Doing Business in the USA
The
U.S. is essentially a nation of immigrants. It is a culturally diverse
country. Stop and look at passers-by in any major city and you will see that
this is a 'melting pot' where people of all ethnic origins live. Most
Americans will tell you that their family originally came from another
country and many of these ethnic groups retain pride in their old cultures
and habits, integrating them into American society.
Most people who come to the country already know a few things about
Americans, mainly via Hollywood and music. Although this is a skewed view
some of the stereotypes are accurate. For example, American friendliness and
informality is legendary. People will not wait to be introduced and will
even begin to speak with strangers as they stand in a line, sit next to each
other at an event, or gather in a crowd.
Communication Style
Americans are direct in the way they communicate. They value logic and
linear thinking and expect people to speak clearly and in a straightforward
manner. Time is money in the U.S. so people tend to get to the point quickly
and are annoyed by beating around the bush. Communicating virtually (i.e.
through email, SMS, Skype, etc) is very common with very little protocol or
formality in the interaction. If you are from a culture that is more subtle
in communication style, try not to be insulted by the directness.
Business meetings
Arrive on time for meetings since time and punctuality are important. In the
Northeast and Midwest, people are extremely punctual and view it as a sign
of disrespect for someone to be late for a meeting or appointment. In the
Southern and Western states, people may be a little more relaxed, but to be
safe, always arrive on time, although you may have to wait a little before
your meeting begins. Meetings may appear relaxed, but they are taken quite
seriously. With the emphasis on controlling time, business is conducted
rapidly. Expect very little small talk before getting down to business. If
there is an agenda, it will be followed. At the conclusion of the meeting,
there will be a summary of what was decided, a list of who will implement
which facets and a list of the next steps to be taken and by whom. It is
common to attempt to reach an oral agreement at the first meeting. The
emphasis is on getting a contract signed rather than building a
relationship. The relationship may develop once the first contract has been
signed.
Business etiquette
American businesspeople are generally less formal than in many other
countries. There are few hard and fast rules; the way in which you deal with
American business colleagues will depend on the individual.
Business Dress
* What is considered appropriate business attire varies by geographic
region, day of the week and industry.
* In general, people in the East dress more formally, while people in the
West are known for being informal.
* Executives usually dress formally regardless of which part of the country
they are in. Casual Friday is common in many companies. High technology
companies often wear casual clothes every day.
* For an initial meeting, dressing conservatively is always in good taste.
Women can wear business suits or dresses. Men should wear a business suit
unless you know the firm to be quite casual.
Greetings
* The hand shake is the common greeting.
* Handshakes are firm, brief and confident.
* Maintain eye contact during the greeting.
Titles
* In most situations, you can begin calling people by their first names.
* Most people will insist that you call them by their nickname, if they have
one.
* In formal circumstances, you may want to use titles and surnames as a
courtesy until you are invited to move to a first name basis, which will
happen quickly.
Business Cards
* Business cards are exchanged without formal ritual.
* It is quite common for the recipient to put your card in their wallet,
which may then go in the back pocket of their trousers. This is not an
insult.
* Inviting your business associates out for a meal is a nice gift.
Business Entertaining
* Business breakfasts are common.
* Business lunches are common and may last two hours.
* The person extending the invitation usually pays.
* Business is usually not discussed until everyone has ordered their meal.
* Socialising occurs more often after business is concluded. Business
entertaining is not to develop a personal relationship.
* Business entertaining is as varied as the country. It can be in the form
of cocktail parties, golf games, barbecues, formal or casual dinners.
* Do not take a sip of your drink until the host makes the first toast.
* If you are hosting the meal, make payment arrangements in order to avoid
haggling over the check.
* Spouses may be included in business dinners.
* If the host offers a toast to you, be sure to reciprocate later in the
meal.
Your Office in the United States
Your office in the United States will be your major environment for the
largest portion of the near-future working life of the on-site staff. It is
worth investing time and resources to plan and create the ideal workspace
which fits your needs best. Before making any decisions about your USA
office, you should first determine your actual requirements and figure out
what purpose(s) your office should serve.
"A man who has no office to go - I don't care who he is
- is a trial of which you can have no conception."
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
Determining the purpose(s) of your USA office
No two businesses are alike. Therefore different businesses may require
completely different office concepts. To determine the right USA office
concept for you, we simply make a list of the actual day-to-day activities
which are going to take place in the office. Getting an abstract view about
typical tasks will help you to make better choices between the available
office concepts. Some businesses entering the American market may need their
USA office mainly for representation and welcoming customers. Others may
simply want "a good address" for their business. Some may just need a desk
for their desktop computer in a quiet environment.
After we compiled the list of tasks, we may want to add the importance of
each task for the business in form of priorities which again depend
completely on your individual requirements and sometimes personal taste.
