture capital firms and/or angel investors. Each of these types of investor has a unique set of objectives, partialities and investment strategies. One common theme among them, however, is delivering the necessary working capital to the applicant. That funding can be used to support growth, deliver new products and services to the market, fund research and development initiatives, enable buyouts, or even restructure a business’s ownership, operations, or management structure.
Which funding source is the best for you? Well, most small businesses turn to angel investors for their second round of funding needs. Angel investors can be portrayed as affluent individuals or a grouping of proactive individuals who make financial investments (equity financing) in start-ups or in businesses that may be in their early stages of life. They are investors who usually provide their own funds, versus a pool of funds, in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. In many cases, this type of private equity can bridge the gap between loans from family, friends and traditional banking or lending organizations to the next level. Angel investors also are usually willing to take bigger risks and/or invest in projects that traditional lenders are unable to accommodate due to the nature of the investment itself.
Three scenarios… one objective
With countless uncertainties popping up all the time, a small business owner has to always be prepared for what lies ahead, even if he or she is unaware of what precisely the uncertainties are. These factors are usually what dictate how a business fares, especially in its early stages of existence. In many instances, a second round of funding addresses those unforeseeable factors. As we’ve seen, there are basically three outcomes that a business could realistically experience: smashing success, as-expected performance, and tanking. So, if and when a second round of funding is deemed necessary, knowing there are alternatives in addition to your local bank can be reassuring.
But what do angel investors (or other private equity firms) look for in an investment? The same thing a bank would look for: a healthy and positive return on their capital infusion. These investors will require some of the same criteria a bank does. Here’s a sample of what they may request:
• Solid business, marketing and strategic plans for growth
• Financials
• An established ownership/management team with industry experience and proficiencies
• A breakdown of the sources of funding you used to start your business
• A comprehensive overview of your market and your current market position
• Competitive advantages that your products and services enjoy
• A return on investment outline and forecasting
• An exit strategy for the investor in a defined period of time
When is the proper time to seek second-round funding? It may sound glib, but you’ll probably know it when you see it.
In addition, every investor, angel group or other private equity firm has its own qualifying factors that determine when (and how) the process will commence. The Internet is an invaluable place to begin your search queries regarding which type of organization might be best suited for your current situation and ultimately your future needs. Many organizations even allow you to apply online for pre-approval and future consideration. Some funding organizations may have minimum standards for this feature, and fees may apply as well.
The great news today is that there is an abundance of opportunities for small businesses to gain additional competitive advantages in their markets with a fresh infusion of working capital. Many of these alternatives to the traditional lender didn’t exist years ago either, giving you more options. As always, being educated and in-the-know regarding what’s available to you and what might be the best fit for your specific funding needs will be a major step in the right direction.
Forecasting Your Growth
Tea leaves? Crystal balls? The real name of the game is to be realistic.
IF YOU HAVE ANY HOPES of having a successful first round of fund raising for your business, don’t put together a series of monthly, quarterly, annual, three-and five-year projections showing how your new product or service will soar from zero to a huge profit within the first year. This is unlikely. Moreover, when you start representing your start-up as such you are simply going to turn off potential investors.
Most investors are skeptics for a reason. It’s not because they don’t believe in you or your idea. But rather, because everyone has the next big idea, everyone’s idea is worth millions and everyone’s idea will sail flawlessly to the top of whatever market or industry in which they operate. Unfortunately this is not usually the case. In fact, most businesses, even those that are successful and yield plenty of ROI (return on investment), are not the biggest, best, top earning, most profitable ones, nor are they those with the most market share. They are somewhere in the middle.
Now, if you legitimately have a new, never-before-seen “mouse trap” that the entire world has to have, then maybe you can get away with such a circus. But for most of us, it’s more about building a strong foundation, plowing in lots of hard work and hoping just to get the business to a profitable state that is ready for growth. I can’t tell you how many business plans have come across my desk with the most ridiculous forecasting and performance expectations. It only takes a second to see through it all. At that point I usually throw the plan in the trash bin, along with any of those showy, super-expensive credit card-like business cards that come with them. (I’ll dig into my problem with those silly cards later.)
It’s important to forecast your anticipated financials conservatively and demonstrate on paper that even with the most minimal results, your business can survive. Notice I said survive, not rack in millions. This is because you are usually the one dreaming of the “big win,” while an investor is simply looking at risk.
