What offshore buyers ask that New Zealand buyers never do

A New Zealand buyer signs because they like you, trust the demo and know they can ring you when something breaks. A larger offshore buyer starts somewhere else entirely. You are a small foreign vendor twelve time zones away, and their job is to work out whether betting on you is a risk worth taking. So they ask a different set of questions, and most of them are not about your product at all. They are about whether you will still be standing, reachable and accountable in eighteen months. The founders who get caught out arrive with a strong demo and no answer to the questions the demo was never going to settle.

Why the questions change the moment you cross a border

At home you sell on a short chain of trust. The market is small, your name travels, and a referral is usually one call away. Cross a border and those advantages are gone. There is no shared network, no reputation that arrives ahead of you, no easy reference to someone the buyer already knows. They have to rebuild that confidence from scratch, and they do it by asking.

It matters more than it feels like it should, because you are barely in the room. Gartner finds B2B buyers spend only 17% of their total buying time meeting with every potential supplier combined. In the other 83%, while you sleep and they decide, your references, your proof and your paperwork are doing the selling for you. Offshore that gap is wider, because you cannot drop in to close it. This is not a rare corner of the market either. New Zealand's 200 largest tech firms earned NZ$15.31 billion in export revenue last year, so plenty of founders are meeting these questions right now.

"Who else like us already uses you?"

A New Zealand buyer is usually happy with any solid reference. An offshore buyer wants a customer in their market, at their size, in their regulatory world. "You would be our first US customer" is a reason to wait, not to buy, however good the fit looks. Being first is a risk you are asking them to carry.

Have one or two in-market reference customers, or the nearest equivalent you can offer, who will take a call. If you honestly have none yet, say so and put something else on the table: a tighter pilot, a shorter first term, a guarantee that moves the risk back onto you. Buyers forgive a vendor for being early. They do not forgive being misled about it.

"Are you here, and when can we reach you?"

Offshore buyers ask two things a home buyer rarely does. Is there anyone in our region, and what are your support hours in our time zone. "We are based in New Zealand" can land as "asleep when we need you." You do not need an office or a local entity to answer this well. You need a specific, credible answer: a named support window that overlaps their working day, a clear escalation path when something urgent breaks at their end, and a plan for how that cover grows as the account does.

"Can you send this to our procurement team?"

This is the one that catches people out, because at home it barely comes up. A larger offshore buyer routes you through vendor onboarding: a security questionnaire, questions on where their data lives, proof of insurance, sometimes a look at your financial health. The security review earns its own preparation, and I have written separately about when that spend is worth it. The trap here is treating the whole stage as a surprise obstacle rather than a normal step you should have seen coming.

Buyers also check you without you in the room. A 2021 G2 survey found 86% of B2B software buyers turn to peer-review sites before reaching a final verdict. By the time procurement calls, they have already read about you. Keep a plain vendor pack ready to send the same day they ask, not a fortnight later while you scramble to assemble one.

What to have ready before the call

None of this is your product pitch. It is the evidence that you are safe to buy from, and it is cheap next to what being caught without it costs. Three things cover most of what you will be asked. First, in-market references, or an honest plan for being early. Second, a one-page answer on support cover and reachability in the buyer's own time zone. Third, a vendor pack - a short security summary, where data is held, insurance and basic financials - you can send the moment it is requested.

Get those ready and the hard questions stop being ambushes. They become the thing that sets you apart from a bigger, slower competitor. The buyer already decided they liked the product. These answers decide whether they are allowed to buy it. If an offshore buyer asked you today who else like them already trusts you, and whether they could reach you when it mattered, what would you say?

Sources. B2B buyers spending only 17% of their total buying time meeting with every potential supplier combined: Gartner, The B2B Buying Journey. 86% of B2B software buyers turning to peer-review sites before reaching a final verdict: G2, 2021 B2B software buyer survey. New Zealand's 200 largest tech firms earning NZ$15.31 billion in export revenue in FY2025: Technology Investment Network, 2025 TIN Report. The questions themselves, and what to have ready for them, draw on my own experience helping New Zealand tech firms sell into offshore markets, not a single study.

Nick Burns is a fractional CRO for New Zealand B2B tech companies, at home and expanding internationally. He co-founded Emendo and sold it to McKesson, then the 14th-largest company on the Fortune 500, and has since helped 60+ tech companies grow sales.