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Remember: a great plan should be detailed, not complicated. You want your financiers, clients and business partners to have a clear understanding of your vision for growing your business and what will best help you achieve your goals.
So, your business is successful and you want to grow and grow further in the market. Are you OK? Outlining your business expansion plan with this free business plan template will help you clearly define your goals, organize your team and leadership, and develop a business efficiency and motivational strategy.
Identify your opportunities
With a little homework, you can determine whether your expansion opportunities lie in developing new products, adding more services, targeting new markets, opening new locations, or going global, to name a few. Once you’ve identified the best growth options, incorporate them into your plan.
Competitive research starts with identifying other companies currently selling in the market you wish to enter. The idea of spending enough time researching each potential competitor may sound overwhelming, but it can be very useful.
Establish customers and supplier relationships
As with any relationship, partnerships with suppliers need to be cultivated. This relationship must be beneficial not only to your business, but also to your suppliers. Enjoy preferential treatment, discounted rates and greater stability when you have good terms.
Make your suppliers feel like part of the company. A mutually beneficial and win-win relationship is important, especially with your key suppliers. Share information with them about your process, such as new product launches and promotions, and listen to their concerns.
Develop a business strategy for a new country
Once your roadmap is in place, it’s a good idea to do some foreign market research and identify international differences, whether cultural, social, legal, or economic. Don’t always assume business will be conducted in English, it’s always wise to be familiar with the local language and make sure your marketing materials are country-specific. Accept and consider the cultural differences that characterize that particular market and build relationships with customers, stakeholders or suppliers before doing business.
First, laying the foundations is key to international expansion. So, start developing a localization strategy and business plan to understand your market. Consider your selling proposition, assess your needs and set your goals, whether it’s the first 100 days or the first two years. To help you understand opportunities in this particular market, join professional networking groups or conduct third-party research.
This can be done in a number of ways, from finding existing international teamwork, to thoroughly researching the country’s culture and language to better communicate with the international target audience. Below, 15 members of the Forbes Business Council share their top tips for companies considering international expansion.
Identify the opportunities in a new country
Analyze new opportunities in your business by better understanding your demographics. Learn about everything from distribution channels to your direct competitors, and even analysis of foreign markets and other potential industries. With the right level of analysis, you may immediately pursue dozens of new opportunities.
Once you’ve determined that you’re ready for international expansion, the next step is to figure out which international markets you’re after, how you’ll enter those markets, and what timelines will work best. But with 196 countries to choose from, the selection process itself can be overwhelming. This article provides you with a framework and six-step process to help you create a prioritized list of target countries to support your international business expansion strategy.
After obtaining the list of candidate countries, the next step is to represent them in the first dimension of the 2×2 matrix. Your research starts here! Country attractiveness can be viewed as a combination of country attributes or overall economic performance and risk predictors; and industry factors such as addressable market size and competitive landscape.