#12 Grow Fast, Grow Global - The International Digital Journey

Welcome to the twelfth extract in my series from my book 'Grow Fast, Grow Global: 6 steps to unstoppable international growth in the digital age'. Here's an extract from chapter four, educating you on the stages within everyone's international journey. 

During my work with hundreds and hundreds of companies, I have  observed that every business goes through the same journey when  preparing to sell online internationally. I’ve seen some companies take over 10 years to go through it, while others have done it within a year. I have a client who came to a seminar with me in 2008 and only started to update her website in 2016, with a view to generating leads and selling online to international customers in the future. Imagine all the sales she has lost over those 8 years – it breaks my heart! Another client came to me with a very good e-commerce website that was generating hundreds of thousands of pounds in online sales in the UK. They decided to launch their US website straight away, and within a year it had matched their UK site for sales, getting hundreds of thousands of pounds in dollars. That’s fast progress! 

In this extract, I’m going to show you the typical path a company takes when negotiating the journey to more international online sales. You will be able to recognise where you are and get yourself  ready to move forward to the next stage.  

I have looked at many companies who have succeeded and what they have done well. Generally, it comes down to being able to make swift, steady progress through these 8 key stages. I’ve also looked at companies who have not achieved the results they expected and the mistakes they have made. These often come down to inaction, doing things on the cheap and missing growth opportunities.

Where are you now on your international journey? 

Stage 1: Educate  

At this stage, you have a good business in your own country,  but you’ve not thought about making more of digital to grow  your business. Essentially, you’ve not thought about selling to  customers in other countries either. Actually, you are sceptical  about all things international or digital.

There are 8 distinct stages every company travels  through on their international digital journey. These are: Educate, Procrastinate, Deviate, Orientate,  Dedicate, Duplicate, Replicate and Proliferate.

How can you move up the international digital journey fast?

If you honestly want to expand your business internationally, then the first step is to acknowledge where you are on the journey. Ask  yourself how quickly you want to move along the international  journey. If you’re starting out, my Grow Global Method will take you through step by step what you need to do to get started. My dream  would be for you to start straight away at the Orientate stage after reading this book (so ticking off the Educate stage). This is so you can avoid the pain of the Procrastinate and Deviate stages and reap the rewards of more online international sales sooner, as you swiftly  move to Dedicate, Duplicate, Replicate and Proliferate, which is  where your business needs to be in this digital age.

If you can't wait and want to get your copy of Grow Fast, Grow Global to read at the weekend as paperback or Kindle, then buy online now. 

Happy reading!