Pirjo Tuomi, an experienced Finnish saleswoman who's worked in the U.S. for the past 16 years, presented her experiences and tips for Building and Managing a Successful Sales Team in the US Market in Verso Software Sales Camp last week (see our previous post from the event). Pirjo has long experience from U.S. B2B sales, positions from Sales Rep to SVP Worldwide Sales, going through 5 M&A's and 1 IPO, growing a firm from zero to $250M in revenues and up to 120 team size, among other things. In the following, I will also reflect points from Jussi Harvela's presentation.

First of all, Pirjo stated the U.S. market is obviously vast and hugely competitive. Local sales presence and sales support is crucial. For getting the first reference customers, you should look to work very closely with them, developing the product together, and building and managing the expectations.

One clear potentially differentiating point repeated by both Jussi and Pirjo is urgency - the business culture in the U.S. is used to focus solely on particular initiatives and getting them worked out in due course. For example in Finland a lot happens in "multi-tasking" mode and thus takes more calendar time. If you don't follow up the next day (or same day) after your meeting, you may have to start all over in two weeks when you get back with the material you promised to deliver. So, when you are pushing a deal forward, do not let your grip soften - you will need to follow up constantly. "Do it yesterday!" is the mantra, as Pirjo stated. However, this does not mean that you would be able to score deals with major corporations in less than six months, it does take time to go through all the necessary steps.

Another point to consider is the fierce competition. Pirjo emphasized you can be sure the deal is not "in the bag" until the shipment has been made and you have received the payment. The competition intensifies the closer you get to finalizing a deal, and you can be sure if there is an existing provider, they will use all possible means and tricks to just try to keep their business with the customer.

Winning the first deal is crucial, and will require special effort and perhaps special arrangements like discounts and/or on-site engineering support commitment. The entire firm needs to be focused on the deal. Titles are sometimes important and thus CEO should participate in the sales process as well as needed.

To enter the U.S. market, Pirjo explained that as an entry requirement the firm should look to reserve minimum $1-2 million investment. Establishing the sales and the support organization, legal entity, starting basic marketing and establishing awareness, and tailoring the product to the U.S. market will take time. Furthermore, depending on your deal size and the customer organization size, closing the first sales could take anywhere from 6-12 months or more. It will likely take 2-4 years to reach $5+ million in sales, Pirjo argued.