If for example representation is the highest priority issue, you may want to
invest in a fancy downtown office in Central New York City with a
professional looking receptionist. On the other hand, if your clients visit
you only a couple of times you can probably be better off with a regular
office in an office park at the outskirts of a city. You do not expect any
clients coming to you at all? Maybe a home office is just fine. Bottom line,
your office will always be a compromise and include the weighing of
different factors. The ideal office will be the one where most of your
"musts" and "wants" are included for an acceptable price.
So, after you have a clear picture of what features your future office
should have, let"s think about some basic options.
Which concept for the USA business? The "standard answer" for new
businesses coming to the United States
When seeking advice on how to get a physical office established in a foreign
country, you are often getting the following answer: "A serviced office
concept is the way to go. You are up and running within a couple of days and
have the highest flexibility for a fair price". Getting your business
established with a serviced office is often a typical mainstream solution
and if you are eager on not making any mistakes (what can be wrong about
something everybody else is doing?), maybe you ought to go with that
concept. As right as the option of a serviced office could be, it could be
as wrong and budget-burning at the same time. Do not fall into the trap of
ignoring the alternatives, which are quite attractive, too.
Are serviced offices they the right choice for the doing business in
America?
Serviced offices are ready-to-run offices - mainly in large buildings at
attractive business location - where everything is already in place. With
moving in, you get your telephone number, your Internet connection, a street
address, access to conference rooms, a receptionist welcoming your visitors
and taking your calls and so on.
You should definitely visit some of those serviced office locations, make
yourself a picture about the offerings and get a price list for their
services. Those companies are usually charging a monthly base price for the
office and additional fees if you access certain services like conference
rooms, training facilities, and copy machines and so on. At first, those
charges look very reasonable, but do not forget to look into the fine-prints
of the contracts: some of those facilities charge you for example hourly
"air conditioning fees" or if you are working longer than 5.30 pm in the
evening. Many of those details will add up in the long-term and the
bottom-line costs may be much more than anticipated. When choosing a
serviced office, you should be aware that you may not have the flexibility
to select a different Internet provider and/or telephone company and
therefore are also stuck with their pricing models.
Pro's and Con's of serviced offices for doing business in America
A serviced office is a great option to get started, but is almost always a
temporary solution until investing in an own office. The main advantages
are:
§
Very quick time-to market
§
Almost eliminates setup time
§
Expansion possibilities within the same building
§
Potentially less initial investment
On the other hand, you may face the following disadvantage of a Serviced
Office in the United States:
§
Almost always a temporary solution
§
Inflexibility in choosing service provider
§
The lack of an own office is obvious to visitors
§
Long terms service contracts
§
High ongoing investments (monthly cost)
What to do?
The question of having your own USA office or going with a serviced office
concept is a traditional make-or-buy decision. The main criteria is often
the initial costs and timely resources you have to invest do upfront. An own
office has higher initial costs but much lower monthly costs and more
flexibility. By comparing the two options from various perspectives
including costs, you can easily find out what suits you better.
Getting started with your new company in the United States
Leaving your homeland behind and diving into a new culture is offering some
tremendous experiences. Combining this personal experience with starting a
business in the United States is even more exciting. Some of your
experiences may be pretty exciting; some others may be from a rather
challenging nature. However, from an immigrant's perspective you will be
able to learn unique viewpoints on the American culture and gain astonishing
abilities to reflect on your own belief systems.
USA Market Entry - Information Overload
When planning the USA Market Entry for your American business, you may just
loaded your plate with a serious research project. Over the next couple of
months you need to obtain, filter and handle information very efficient in
order to be successful with your USA market entry. In addition you also need
to continuously revise data, structure and re-structure the data you
collect, as well as assign different priorities where to put more or less
focus on. The huge amount of information which is available for USA markets
combined with the lack of knowledge what may be relevant or not, can turn
into some frustrating moments. Sometimes this may seems to feel like trying
to drink water out of a water hose. However, "too much" information is not
the worst problem to have.
Setting Goals for your USA Market Entry
Before investing a large portion of your valuable time in performing random
research, you should start your Market Entry project by defining specific
objectives and definite goals. While uncoordinated research may help you to
step over the one or the other interesting point, the main part of the
research project should be more focused.
An important part of the overall planning process to get your USA company
started is to write down goals. Persons who are the most successful in
realizing the most challenging projects are typically those who have written
goals. Entering a market of the size of the U.S. market is for sure a
challenging project and thus requires a laser-sharp focus on what needs to
be done when. Most people in charge for the U.S. Market Entry bring enough
personal energy, motivation and knowledge for the Market Entry with them.
This should be combined with a sharp focus to be effective in reaching the
right objectives in the right timeline. A written plan is a great help with
that.
