5 Tips for Building a Successful Business Away From HQ
With many of the Sales Confidence community working in Europe for US companies, we thought we’d ask Anup Khera to give us some tips for building your business outside of HQ. Let’s find out more.
In March 2022, we finally got to stage our first in-person Sales Confidence event of the year. It was brilliant to see so many revenue leaders sharing knowledge, networking and enjoying themselves again at the stunning Andaz Hotel.
We’ve put together some articles based on the events’ talks, so even if you couldn’t be there, you can still get inspired.
Anup Khera
Anup is GM, International at Attentive – the leading text message marketing solution.
Attentive is headquartered in New York, but Anup is based here in the UK. Over the years, Anup has gathered a lot of experience growing successful SaaS businesses outside of HQ. In his 7-minute talk, he shared five tips on doing it well.
‘There’s an expectation that 30% of revenue will come from Europe at IPO. Median ARR for companies that are IPOing at the moment is around $280 million. That means as leaders in this region, we’re expected to grow our business to $80 million. That’s a tough gig!’
1. Get executive buy-in (and keep it)
Getting executive buy-in is actually the easy bit. After all, they hired you! The hard part is keeping it. CEOs are busy people, and there are many other people in your organisation going to them with new ideas and asking for budget. How do you stay front of mind?
The best way is to tie your goals to your CEO’s goals. Make what’s important to your CEO important to you. Look at your company OKRs and make sure your goals match them and contribute to them.
2. Don’t try to do it all
Keep it simple. You can’t do it all straight away. Start by focusing on mastering one or two verticals or use cases. Repetition makes you better, so the more you sell into those markets, the more success you’ll achieve. You’ll also understand what works and what doesn’t.
3. Spend time only on things that move the needle
You have big goals and time is precious. When you’re building a new business in a new region, you have to focus only on what matters. If you’re invited to a meeting, ask yourself if you really need to be there. If not, decline it. You can’t afford to be held back by internal stuff.
Spending time with your people is the thing that will move the needle the most. It builds a culture and boosts trust. Look after your people, and they’ll look after the number.
4. Focus on the metrics that matter
One of the advantages you have when taking an existing business into a new territory is that you already know what good looks like. They worked it out in the US long before you got there. Use those benchmarks to get a handle on your business.
However, don’t overload yourself with data. Some numbers matter more than others. A great metric to focus on is sales efficiency per AE. It allows you to concentrate on the right areas to improve performance.
5. Make time to stop and reflect
You’re doing a really tough job, so don’t go at one million miles per hour and burn yourself out. Instead, take time to evaluate how things are going and correct your course if you need to.
Over to you
I hope Anup’s tips help you when growing revenue away from HQ.
Now, we want to know what you think. What are your tips for success when expanding a company’s footprint into new territories? What worked for you?
Share your stories with the Sales Confidence community by leaving a comment below.