When considering where to take your company to, try to think differently to all of the other companies out there. Don’t jump for the easy route of heading straight to the US or an easy nearby market, for example from the UK to Ireland.

Home in on your options

Before you make a move, decide on your options. Does it make financial and logical sense to expand by city, country or by language?  If you’re looking to expand straight into another country over a city first, then take a private jet charter and talk to the locals. It’s imperative when expanding your business globally, to spend some time on the ground where you are wanting to set up base and speak to people who live and work there. You could look at all the data trends for your business sector in that country and analyse whether or not the market will suit your model, but nothing beats the invaluable insight of the people who reside there full time.

Prioritise the markets

There isn’t much point trying to jump into every single market that’s detailed in your statistics document. Think about what really matters to your business and what direction you’re heading in.

Is this new market as big as your home market or bigger? If the answer is no, then it’s meaningless expanding your business into this country, unless you have a strong reason. Are there similarities across markets? If you are a logistics or eCommerce business, the likelihood is that you’ll need established distribution hubs that cover most of Europe and beyond – make sure you check out factors like this before you make the move.

Can you get ahead of the local competition? When you head to your desired location and speak to the locals, get an idea of how established your competitors are. Are they start ups who you will have certain advantages over, or are they big conglomerates who may be hard to beat?

Leverage Partner and Channel Relationships

Working with your partners is a solid strategy when looking to expand globally. Maybe the distribution company you work with has its headquarters in your desired country or has a strong presence there. Keep your partners in the loop with your growth plans, you never know when you’ll need to lean on them for a greater insight and potential assistance as you drive your expansion forwards.

A third of Brits believe their partner is lying to them about how much money they spend. According to a survey conducted by Paymentsense on 2000 people in a relationship in the UK, people aren’t always honest to their partners about their spending habits.

Shockingly, 40% of women admit to lying to their partner about what they spend their money on, and how much they spend. However, it’s not always women that tell little white lies, 38% of men also admit to lying about money.

What the different genders lie about are quite different – 1 in 10 women lie about how much they spend on food and 23% of men have lied about how much they spend on alcohol. Throughout their relationship, men estimate they have lied about spending £73 on gambling and 1 in 20 men have admitted they have lied about spending money on strippers!

Women tend to be more trusting with their finances than men- almost a third of women admit their partner knows their chip and pin number and 43% say they trust their partner with their credit card. However, women are a bit sneakier than men. 16% of women admit they lie and say things were in sale so they can say purchases were cheaper than they were.

Does being in a relationship for longer mean you lie more or less?

Those who have been in a relationship for 4-7 years tend to lie to their partners about spending the most, and those who have been together 7 years+ lie the least. Quite worryingly, almost a third of people who have been in a relationship less than a year admit their partner knows their chip and pin, and 45% admit they trust their partner with their credit card. Only 46% of married people trust their partners with their credit cards.

The younger we are the more we lie about what we save, whether we save more than we say or less than we say – 30% of 18-24 year olds have lied about what they save. This age group are also the biggest fibbers when it comes to spending, 51% of this age group admit to lying to their partner. Almost 1 in 10 18-24 year olds admit to lying to their partner about how much they have spent on drugs, and 12% of 35-44 year olds have lied about how much they spend on nights out.

(Source: Paymentsense)