The Challenges of sellling in a new territory

Upfront Investment: Expanding into a new territory costs a minimum of $500K per annum in recruitment, salaries, office space, local operation, marcom, legal etc...

Recruiting Talents: Recruiting top salesmen is extremely difficult and expensive. Without good local knowledge, the chances of recruiting the wrong candidate are very high, resulting in loss of substantial financial resources and valuable time to market.

Localization and Legislation: Learning and understanding the cultural differences, local languages, local regulations, taxes structures, local laws etc...

Timeline to create traction and success:
  6-9 months for ramping up
  6-12 months to win key reference accounts
  18-24 months to build a robust pipeline
  24 months to sell via indirect channels

Failing is too risky:
  "Expensive" money invested
  Valuable time-to-market lost
  No guarantee of success
  Too many cross-linked variables

Selling in a Global Crisis:
  Internal resources for global expansion are limited
  Flat or positive growth expected even during the crisis
  Global IT spending is shrinking
  Financial resources are invested in the most profitable places & markets