How to Launch a New Product to New Markets: Five Tips That Worked for Us
The first product we made was a mobile app for dealership chains’ customers. It was a kind of constructor that allowed the dealer to build a mobile app and get onto the App Store and Google Play fast and also allowed the end user to communicate with the dealer by maintenance, news, and tech support tickets. We covered the mobile marketing for the dealer. Then we started thinking about customer retention. Because it would be awesome if this mobile app told them about what was going on with their cars. That’s how we came to the story called “The Connected Car.” Since then, this solution has become the core of our business.
The first competitive advantage when releasing a product and company on a new market is to become a turnkey solution provider for your customers. This means providing them with both technology and service. It’s important not to just give them a product or part of a product and tell them to implement it themselves. That’s why we act as a single window for our clients and take full responsibility for the end result. This is what wins clients over. If you’ve ever had to deal with a repair or renovation project, you know what I’m talking about. Finding a contractor who is genuinely willing to do it all is very difficult. But clients are willing to pay to avoid inconvenience, and they’ll almost always choose the supplier with the least hassle.
What did we try to do when we broke into the Western European market? The first thing we did was focus on marketing. Conferences and forums are really important in Europe, so at the beginning of our way, we used to attend 40 of them a year. Conferences are events where people go to find suppliers or customers, and they have time to chat. In general, you can talk to 20 or 30 potential clients at a single conference. At our first industry conference, in Amsterdam, we drove up in a car equipped with our technology. And, by the way, due to the car that we met a potential partner from the Middle Eastern market. We later ended up going there and putting together a list of potential clients.
When making contact with a potential client, it’s important to get feedback on a regular basis. That’s what we did, as we modified our sales pitch based on it. After a few unsuccessful sales attempts, we realized what clients value most of all, and started emphasizing that.
You can start working like a big corporation, open an office, and wait for a client. But, based on our experience, I can tell you that this isn’t the way to go. Open an office once you have a contract. We didn’t open an office in the United Arab Emirates until we’d signed two contracts. It wasn’t until we understood what we could sell on this market that we started investing in marketing and building a team. I should note that there aren’t many conferences in the Middle East. Personal contact is an important sales resource there. And, the UAE is the fastest country when it comes to making decisions about deals.
We always try to find partners when working in new markets. Sure, they’ll absolutely reduce your pure revenue from deals, and demand resources from you in terms of support. But they can also tell you what to do and how to change your product in order to get it to sell better on the new market. This is a lot less expensive in the long run than breaking into a market on your own without any expertise. Our example here is our partner Microsoft, which has developed its partner network so well that it barely sells its own products at all.
Now the world sells about 80 million cars a year with the penetration of connected car-technology 15%. We have so much room to grow. And, we still have a way to go.
