Acceleration.
It defines not just technology itself, but the speed at which companies are competing with others to provide valuable solutions to end-users.
Jamie Murphy from Cyber Business Growth helps organizations accelerate into the European market by evaluating clients’ strengths and weaknesses in their go-to-market strategies. He connects them with the appropriate partners and channels to accelerate their entrance into the ever-changing European technological landscape.
He joined us on our B2B Revenue Acceleration podcast to give his thoughts on how companies can avoid pitfalls and find their position within the European market at a quicker pace.
Market Entrance
A company attempting to enter the market will face a variety of unique challenges. Business strategy, connections, vendor management, recruitment, etc., are just a small amount of the concerns an organization will have to tackle. Having a pro on the inside becomes a priceless commodity.
“The skills gap gets mentioned all the time; there’s a preconception that it’s just technical roles. It absolutely goes far beyond that. Whether that’s sales, marketing, product marketing, or services in general, we are there to bridge the gap,” Jamie said.
Why The Three-Tier Strategy No Longer Works
“Back in the day,” as Jamie called it, the old three-tier channel: distribution, reseller, and end-user selling via vendor, worked. But as technology evolved, the volume of solutions entering the market has also rapidly increased. Connections to the right resellers, vendors, and partners becomes increasingly important.
There’s some real value to be had in evaluating how your product integrates into a customer’s existing environment.
Jamie Murphy
A few questions have to be answered in any market: What does your solution do? How does it integrate into a consumer’s existing environment? Who are the end-users? If you are a new company or a company entering the European market for the first time, those answers become increasingly complex, which is where CBG provides invaluable expertise.
Assessing Readiness
Jamie has a saying: “What’s it matter what I think?” The proof of the value of a product or service is whether or not end-users will purchase and use the product or service.
To enable real-world practice, CBG actually joins a client with those who fit the profile of the strongest potential clients. They have their clients go through an entire pitch with several organizations. This allows companies to get real-time feedback on a product and service to determine its true or perceived value.
How long does it take for a vendor to get established in the European Market?
Inevitably, the answer to this question varies from client to client, but Jamie continually noted the importance of patience and a true understanding of what establishment means to each individual organization.
This understanding of an organization’s true identity within a market, who their clients are, what value they are truly bringing and who the end-users are, can take a number of years to determine. Jamie mentioned the multi-billion dollar network security company Palo Alto Networks. He says they didn’t start by dominating competitors; it took Palo Alto a few years to determine where they fit in the marketplace.
Last Thoughts: Mistakes a Newcomer Can Avoid
There is no magic wand for finding the clients, finding the vendor, whether you are coming from the client-side, the vendor side, or the partner to the market.
Jamie Murphy
Jamie offered a few tips to newcomers entering the market and what they can try to avoid:
- Hiring a sales team under pressure
Often, companies will start by hiring staff without truly knowing their place in the market. Because investors want to see revenue, this creates pressure for organizations. Under this pressure, companies will too often hire a sales force that isn’t ideal for their business.
- Making assumptions
The European market is a different game. Entering the market with assumptions on how things work because of experience in other markets is a pitfall you can avoid. This is a key area that CBG evaluates — they taking pre-existing go-to-market strategies and evaluate their viability for the European market.
- Overlooking channel
Channel is highly important in the business model in any market, especially within Europe.; they are a front-line representation of your solution. Why short them on attention? Understand the pain points of your channel partners, work on them, and you will be rewarded with results.
This post is based on a podcast with Jamie Murphy. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The B2B Revenue Acceleration Podcast.
If you don’t use iTunes, you can listen to every episode here.
