For Jafar Orujov, selling enterprise software across international markets has reinforced an important lesson: a sales strategy that succeeds in one country can fail in another, even when the product and target customer are nearly identical. Having sold into more than 60 countries, he has seen how differences in procurement, business culture, regulatory requirements, and buyer expectations can determine whether a company successfully enters a new market.
An award-winning Enterprise Account Executive and one of the top-performing SaaS sellers in EMEA, Orujov became Cognism’s youngest Enterprise Account Executive at 24, closing more than $1.59 million in annual recurring revenue in less than 12 months. Previously, he generated $3.4 million in annual recurring revenue at Seequent. His work also extends into AI-driven sales automation, including the development of CognismGPT, a custom AI assistant designed to improve prospecting, account research, and deal execution.
In this exclusive interview with Intelligent HQ, Orujov discusses the mistakes SaaS companies make when expanding internationally, how regional buying behaviors should influence sales strategies, and why companies need to evaluate new markets differently from established ones. He also examines how AI could help sales teams identify regional opportunities, improve execution, and make better decisions about international growth.
You’ve worked with enterprise customers across different markets in EMEA. What have those experiences taught you about the differences in how companies evaluate and purchase enterprise software?
Earlier in my career I sold into more than 60 countries. That covered most of Europe, around half of Africa, a good part of Latin America, North America and a few countries in APAC. It gave me a pretty good feel for how differently people buy, even when the product is exactly the same.
Germany is a good example. German buyers want a lot of detail and documentation. They go through data protection properly, and if the software touches employees, the works council usually has to sign off. If you try to rush that, you lose the deal.
In the Nordics decisions are made as a group, and everyone goes on holiday in the summer. So if I don’t have a signature before midsummer, I know nothing is moving until mid-August.
The Middle East is all about relationships. You really can’t close a deal there over Zoom. You have to fly out and meet people, usually more than once.
And the UK is probably closest to the US: very commercial and focused on ROI, but procurement takes its time.
When a SaaS company has been successful in one country and wants to expand internationally, what are some of the biggest mistakes it can make by applying the same sales strategy to every market?
I think the biggest mistake is assuming that the way people buy in your home market is the way people buy everywhere. Companies take the same cadence, the same targets and the same outreach playbook, roll it out in a new country, and then can’t understand why the pipeline isn’t moving.
I see it happen in a few ways. They hire reps who have only sold at home and expect them to figure it out. They ignore local procurement, like needing a local entity or keeping data in the country. They translate their messaging word for word instead of adapting it. And the problem is you only get one first impression in a new market, and in a lot of these countries referrals are everything.
You’ve seen how buyer expectations can differ across regions. How should companies adjust their sales approach when entering markets where customers are less familiar with their product category or need more time to build trust with a vendor?
Honestly, one of the funniest things to watch is someone who has only ever sold to US companies trying to sell into Germany or the Middle East. They expect to get to the senior execs quickly and they expect a smooth process. They don’t expect security or compliance to hold anything up. Then they start cutting corners and skipping steps the buyer expects, and you can see the buyer’s confidence drop right there on the call. It’s really hard to get that back.
So you need a sales process and a playbook, that’s really important. But it has to be built around how people actually buy in that region. If the category is new to them, I’d spend more time educating before pitching anything. I’d offer a pilot, bring in local references, and get legal and security involved early rather than at the end. Trust takes longer in those markets, so I’d plan for that from day one.
Selling the same software in different countries doesn’t necessarily mean customers care about the same benefits. How do you determine which business problems, product capabilities, or financial benefits to emphasize when working with buyers in different markets?
I’d say most big business decisions come down to three things: making more revenue, reducing cost or reducing risk. The difference between markets is which of those matters most. In a lot of European countries, reducing risk carries a lot of weight. Protecting the business against operational failures, regulatory issues or supply chain disruption is often more important to them than winning new market share.
That said, I wouldn’t put too much on geography, because the persona matters just as much. A CIO, a CFO and a CISO at the same company will each care about something different. The CIO wants to know it integrates and people will use it. The CFO wants to know the payback, and the CISO wants to know what happens with the data. So I let discovery decide. The market gives me a rough idea, and the conversation tells me what actually matters to that person.
Many international sales teams work from messaging and outreach strategies developed at their company’s headquarters. Where does that approach tend to break down, and how can companies give regional teams more flexibility without losing consistency in how they sell?
It breaks down most right at the start, when you’re trying to open the door with a new customer. Something that sounds confident in New York can come across as pushy in Stockholm. And some tactics simply aren’t allowed. If you cold email businesses in Germany without their consent, you can get a cease-and-desist letter before you’ve even had a first conversation.
What I’d do is keep the core the same everywhere and let the regions decide how it’s delivered. HQ should own the positioning, the value story, how we qualify deals and the brand. The regional team should decide on channels, tone, language, timing and which customer stories to lead with. Before going into a new region, I’d spend proper time understanding how people buy there, and which messages and channels actually get a response. Then the results should go back to HQ so the global playbook keeps getting better.
You’ve developed AI tools to improve sales research and execution. How could companies use AI to better understand regional buying patterns, identify promising accounts, and adjust their sales strategies based on what is actually working in each market?
When I built CognismGPT in 2025, it was one of the most advanced AI setups in our sales team. It played a big part in me becoming the number one AE globally. AI is moving so fast, though, that any specific tip I give today will probably be outdated in six months.
What I’d really push for is becoming a fully AI-native seller. In practice that means you have something like ten AI agents working for you. One researches buying patterns in your region, one helps you prioritise accounts, one watches intent signals, one helps with outreach and follow-ups, and one takes care of your admin.
At company level, the same setup can show which messages and segments actually convert in each market. All of that gives reps their time back, so they can spend it with customers building trust.
When a company expands into a new region, its leadership may expect the same conversion rates, sales cycles, and pipeline results it sees in established markets. How should sales leaders evaluate performance in newer markets, and which indicators give them a more accurate picture of whether their strategy is working?
I think the most useful thing a leader can do is split a new market into two phases, learning and then scaling, and measure them differently. In the learning phase, which could be the first year or so, I wouldn’t hold the region to the same quotas as a mature market. I’d set goals like figuring out who the ideal customer really is there, finding the messages that get responses, and landing two or three customers who are happy to be references.
During that phase I’d watch the early signals. Are we getting meetings with the right people? Are deals moving forward, and are we reaching the person who signs? Are the first customers actually using the product?
Once those look good consistently, the market moves into scaling mode and gets normal targets. If you skip the learning phase, you usually end up blaming the team for something that’s really a market problem.
Looking ahead, how do you think AI will change the way SaaS companies manage international growth? Do you expect businesses to move away from standardized global sales processes toward systems that can respond more quickly to local market conditions?
I think the best companies have already been doing this for a few years, by hiring regional leaders who have driven growth in that region before. I don’t see many companies expanding internationally successfully while running everything from one central location.
Where AI makes the biggest difference is speed. Every call, email and deal creates data, and AI can turn that into a clear view of what’s working in each market within days, where before it took quarters. So companies can keep adjusting their global strategy all the time.
I don’t think standardisation goes away completely, though. I’d expect companies to keep the foundations standard, like the data, the brand and the core value story. Then they’ll let regional teams adapt everything else based on what AI is showing them. The companies that get that balance right are going to grow much faster internationally.