Developing a Written Business Plan for the USA Market Entry
The word "business plan" got a lot of attention by mainstream media outlets
in the late 90s during the height of the Internet "gold rush period". Many
believed that a simple 25 page document could bring in an unlimited amount
of venture capital and get any Internet business jump-started. This actually
worked pretty well for a short period of time. However, all the positive
attention to business plans partly turned into negative attention when the
gold rush period ended and thus diluted the original meaning of business
plans. Today, business plans came back to their original plain purpose:
describing in detail the concept of a business, its prospected environment,
objectives, required resources and projected revenues. Not more and not
less.
One of the greatest potential benefits of a written business plan is that it
enables its respective author to systematically structure an overall venture
- in our case the project of successfully starting your business in the USA.
The overall American Market Entry project could take up rather big
dimensions and gets pretty complex and challenging. In addition, it
typically comes with only limited resources. In this situation, you will
need to be double effective, extra-focused and execute certain strategies
with precision. A written plan offers great support to launch your USA
business.
Determining USA Market Entry Challenges and Opportunities
After locating and researching a variety of information sources and
collecting useful USA market data, you should get clear about your
competitive advantages and potential challenges in order to implement a
successful Market Entry Strategy for your future USA company. Some of the
obstacles you could face when starting your business in the United States
are listed in the following list of typical Market Entry challenges:
§
Language
Challenge: American
English is not everyone's mother tongue. Even with good language skills and
fluent English, there are potential communication hurdles in the first
couple of months when operating your USA business. It is important to adapt
to the American English language with appropriate vocabulary, grammar,
pronunciation and style while matching the American business etiquette in
day-to-day business conversation. The only way of overcoming the language
challenge is to train it as much as possible. In a country where everybody
speaks American English, there shouldn't be any difficulties to find enough
training partners.
§
Cultural Challenge: Cultural
differences are probably the hardest challenges and need the longest time to
be overcome. A cultural "outsider" coming to the USA and doing business is
having typically a complete different cultural background and the social
etiquette and USA business manners are not familiar. The effect of lack of
cultural understanding is often that a lot of ideas and decisions could be
based on wrong assumptions.
§
Market Challenge: You
probably know very well how your specific market works in your home country.
However, there is often only limited knowledge about how the same market
eco-system will work in the USA for your future business. Maybe it works
exactly the same? Maybe the market works completely different in the United
States? Knowing and understanding local USA market mechanisms will be a
necessity to be successful.
§
Organizational
Challenge: You
could face the situation that you are not only competing in an environment
which is not known very well, but also with an organization which has some
potential challenges in comparison to local U.S.-competitors. There are
maybe only limited personnel resources in the start-up phase available and
competitors may have tenfolds or hundredfolds the number of local people and
a far advanced organization.
§
Geographical Challenge: Overcoming
the large geographic dimensions of the USA market can be another challenge
which needs to be dealt with. Remember that the United States is not only a
country, but an entire continent.
The exciting part about any challenge is the fact, that challenges usually
have many positive aspects, too. Being in the situation as the "USA market
challenger", you should think about, how you could turn your challenges into
competitive advantages. Even if it is hard to believe - but your biggest
challenge can be the greatest competitive advantage! Not only that the best
strategy to overcome any weaknesses is to turn them into an advantage and
selling point: The fact that you are from a different culture with a
completely different thinking pattern and mindset can give you the greatest
possible competitive edge over established market players.
Your USA Market Entry Project - Are we any further now?
Maybe you think that you are still at the same spot after reading this
article where you were before. There is a huge amount of information out
there and you probably don't know where to start. However, the bottom-line
message of this article is that you need to set objectives for your market
entry and structure your planning process in order to get your project on a
solid foundation. Structuring data and theoretical planning is probably not
as exciting as meeting new customers in the USA, launching USA Marketing
Campaigns or present your exciting products. However, you will greatly
benefit from a solid planning later in the process.
Shipping Mail Pieces in the United States
Most of us are well aware of the distinctive shipping boxes from FedEx.
Others are constantly seeing the typical brown-colored UPS trucks driving
around all over town. Especially FedEx got a boost in attention since the
U.S. movie "Cast Away" came out in the year 2000. In this movie Tom Hanks
plays a FedEx executive who is delivering his FedEx boxes some years too
late due to various circumstances.
How is this whole system of shipping mail pieces and parcels around the USA
working? Since shipping is an important aspect of doing business, it is
worth some minutes to have a closer look at it. Anybody coming from another
country and starting a new business in the USA may needs a while to get used
to the new abbreviations, procedures and techniques which are involved in
the simple talks of sending a piece of mail.
What are the main shipping suppliers in the USA?
