The costliest pricing mistake when entering the US
Entering cheap looks prudent. In practice it is the fastest way out of the conversation with the customers you wanted.
There is a near-universal reflex among Latin American companies opening the US market: price below the local competitor, on the reasoning that you need the first customers and your cost structure allows it.
The arithmetic is right. The reading of the buyer is wrong.
Price is information before it is cost
In a corporate purchase, the buyer has very little information about a new foreign supplier. No brand recognition, no references in their network, no way to assess quality before buying. In that situation price stops being an economic variable and becomes a signal.
A price 40% below market does not read as an opportunity. It reads as an unanswered question — something must be missing. And a corporate buyer staking internal credibility on an unknown supplier is rarely willing to find out what.
The cost of climbing back
The problem with a low entry price is not the first year’s margin. It is that it sets an anchor. Raising prices later means justifying a change the client never asked for, and it is usually paid for in churn.
The more defensible move is to enter within the market range and compete where the difference is real and verifiable: response speed, proximity of the team, willingness to adapt the product. None of that erodes the day someone cheaper shows up.
A 30-minute call, at no cost.
To understand your objective and confirm whether we can add value. If we move forward, the diagnostic begins within 10 business days of the proposal being accepted.