"We need to enter Spain. Let's hire a sales rep in Madrid."
I've heard this sentence — or variations of it — more times than I can count. And every time, I think the same thing: you're about to spend nine months and $500K to learn what I could tell you in 15 minutes.
Market entry is not a sales problem. It's a systems problem. And treating it like a sales problem is why most market entries fail.
Why the "hire a rep" approach fails
I've been the person they hired. At IBM, I was sent into new territories. At Unisys, I built regional operations from scratch. At Huawei, I opened markets across Mexico and LATAM. And every time, the pattern was the same:
The company hires a sales rep. The rep is talented. They work hard. But within 90 days, they're spending most of their time not selling — they're fighting internal battles. Legal can't produce a contract that works in the local jurisdiction. Finance doesn't know how to handle local tax requirements. Marketing has no localized materials. Support has no coverage in the timezone.
The rep isn't failing. The company sent a soldier to war without logistics.
What market entry actually requires
Expanding Femsa/Oxxo from 7,000 to 15,000 stores taught me something that applies to every market entry: the sales motion is the last 10% of the work. The first 90% is infrastructure.
Here's what that infrastructure looks like:
Legal and compliance. Can you actually operate in this country? Do you have a local entity? Can you sign contracts that are enforceable? Can you hire employees compliantly? If the answer to any of these is "we'll figure it out when we get there," you're not ready.
Operational readiness. Can you deliver your product or service in this market? Do you have local payment processing? Can you invoice in local currency? Do you have support coverage in the right timezone and language? Can you handle returns, refunds, and disputes under local law?
Channel and partnership strategy. Who are you selling through? Direct works for some markets and some products. But in most international markets — especially in LATAM and Southern Europe — partners are not optional. They're the difference between a market entry that takes 3 years and one that takes 9 months.
Market positioning. What you sell in your home market may not be what you sell in the new market. The value proposition might be different. The competitive set is definitely different. The price point is almost certainly different. If you're entering Spain with the same pitch you use in Mexico City, you're going to have a problem.
The system before the seller
The right approach is simple, but most companies won't do it because it feels slow:
Before you hire a salesperson, spend 60 days building the operational foundation. Establish the legal entity. Set up local payment processing. Identify 3-5 channel partners. Localize your top marketing assets. Map the competitive landscape. Define the pricing.
Then hire the salesperson. They'll spend their first 90 days actually selling — instead of fighting internal systems that weren't built for their market.
The economics
The "hire a rep first" approach typically costs $400K-$600K in the first year (salary, benefits, ramp time, lost opportunities) and generates little revenue. The "build the system first" approach costs $100K-$150K in setup and infrastructure — and the salesperson you hire afterward generates revenue in month 3 instead of month 12.
Market entry is an investment in infrastructure, not in headcount. The companies that understand this don't just enter markets. They scale in them.