New Commercial Offices: 5 Challenges and How to Overcome Them

A constant key driver of business growth has been expanding into new markets. For companies in the supply chain and international freight sectors, an expansion reflects confidence, strategic vision, and competitive strength. However, as international dynamics become more complex, a successful expansion demands not only intention or ambition, but also planning, agility and resilience to face all the emerging changes. 

At Mexproud Shipping, we have been proudly dedicated to the international freight industry for nearly three decades. In 2024, we reinforced our three current national offices and took the step of opening another three in Mexico; a challenging step that required us to refine our expansion model, evaluating once again our internal structures and processes and going deeper into our understanding of local and regional markets. 

Through this journey, we identified five of the most important business challenges that companies can find when opening new offices. In today’s uncertain business context, these insights are more relevant and valuable than ever. 

1. Understanding and Becoming Part of the Local Market

Each region comes with its own complexities, from infrastructure limitations, to lack of human talent, consumer patterns, and sociocultural dynamics, even when we are talking about the same country. The ability to design specialized and focused strategies, while maintaining brand equity is a key factor to keep your company always first. 

What is working in a region or state, could fail in another; you need to start with no assumptions and know the market you are diving in. Invest in data-driven studies, analyze local demand, activities, and communication, and create competitive scenarios. From there, engage with key local players and suppliers; for example in our case, we are talking about customs agents, regional carriers, local chambers of commerce, and authorities to ensure a closer approach to our new market. 

Do not forget to be aligned with local priorities through different and creative commercial strategies, rate sensitivity, and the dynamics of decision-making areas. Expansion does not mean that you forget your identity; you reinforce your original one and make it stronger in another location.  

2. Building a Strong and Strategic Network of Clients and Partners

it might be obvious but, becoming established in a new region without a network could be risky. Certainly, “clients” should be the first word you must have in your mind, but key customs specialists, warehouse operators, brokers and other suppliers will also define your operation’s success. They will become your most valuable resource; remember, buying is as important as selling.

To enhance your network well before your official launch, attend  trade events and local supply chain forums, and develop key connections with value services providers. Identify potential clients through advertising campaigns and predictive analytics in order to create early interest. Do not forget that trust and consistency are always needed to build and keep credibility. 

3. Developing and Attracting High-Performance Talent

The only way you can succeed in any place you want to go, is to have good execution by the right people. Hiring the right talent becomes one of your top priorities at that moment. 

In addition to the technical knowledge, these new offices need, first of all, professionals who combine leadership skills, strong local relationships, and the courage to face new challenges, and secondly, empathic and open associates who share  your mission and vision. 

From my perspective, for example – and considering all Donald Trump’s DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) rollbacks – diversity and inclusion are not just ethical but business imperatives wherever we go. We firmly believe that the richness of teams lies in diversity, so I truly encourage all of you to adopt a hybrid talent strategy, not just considering gender, sexual orientation, functional capabilities, race, or age, but also integrating professionals from your central offices (who will share your company culture and processes) with high-performing local associates. All these pieces of diversity will let you discover different perspectives, experiences, and knowledge at every level of your company. 

Always keep in mind that when people feel seen, heard, and empowered, they become your best ambassadors and high-performance team wherever your brand is.

4. Ensuring Profitability and Optimizing Operational Costs

Opening a new office includes substantial upfront costs (payroll, infrastructure, marketing, compliance, among others) and nowadays, efficiency has become a key element of sustainability. Consider applying scalable models from day one. Build a modular team that can advance and grow with your local demand and always support the team from the central offices with economic resources (always considering the costs involved having a clear plan to return the investment).

Establish clear KPIs for each office and hold the team accountable for profitability and growth, just as your other offices do. They should become independent from your central offices (in a reasonable way and for planning purposes) as soon as possible. 

Manage your new offices like startups: agile, close and highly focused; around 60% of startups fail between the pre-seed and Series A funding stages, so as you can see, the start is a key step in this process. 

5. Aligning With the Corporate Vision in ‘Winds of Change’

Expansion always should happen in alignment with your company’s core strategy and the goals of its local leaders. To achieve this, it is essential to create a clear way to follow your general long-term strategy and the right and effective channels to communicate between your main offices and your satellite offices. All your corporate announcements need to be known by all your associates, not just some of them, so take a hand from technology to maintain an active communication with your entire company. 

Regularly visit your new offices, use functional planning sessions and constant performance reviews to closely follow their growth. Do not get too far from this “new market.” Use these meetings to learn as much as you can about this new environment and understand how to navigate the uncertain contexts, always aligned to your main and stable foundation.  

This moment is showing us that global trade and supply chains are changing and being restructured once again. What we thought would be the pinnacle of neoliberalism is rather the resurgence of protectionism, which reminds us that it is never too late to turn our view to other markets and to take advantage of every strategic opportunity we may have. It is time to think globally, invest strategically, and execute locally. Expansion is not just viable, but necessary. 

At Mexproud Shipping, we believe resilience is built through experience. We are not just opening new offices, we are certain that we are assembling a more strategic, connected, and stronger network for our future and that of international logistics.