Yes, "Buy American" fanatics do exist. But they are a minority. To convince them otherwise should not be the main focus of a company just entering the North American market.

However, almost every business person has made some bad experiences with foreign suppliers, or at least knows someone who has. Those are real concerns rather than just patriotic emotions. Too many foreign companies have dramatically underestimated the cash requirements for their North American market entry, overestimated the achievable market share or underestimated the time needed to achieve a positive cash flow from their North American activities, just to disappear from the continent soon after their entry while leaving unsupported equipment behind.

Therefore, whatever you do in North America will be closely watched by your (potential) customer base in order to find out if you are really committed to this market or just testing the waters. Therefore, it will take you longer to build your excellent reputation. You have to know it, plan for it and deal with it.

The solution is maximizing face time with customers and providing excellent customer support for a sustained period of time. The good news is, once your through this introductory phase, it will pay off, too.

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