Many of us join professional networks to feel more connected to our industry, our colleagues, and potential customers.
When it comes time to make a referral, seek advice, or enter into partnership however, we’re faced with the unpleasant realization that our feelings of connection may not translate to actually being connected.
Truly effective professional networks build strong connections by fostering and leveraging trust, and trust as it turns out, is not casually or quickly acquired with a few clicks.
Herein lies the pitfall of professional networks. The ease of assuming relationships with seemingly aligned professionals can sometimes provide a false sense of confidence in the level of trust and intimacy that actually exists.
Soft Land Partners, at its unique core, is a network designed to build and leverage trust–it’s fundamental to SLP’s mission. And for internationally scaling businesses, that translates to highly valuable referrals to market-entry professionals committed to assuring their success.
Why is trust so critical for market-entry companies? Two reasons:
1. Operating in a geographically distant and culturally foreign market makes it difficult to find, vet, and hire the best service providers. And sadly, there are just too many unqualified ones out there.
2. Scaling CEOs cannot (and should not) manage every aspect of market-entry themselves without in-country support. It’s simply a poor investment of time and resources to try and absorb and manage all these responsibilities.
For some added perspective, it’s helpful to think of other situations where the value of finding a trusted professional is uniquely high. Situations like buying a business. When a business is sold on Tuesday evening, at 11:59 PM, it has employees, vendors, customers, etc. At 12:01 AM on Wednesday when the new owner takes over, it has none of those resources.
Companies that are expanding globally and entering new markets have much the same challenge in that they need to make 100’s and sometimes 1,000’s of important decisions in a super compressed time-frame.
Essentially, given the acute and highly prized nature of the activity, the biggest decision most business acquirers have to make is selecting the right team of experts—finding competent people that they trust.
For companies entering new markets, little time and resources exist to make every decision that is necessary. The added factor of being geographically distant and culturally unfamiliar makes it challenging to find the right specialists who can assume these responsibilities.
Scaling firms need good strong networks—networks built on trust—to leverage for expert advice. This is the gap Soft Land Partners aims to fill and the call to action that motivates our members to engage with one another in a meaningful way. A way that builds real connection, and not just warm feelings.
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About Soft Land Partners
Soft Land Partners is a global consortium of professionals and organizations that specialize in helping international companies successfully enter and scale in new countries and markets. To learn more, visit us at www.softlandpartners.com or send us an email with any questions.