The main players for (expedited) shipping services in the United States are
DHL (DHL Worldwide Express; DHL took over U.S. Airborne Express in 2003),
FedEx (Federal Express), UPS (United Parcel Service) and of course USPS -
the United States Postal Service. Let's start with having a look at how the
major players split up the USA market in regards to expedited shipping:
All of those companies are offering a variety of shipping services which can
range from a "next day delivery almost anywhere to the USA" to deliveries
taking a couple of business days or two weeks; all depending on the price
you are willing to pay.
USA Shipping: The Standard Address Format
The very basic requirement of shipping any mail pieces is of course a valid
address. For newcomers it is important to understand the standard USA
address format which includes the name of the organization, the name of the
recipient, street number and name, ZIP code, city and state as seen in the
following example:
Shipping mail pieces with DHL, FedEx and UPS in the USA
Everything in regards to shipping in the United States seems to be easy and
straight-forward. Unless you do it for the first time. In order to be able
work with USA Shipping Suppliers such as FedEx, DHL or UPS, there are a
variety of options on how to get started. Shipping mail pieces in the USA
can be done by simply stopping by at one of their outlets in person, filling
out a small form for every mail piece and ship it off. Locations can be
found on the following websites:
However, manually filling out forms and investing at least 20 minutes time
to drive back and forth is not a very effective way. Part of using a
expedited services is that it is meant to be much more convenient. Any of
the three express shipping companies are offering a free pickup for most
locations. That means that you can simply fill out an online form at your
computer, print out a shipping label and arrange a pick-up from your office
online. Then, e.g. the UPS driver is stopping by your office, picks up the
shipment and you never left your desk the whole time. In order to have the
convenience to create shipments online, it is necessary to open an account
with the respective company. This can either be done on their websites or in
person by visiting one of their outlets which are available in the thousands
all over the country.
Opening and maintaining an shipping account for expedited USA shipping is
typically free. The same applies to the shipping boxes and shipping
materials. Costs for the process of shipping itself starts usually at around
$9 - $11 for a two days shipping within the USA (e.g. two days "express
saver" from FedEx for a box weighing one pound) or around $25-$35 for a next
day delivery. The detailed shipping cost are varying and depending on
factors like weight, distance, residual or commercial recipient and of
course the desired delivery time.
Almost all expedited USA shipping services are offering a "tracking number",
with which the exact position of any mail piece can be tracked at any time
via the company's website. In addition, delivery confirmation and guaranteed
delivery times are part of the standard services. A delivery confirmation by
e-mail is almost always included, too.
Working with the United States Postal Services
The "good old" USPS is of course another way to ship mail pieces around the
USA. Especially for standard mail, there is no need for a $10 per piece
confirmed delivery with tracking number. The USPS does by the way offer
those express services, too.
USPS is a very common way to send and receive letters and packages. For
outgoing mail, it is usually not necessary to go to the post office in
person: outgoing mail is picked up from the exact location where the
incoming mail is delivered. All outgoing mail simply needs to be put in the
outgoing mail tray and is automatically picked up and delivered.
There are some additional options and points of interest when working with
the USPS:
§
ZIP+4-Codes: In addition to the standard
5-digit ZIP code, the USPS offers an additional 4 digits code to narrow the
recipient's locations further. Working with those additional four digits is
completely optional. However, using the additional code can sometimes
dramatically speed up the delivery process of your mail. The USPS offers
free online access to a special database and everybody can look up the
additional 4 digits on the USPS
ZIP Code Lookup Service
§
Barcodes: Many mail pieces in the United
States come with an optional barcode printed above or below the address.
This barcode contains the ZIP code and the ZIP+4 Code. This typically
increases the speed of delivery, since it makes it possible that the pieces
can go directly trough automatic sorting machines without any manual
intervention. Modern word processing software are usually including this
feature when printing envelopes or labels from your computer.
§
Mailing classes: The major USPS mailing
classes are "letters" for small envelopes (max 3 + x 6 1/8 inch dimension
with max 1/4 inch thickness), "large envelopes" for bigger mail pieces and
"packages". There are of course different services offered; more details
about the USPS shipping offers can be found on the USPS website.
§
Stamps and postage meters:
There are two possibilities to pay for USPS service which are: (i) putting
the correct stamp on every letter or (ii) using postage meters which add
"own" postage on the letter. Postage meters are widely used and are often
considered as a standard accessory for USA businesses. Monthly cost for
postage meters typically starts at $15 to $30 plus initial setup fees.
§
Internet postage: A new and pretty convenient
approach to pay for USPS service is to use an "Internet postage meter" and
print postage directly from a personal computer connected to the Internet.
In this scenario, dedicated software needs to be downloaded from a provider
which is certified by the USPS. Then, postage is bought online, "stamps" are
printed directly with the own printer and can be dropped in any mailbox. Big
player in this new field can be found with the keywords "online postage" in
leading search engines.
§
Finding a post office: To locate a post
office, the USPS website is offering a so called "store locater". This
locator enables anybody to locate a post office by ZIP code or street
address and is available here .