Most individuals and businesses that may invest in your business are looking to either minimize risk or invest in projects or businesses that are risk adverse. I would recommend performing a sensitivity analysis, outlining how much you can be off of target and still achieve profitable operations. I would even go as far as mapping out a worst-case scenario model, showing how even under harsh circumstances, your business model is sound. Conversely, if you cannot generate a forecast model showing “below plan” or “below target” performance that still maintains healthy levels of operation, then you may need to reconsider the particular project or initiative.
Another important thing to remember in regard to lofty goals and projections is that such plans typically land in the trash. Not because business plans are garbage. But because the thought process that put the forecasting together is not here in reality with the rest of us. Understanding the entrepreneur’s forecasting style helps me understand if they are thoughtful and logical in their approach, or if they are on a completely different planet with regard to business.
This sounds dumb, but it’s serious. Some individuals are so in love with themselves and their pet project that they start to believe their own press clippings and the bluffing that comes along with their off-the-cuff planning.
And back to those hard plastic business cards that each cost a fortune. I simply take them as a demonstration of the owner’s misplaced focus regarding the spending priorities of her business. It drives me nuts when small business owners and founders of start-ups looking for funding throw solid plastic business cards on my desk that cost more than a cup of designer coffee. That may not sound like much, but when you know they ordered 500 to 1,000 of them instead of having a copy center make perfectly decent ones for next to nothing, you can see they aren’t business oriented. Also, it’s just irritating to have yet another plastic card to shove in my wallet. It’s already over flowing with more of the same.
M.O.
Just Grow It!
You may reach a point when you’re fed up with planning. But it’s so much better than failing. And yet…
PLANNING AND ORGANIZING all the details and elements in your budget or initiative is a complex, comprehensive process. Each idea you develop and every initiative you organize leads to more and more planning, more budgeting. The danger lies in getting caught up in perpetual planning, leading you to neglect getting important growth initiatives launched.
The key is to establish a clear timeline for any initiative. Make it your first step when you begin your planning. Your timeline must include specific deadlines for each segment of the planning process, with clearly stated deliverables due at each of those deadlines. The interim deadlines and deliverables should lead up to the final deadline for the launch of the entire initiative.
If you encounter any delays or changes in the expected deliverables, check carefully to determine if the final launch deadline can be maintained. If not, quickly identify what needs to be done to adjust other elements to meet the ultimate launch deadline. Building an effective project or initiative timeline and delivering what’s needed on time is key to the success of your launch.
Setting the standard
As a founder and leader of your company, your performance can set up standards for others in your group. Your discipline, focus and tenacity in strictly following the timeline and delivering what’s needed on time, regardless of the sacrifices in time and energy required, is the formula for achieving success in many aspects of your business. Focused, timely action is key to getting a good initiative launched. But more important, it will establish the standards by which your company will succeed in the future.
Plan, then act; plan, then act
It is also important to remember that great planning becomes worthless without taking effective and timely action. It’s always necessary to balance planning and action. Failure to execute on either one can lead to a very poor or negative outcome. It may seem important and effective to spend an endless amount of time planning an important initiative, but failing to execute on a reasonable timeline may lead to procrastination and paralysis for the business.
Alternatively, taking action too rapidly without the guidance of effective planning can lead to costly mistakes and missed opportunities. The key is to balance both planning and action with an effective timeline you follow aggressively.
What if the wheels come off?
Sometimes it may be necessary to honestly recognize that you simply cannot meet deadlines. If delays seem to be overwhelming the process, it is important to break the chain of events and re-establish momentum with a fresh timeline and revised deadlines. At this point, taking action is critical to getting the initiative started. It may be necessary to make some decisions and move forward without 100 percent of the information gathered and 100 percent of the details completed. Avoid analysis paralysis and know when it is time to get going and execute the plan. There is a point when action is key and it is simply time to get off your chair, leave your office and just grow it!
Methods of Growth
The best method depends entirely on you and your business. It helps to know the process. Find what’s best for you.
REGARDLESS OF how far your entrepreneurial spirit has already taken you, let’s go ahead and assume you’ve already launched your small business successfully. In the midst of getting from the start-up phase to a smooth-running machine, there were most likely several goals or milestones that you set as a road map for reaching consistent stability.
You may have sought advice from experts and mentors. You may have also gotten educated by gaining industry experience, researching the Internet, reading trade publications or attending seminars. You probably invested sweat equity, money and other personal resources along the way too. In the end, it was all worth it as you got your small business off the ground.
So… what’s next?
If you’ve actually survived the battles of a start-up and then subsequently built a successful business, you may wonder what next steps are fundamental in growing your business beyond its present status. There are abundant options and countless methods to get you to the next level. Let’s concentrate on two things here. First, let’s do a very quick review of the past to ensure you’ve covered a few basics; and then let’s consider a few elements that can foster the growth for your small business.
