Entering the U.S. market needs a personal presence. That in-person representation is what differentiates your tech firm from others and communicates through actions that your company is the one new clients can trust. As we’ll explore in this article, nothing replaces the need for human connection to foster and nurture your business’ growth and expansion.
Welcome back to our series on international market expansion. So far, we’ve addressed some of the tactical elements of expanding your business to the U.S. market, including lighthouse clients for validation of market and concept as well as cash infusion. [How to Scale Your Enterprise Technology Business for Entry into the U.S. Market] We’ve discussed the need to consider how to scale your business from the outset and make solid and forward-thinking decisions, even if that means a more tailored or tempered launch, to build an assured rollout in later quarters. Still, the one true differential is the connections you make and foster, which is the quality assurance that Kettering International cultivates for its clients.
Priceless Personal Presence
As much as the last few years have ushered in accommodations for online connections — like zoom-rooms and cloud infrastructure — as mainstays of business, they also reignited the need for human connection and highlighted the value of knowing and trusting the person behind the screen. The more the tech firms advance in their evolutions, there is a growing need to create relationships clients can count on.
Kettering International is built on the truth that human connection creates business. We can search for information online, but we sign contracts with contacts. This attention to personal presence, more commonly called “boots on the ground,” reveals itself in several phases of our clients’ and tech firms’ U.S. market entry.
Building Bridges
First, Kettering takes an inventory and matches your marketability and desired targets to dive deeply into customer discovery. In our initial assessment, we ascertain which potential clients in which favorable markets — all based on our proven business processes — would work best for your initial phase of market rollout. This discovery also helps you to educate yourself on your potential and established client base to understand the customers you are serving.
Through our on-the-ground presence and network connections, we support you in servicing your lighthouse clients, helping maintain the relationship-care and connection necessary for growth. You cannot water a plant once, come back in a month and expect it to thrive. This law of nature applies to your international client base as well. And it’s why so many forward-thinking companies utilize Kettering’s ability to establish a working office — an onsite presence to nurture your relationships.
In creating a bridge between your tech firm and your customers, we also take into account the variants of personality needs for clients and match our support to the most robust and resonant connections possible. This attention to detail can go a long way, whether that is an in-person meeting or mindfully offering a zoom schedule on the client’s timezone rather than juggling time conversions across the miles.
Maximizing Your Time
These small care-takings also prime and focus your in-person visits. For example, when you fly over from Melbourne to have a C-level meeting, Kettering’s established point–of-contact ensures you are not walking in cold. We may curate these moments for and with you, offering pre, during, and post-visit engagement so you can reserve your focus for the tactical strategy and personal connection that will grow your mutually beneficial relationship.
What doesn’t happen is just as important: Your time doesn’t become a catch-all for every operational question that has gone unasked for a month. And, your customers aren’t left hanging when you fly back to Melbourne. With Kettering’s personal attendance, there is no service interruption. This reinforces the relationship and assures your customers that you are invested in the business.
We also practice what we preach. We take the time to learn where you are coming from and understand your core values, so we speak with your voice and your guidance to your clients, creating a seamless environment for your expansion to thrive and grow on U.S. soil.
Stability in the Unknown
When we do market assessments and journey into new expansion, we have to account for the unknown, meaning we have to plan our risk and investment in proportion to volatility and unpredictability. However, the last few years have brought in a new level of uncertainty. For example, limited travel availability or other restrictions were more than an inconvenience in the global marketplace. They disrupted established connection points and even revived the natural human need to interact with who and what is known, support local, and prioritize personal connection.
With Kettering International, no matter what the unknown serves up in travel unpredictability or other unforeseeable disruptions, we are already in the market you are looking to grow. We already have the proven practices to interface with customers in a way that creates contentment and fosters brand loyalty — to your company.
In an ever-changing world, growing enterprises like those in the tech sector benefit from nurturing the core values of serving the humans who use their software. Kettering will help you establish mutually beneficial relationships rooted in viable soil to weather any storm and still produce lavishly and lucratively.
Get the Kettering International Advantage
Schedule a strategy session to learn about our specialty in-market forecasting, knowledge of industry trends, and commitment to developing authentic relationships of success for our clients. With a heart for international business and building client profitability, Kettering strategizes to assist in your market expansion. We have the business development process to help lead your tech firm to a high-touch, successful U.S. market launch.