Growing Business by Going Global

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Now, backed by venture money and a corporate staff of 60, NovaSoft's 25-person sales, marketing, and support staff is parlaying worldwide distribution into backyard direct sales. "We can sell to anyone," Elliot boasts. "People figure if you can support markets overseas, there's no question you can support one in the United States."

Don't give anything away

In the fall of 1987, NovaSoft founders Sureyya "Ray" Ciliv and Robin Hillyard sought venture financing to set up a direct sales force in the United States. The plan was to roll out their product in the United States first and go global later. But when the October 1987 crash shut down risk-capital sources, CEO Ciliv took off overseas, where marketing networks were reputed to be less costly to develop. NovaSoft now boasts sales partners in 16 countries, from South America and Australia to the Far, Middle, and Near East.

Each partner -- a quantity purchaser (at 40% to 50% discount) and distributor of NovaSoft's software line -- is required also to provide technical support for the complex software. Early this year 16 technicians speaking five languages attended a week-long training session at NovaSoft's Burlington, Mass., headquarters. Did their now-solvent host pick up the check? Hardly. True to form, NovaSoft bills all support-related items and training.

As a condition of acquiring distribution rights, for instance, in addition to the expected $250,000 in first-year sales, NovaSoft's partner in Kuwait shelled out $26,000 for a demo, just to get started. "We're a small business and can't afford to give anything away," says executive vice-president Walter Elliot.

ON THE ROAD

Linking up with your U.S. office when you're overseas can present a slew of technical challenges, but a couple of key gadgets break the barriers.

"I do all my business with faxes and phones," says David Blohm, CEO of MathSoft, a software company in Cambridge, Mass. "But one of the tough things I've found is that lots of European phones don't have touch tones to trigger our voice-mail system when I call in for messages."

Blohm's indispensable geegaw is a pocket tone dialer from Radio Shack. Smaller than an audiocassette and retailing for about $20, it mimics touch tones. A user holds it to the phone's mouthpiece and punches numbers on the device as if he or she were punching numbers on the phone's keypad itself. The tones prompt the usual responses. You can program the dialer to store up to 33 phone or credit-card numbers.

People who can't get by with just phones and faxes and need to travel with portable computers have two concerns: that they bring the appropriate power transformer for their equipment's wattage (so that stronger foreign power sources don't fry their computers), and that they have the right adapter plug for each country they'll visit.

By far the trickiest task is hooking a portable computer into another country's telephone lines in order to send files, pick up electronic mail, or transmit a fax from a portable machine. The checklist of necessary equipment starts with the basic modem and communications software. Many new computers, ready to work internationally, come loaded with both. If the features are purchased as add-ons, the costs range from around $75 to $300. High-speed modems at both the sending and receiving ends make up for their cost by holding lines better and keeping overseas phone bills smaller.

You'll also need adapters for foreign telephone jacks or -- in the event the phone's jack is not a plug-in and you're appropriately dissuaded from taking the handset apart and sticking alligator clips into its guts -- an acoustic coupler. The coupler cradles the telephone receiver to transmit the signals over speakers instead of through wires. It's old-fashioned for use here but still suitable when you're calling from abroad. TeleAdapt (fax 408-370-5110) sells couplers and jack con-verters for 36 different international telephone plugs.

One note of caution: many countries have telecommunications regulations that restrict or prohibit use of modems not specifically designed for use in their particular countries. If you take the leap and use generally applicable international equipment, you're likely to be breaking some archaic rules, although it's unlikely you'll be caught. You might consider checking with your modem's manufacturer for advice on the product's use in the countries you'll be visiting. -- Leslie Brokaw

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