A quick checklist to review
Whether you accomplished these things in getting where you are or you are still attempting to get out of the starting gates, make sure most, if not all of the basic steps below have been completed before you seriously consider trying to engage in any type of growth.
• Create an identity. Build a brand, create a market position, offer unique selling points, let others know how you stack up to the competition.
• Create some relationships. Establish a solid client base, stay in touch with repeat customers, ask for referrals, join trade associations or business groups, establish strong connections with your banker, accountant, and legal representation.
• Create a presence in the community. Volunteer, do charity work, join various associations, donate to worthy causes, be a positive activist for your community.
• Create some history. Establish a track record of solid sales and happy customers, deliver solid results to investors, keep your banker and accountants happy with month-after-month records of solid returns and up-to-date documentation on everything.
These basics form a solid cornerstone for preparing for future growth. They should never be ignored or taken for granted. The combination of all of these external efforts with your internal documentation and records (such as your business, marketing and strategic plans; official corporate and legal documentation; tax filings; banking records; etc.) establishes yours as a well-run business, one that has good odds of success in climbing to the next level or seriously expanding. If you’ve made it this far, it may be time to plan for growth. You will face important decisions regarding the specific methods, strategies and modes you will choose to take your business to the next level.
Methods, strategies and modes of growth
Just as it paid off for you to develop a rational, fact-based business plan to help you identify and anticipate challenges when you started your business up, it will pay off now to plan consciously how you want to grow.
Methods of funding: The way you finance your growth plan may end up being the most significant decision you make for the long-term future of your small business. As we’ve said, your two options are debt financing and equity financing (see pages 73-74 for more on this).
Strategies: Considering alternative growth strategies is also vital as you think about your growth process. Not all will fit your business, but it’s wise to think broadly before you narrow things down and select those that are most in tune with your products and services. Here are a few strategies to start your thinking process.
• Diversify. Think of adding new and/or alternative products and services to the ones you already offer. This strategy can be hugely successful with a solid and long-standing client-base. It adds new income streams to the existing ones, and many times these products and services can be successfully bundled.
• Head to the Internet, think about apps. You no doubt already have a website. It might be a down-and-dirty start-up version or a fancy site. But either way, as you stage for growth, it’s vital to perform a comprehensive review of what your site looks like, how it functions, and what it could do for you if it were revamped. Is your small business able to offer any of your products or services on an e-commerce platform? More and more buyers are heading online to make purchases, large and small. As part of your review, ensure that your branding, marketing and messaging are singing in unison to deliver a knockout punch to potential clients. Frequently, start-ups don’t have smoothly consistent branding and marketing in their first stage, so here’s a chance to clean up the clutter and refine your positioning. Finally, consider whether mobile applications are yet another way to expand this option outside the traditional brick-and-mortar selling platform. Can they help your growth?
• Open a new location. This strategy can be expensive and risky; however if financing is in place, you’ve done your homework thoroughly, and the signs are positive, go for it. Additional locations can add to your visibility and outreach in your market and create a more convenient way for your customers to buy from you. Just don’t fool yourself if the signs are not convincing.
• Expand to a new market. Do your products or services already thrive in the market in which you operate? If so, could you experience equal success in a contiguous market? Again, careful, proper homework will dictate which market(s) will be best suited for this option.
• Look into franchising, licensing and private labeling. All of these options can be viable alternatives for expanding your company’s footprint. Franchising your entire business to other markets and locations, licensing specific products and/or services to others, and private labeling your popular offerings could yield huge results. Some businesses have done all of them; some choose one particular route to take with these strategies. Not every small business is suited for these options, but try brainstorming to see if these strategies offer you a way to get other parties to move your products and services for you.
• Offer commissions to outside sources. If applicable (and also if legally acceptable, in certain industries), every small business should investigate paying outside sources for selling or re-selling your products and services or for referring clients to your business. As always, an ethical review should accompany this strategy to ensure proper business practices are followed. But, if everything seems to be satisfactory, having others work for you and refer on your behalf can be a boost to your bottom line.
Modes: Finally, the mode in which you grow needs consideration. There are two clear environments that your small business could select as the best alternative to expanding.
• External growth involves more significant financial resources in most cases, and can also require years of research and dedicated time. Mergers and takeovers are two external modes of financial growth. A merger is the combining of two or more companies, usually with the approval of all companies involved along with any affiliated shareholders and/or directors.
