Languages in business expansion planning

What is the language of business? There is no single language for closing deals, making business contacts or communicating effectively with customers. If business expansion planning has a global focus, the strategy must consider multilingualism as a key attribute for achieving objectives.

It doesn’t matter whether the goal is to drive product sales in a new region or to bring the business to a global audience. For the message to get through, it must be written or spoken in the target audience’s native language.

Although for some language is a barrier (“64% of companies report that language and cultural differences limit their expansion plans,” according to The Economist), there are those who have already discovered that languages are in fact a valuable opportunity.

Why is business expansion planning important?

The preparation of operations determines their outcome and, in this regard, business expansion planning is the best way to support the international deployment of the business.

This planning takes into account different aspects with a common goal: to improve brand visibility and make products and services available to a wider audience. But for prospects to visit the corporate or ecommerce website, for the conversion to take place and for its effect to be noticed on sales, communication has to be worked on.

The internationalization plan brings together all the strategies to be applied by different but complementary areas of the business. Production, logistics, marketing and sales are interrelated and planning should be centralized to avoid silos and move forward as one, in a synchronized fashion. This maxim also applies to the message to be communicated, both inside and outside the business.

Business expansion planning must take account of:

• the different regions in which activities will be carried out and the market and competition in each of them.
• their language and culture, as well as the demographics of the target audience.
• the business areas that will be involved in the operations and the personnel involved in the different processes, which can sometimes be local.

The globalized economy holds out the promise of significant gains, but knowing how to be accessible and making sure certain products and services are available is a priority (this includes everything from proper inventory management to a website adapted to the local language and an after-sales service with native agents).

Planning makes it easier to establish priorities and allocate resources to optimize the process of expanding the business to new frontiers.

What are the benefits of global expansion?

Access to a global customer base, brand presence in new markets and business growth are the three most important benefits of a global presence.

In addition to these advantages, there are those of having an international talent network since each market is home to workers with unique skill sets, which overseas expansion allows the business to leverage.

Taking the step to internationalize is also an excellent way to reduce operating costs and move towards a stronger positioning, leaving the competition behind.

Languages: a business opportunity

Languages are a source of opportunity for companies that want to establish themselves beyond their national borders. To take advantage of their benefits, however, business expansion planning should take into account that although languages can be integrated into operations using different approaches a holistic vision should always be prioritized, one that allows aligning:

•  the native speech of local sales reps;
• labels for and technical information about the product or service;
•  digital marketing communications;
•  the message conveyed by the corporate website;
•  publications in social media and
•  interactions with customer service.

The tools used must make it easier to optimize all these activities in pursuit of greater efficiency. According to a recent report, language and communication skills are at the top of the list of experience needed for international success. The study says that “international communication skills improve revenues by 89%, profits by 85% and market share by 85%.”

Language is the most essential tool for global expansion. Why pass up that opportunity? SeproTec Multilingual Solutions brings over 25 years of experience working with more than 750 language combinations to the table. You choose the language you want to use: Let’s talk.