Your Market Expansion Strategy Is Probably Trash (And Here's Why)

Look, I'm gonna be real with you for a second.

You know that moment when you're sitting in a strategy meeting, someone pulls up a PowerPoint about "expanding into new markets," and everybody nods along like we're all about to crack the Da Vinci Code?

Yeah, that's the exact moment your company is about to light a pile of money on fire.

The Lie We Tell Ourselves

We've convinced ourselves that entering new markets is plug-and-play. Load up the AI tools, run some automation, copy-paste your winning strategy from Market A into Market B, and boom—explosive growth, baby!

Except... California to New York isn't even the same damn country when it comes to customer behavior. Different weather. Different laws. Different buying patterns. Same dollar bill, completely different humans holding it.

And here's the kicker: We forgot about the second human in the equation.

That's the brilliant way my guest David Solomon—fractional CRO and the guy who actually helps SMBs not faceplant when entering new markets—puts it. You're so obsessed with your product, your pitch, your positioning that you forgot to ask the person on the receiving end: "Hey, do you actually have this problem? And do we solve it in a way that matters to YOU?"

The Three Questions That Will Save Your Arse

Before you start throwing money at LinkedIn ads in a new geography, David says you need to answer three brutally simple questions:

1. Does this market actually need what you're selling right now? (Not what you think they need. What they ACTUALLY need.)

2. Is your solution unique enough that competitors aren't already crushing it? (And no, "we're 10% cheaper" doesn't count as unique—anybody can race to the bottom.)

3. Is your ideal customer in this new market the same type of person as your current customer? (Because if they're not, congrats—you're starting from scratch on messaging, positioning, and trust-building.)

Notice what's missing from that list? Your gut feeling. Your brilliant hypothesis. Your CEO's vision quest after reading Zero to One on a flight.

VALIDATION. You need actual human beings confirming that what you think is true... is true.

We're Too Scared to Talk to Customers

Here's the uncomfortable truth that came out in our conversation: Most companies are actually AFRAID to validate their assumptions with real customers.

Why? Because what if we're wrong? What if they tell us our "unique value proposition" is actually just table stakes? What if—God forbid—we have to change our approach based on actual market feedback instead of our beautiful 47-slide deck?

So instead, we send out some generic survey (that people fill out with the logical part of their brain, not the part that actually makes buying decisions), call it "customer research," and march confidently into a new market like we're planting a flag on the moon.

Spoiler: The moon has no atmosphere, and neither does your market expansion strategy when it's not grounded in reality.

The Jeff Immelt Principle (Or: Get Your Arse on a Plane)

David dropped this gem: Jeff Immelt, when he took over GE from Jack Welch, went and visited their BEST customers. Not an email campaign. Not a Zoom call. Got on a plane. Showed up in person.

If the CEO of a massive conglomerate has time for that, you sure as hell do too.

But we don't, do we? We buy a list. Load it into our CRM. Blast out templated emails. Wonder why we're getting unsubscribed at a rate that would make a spam filter blush.

Human to human beats machine to machine every single time.

When you show up in person—in their neighborhood, on their turf—you're saying "I actually give a shaet about understanding you." You're building trust. You're getting referrals and that magical transfer of credibility that no amount of "As seen in TechCrunch!" badges can replicate.

Target Canada: A Cautionary Tale for the Ages

Remember when Target came to Canada and thought, "We're Target! We're amazing in the U.S.! Canadians will love us!"?

They were bankrupt in 18-24 months.

Your reputation in your current market means jack squat in a new one. You're not the incumbent. Someone else owns that market's trust. And trust me (pun intended), they're not just gonna hand over the keys because you showed up with a fancy logo and some VC money.

You have to EARN it. Market by market. Human by human. Conversation by conversation.

The Real Cost of Faking It

Here's what nobody tells you about failed market expansion: It's not just the money you waste. It's the opportunity cost. The distraction. The team morale hit when they realize leadership drove them off a cliff based on assumptions we were too arrogant to validate.

It's the three years you spent trying to make a square peg fit a round hole when you could've been dominating in a market that actually wanted what you're selling.

So What Do You Actually Do?

Stop treating market expansion like a growth hack. Start treating it like what it is: entering into new relationships with new humans who have different problems, contexts, and needs.

Talk to customers—REAL conversations, not SurveyMonkey bullshaet. Validate your three core assumptions. Get on a plane. Show up at industry events. Let your prospects see that you're not checking your phone while they're talking. Build relationships before you build revenue.

And for the love of all that is holy, involve your CEO and leadership team in this process. Not just at the "strategy meeting" level. At the "we're getting on planes and meeting people" level.

Because in an increasingly automated, AI-powered, digital-everything world, the companies that win are the ones that remember: We're still doing business with HUMANS.

Not machines. Not email addresses. Not "decision-makers in the 50-250 employee segment."

Humans.

Watch my full conversation with David Solomon where we dive deeper into the psychology of market expansion, why your customers aren't telling you the truth in surveys, and how to actually build trust in new markets without burning through your entire budget on ads that don't convert.

Because your next market move is either going to be the smartest thing you've ever done, or the most expensive lesson you've ever learned.

Your call.

P.S. — If your "market research" consists of your sales VP saying "I have a good feeling about this market" and your CMO nodding along because they want the meeting to end... you're not doing market research. You're doing wishful thinking with a budget attached. David and I talked about this for almost 20 minutes and I still don't think we scared you enough. The graveyard of failed market expansions is FULL of companies that were successful in their first market. Don't be Target Canada. Do the work. Talk to humans. And maybe, just maybe, you'll actually build something that lasts.

Karl Pontau hosts The Human Connection Podcast, where we talk about the stuff that actually matters in business: the humans running it. Because whether you're B2B or B2C, it's really H2H, human to human. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode where we probably say something that'll make your HR department uncomfortable.