• A takeover (also known as an acquisition) is a corporate action where an acquiring company makes a bid for another company. The response by the board of directors and/or shareholders agreeing upon the terms of the agreement dictates if the takeover is friendly or hostile in nature.
• Internal growth involves a business escalating its size and capacity through investing in its own existing collection of products and services or by developing new ones. This process is also referred to as organic growth. Oftentimes, it requires long-term development; however, it is widely viewed as less risky than external growth alternatives.
It can be a refreshing, positive exercise to investigate the numerous means of growth and to explore the many growth opportunities available to you as a small business owner. You may find that you must prioritize or set schedules for attempting the most promising ones, as your funding for growth and other resources will have definite limits. But by keeping these points in mind, you should be able to identify some winning approaches to evaluate and refine further. Doing your homework will eliminate some options and elevate others to the forefront of discussion. Making timetables flexible for planning and taking these decisions will help ensure good thinking. Finally, don’t be afraid to bring in other entrepreneurs, experts and even consultants to validate (or refute) your research along the way.
Growing Global
You can feel the world growing smaller every day. Why not profit from that?
NO MATTER WHERE in the world your business is based, growing it is fundamental to your continued financial success. If the product or service you provide travel and adapt well, your business’s growth can be sped up and achieved through a variety of sales and marketing initiatives that reach potential customers in markets worldwide.
Most conventional businesses start life supported by sales in a geographic area that surrounds their initial location. Not long ago, the cost of acquiring distant customers, the logistic expenses needed to sell to and to follow up with them, and the resource requirements to support long-distance programs limited the initial territory a business could target.
The shrinking world
But that’s no longer the only scenario. Constantly evolving improvements in technology, communication tools and Internet capabilities have greatly enhanced the efficiency of pursuing global sales for many businesses, even from Day 1.
Of course, there are challenges. Significant research will be required to understand all the variables necessary to conduct business with customers in different parts of the world and with different cultural biases. This research requires an investment of time and money, but your insights may yield a broad range of market opportunities you have not already penetrated. Gathering all of this information will prepare you for global sales expansion into the markets you identify that seem like practical opportunities.
Your business may face specific requirements, regulations, tariffs, import and export duties that may impact the practical capabilities for sale of your goods or services internationally. Translation, localization (adapting for the local market’s values, customs, and other factors), currency issues, legal and bookkeeping rules and laws, production, transport—plus simply trying to figure out if what you offer will satisfy customers’ needs in the target market—will basically require you to build a separate business plan for your global expansion. As always, developing your business plan will flush out issues and questions you need to pay attention to, but it’s worth the effort.
Thinking globally may be a new experience for your business, but there are tools, services and people with track records you can tap if you need them. Technology, especially communications technology, is moving at an accelerating pace. We are able to communicate globally via email, cellular phone, videoconference, and instant messaging tools that continue to shrink the distance between all parts of the world. While working face-to-face with customers and associates has great advantages, it’s no longer always necessary to travel, given these powerful connections.
It may be worthwhile to work with specialists to conduct your market research and later execute global sales and marketing initiatives abroad. Governments offer often surprising levels of support, usually in key cities abroad, to assist their citizens in making contact with and finding resources to support international growth. Some also provide investment credits, subsidize travel and trade show attendance, and so forth for their nationals who are starting up in new international markets.
But what if your business cannot afford outside help and your government has limited support services? You can still do it yourself! If you can commit the necessary time, you can do the spadework mostly from home. The secret is to start small and expect to grow slowly, making mistakes and learning from them as you go along. It’s wise to target the most promising market and get that up and running, then move to second-tier markets as your business adapts to the unique challenges of international business. Also, consider trying to find a local partner in your target market, a company or person with a natural fit for your offering, rather than trying to master every last detail and working long distance in an unfamiliar territory. It may prove to be a first stage in a progression of steps that end up with your company working independently, so regard that option as potentially free education.
For one thing, you probably will develop a completely different global perspective about the design and execution of your sales and marketing initiatives. Consider all possible elements available for connecting with and selling to customers in your target market. They may include social media, email marketing initiatives, website advertising programs, shared website links, telephone programs, text messaging options, webinar sales and information programs, chat rooms, blog postings, and website resources and interactive tools. But for some parts of the world, selling gadgets or advertising your service at street markets or bazaars, or door to door, or in schools may be your best choice.
The important points to remember are the research you need to do to choose the best global market opportunities, the profile of customers and their needs in each target area, the prevailing culture and language, the local business practices, and local contacts you can cultivate to help you grow. The ability to grow globally rests on your ability to think globally and reach out to the worldwide market with an open mind—and a taste for adventure!