Market entry
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In English
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5 min
Mika Sievinen
Interim & fractional commercial leadership · 20+ years
Finland: land of saunas, sisu, and a market that looks straightforward right up until you try to sell into it. Small population, high English proficiency, stable economy. How hard can it be?
Harder than you'd think — but in a different way than you'd think.
I've led sales in the Finnish market for over 20 years, and I see the same pattern again and again: a foreign company shows up with the playbook that works back home and wonders why deals stall.
Finland isn't "Scandinavia, but smaller." It's a market with its own buying logic.
Here are the seven most common mistakes — and how to avoid them.
1. "Finland is basically like the rest of the Nordics"
Mistake: Assuming what works in Sweden, Germany or the US transfers directly.
Tip: Finnish business culture rewards the direct and concrete. Where other markets build slow consensus or open with relationship-building, a Finn wants you to get to the point. Long warm-ups and vague pitches read as either time-wasting or a lack of confidence. Come prepared, be specific, and don't be afraid to propose a decision.
2. "English is enough, everyone speaks it"
Mistake: Relying on English for everything.
Tip: Finns speak excellent English — in most cases at least. But trust, especially in traditional industries and the public sector, is built in Finnish. English will get you into the room; Finnish often gets you the deal.
Don't assume English alone carries you the last mile. Have someone who works in Finnish when it counts.
3. "Let's grab a coffee and build the relationship first"
Mistake: Front-loading small talk and rapport before you deliver substance.
Tip: Finns value content over charm. A long, chatty warm-up can feel like padding. That doesn't mean relationships don't matter — they're just built differently: by delivering exactly what you promised, again and again.
Show competence first, build the friendship later and along the way.
4. "The silence means it's going badly"
Mistake: Reading a Finn's silence as rejection — and then talking the deal to death.
Tip: In Finland, silence isn't awkward, it's thinking. A quiet buyer in a meeting is usually just processing. Don't fill every pause, don't push for an instant yes. Give it room. The person who can sit with the silence often earns the trust.
START A CONVERSATION
Thinking about launching or scaling in Finland?
Tell me a little about your situation. I read every message myself and reply within a day.
or email info@detgodalivet.fi · LinkedIn
5. "Let's promise big now and sort the details later"
Mistake: Selling with grand promises and optimistic projections.
Tip: In Finland the opposite works: promise less, deliver more. Overselling breeds suspicion, not excitement. A Finnish buyer trusts the person who is realistic and keeps their word — not the most enthusiastic voice in the room.
Underpromise and overdeliver.
6. "Same pricing, same site, same everything"
Mistake: Localising nothing.
Tip: A Finnish-language site, Finnish references, a local phone number. Small signals tell the buyer whether you're here for the long term or just passing through. Finns are reluctant to buy from a vendor who looks like they're on a layover.
7. "We'll figure Finland out as we go"
Mistake: Entering the market with no local knowledge — or hiring an expensive full-time country manager and hoping for the best.
Tip: Both extremes are costly. "We'll learn as we go" usually means paying tuition in lost deals and burned leads. A full-time hire, on the other hand, is a big fixed bet on a market you don't yet understand.
The smarter path is often in between: bring in someone who has already done Finland, a few days a week as a fractional lead.
You get the experience and the network without the risk of a heavy hire.
Sisu isn't enough — but a plan will take you far
Finland can be an excellent market for foreign companies: stable, digitally advanced, and used to dealing with international partners. But it rewards the direct, the concrete and the dependable.
Get the tempo and the language right, and Finnish pragmatism becomes a real advantage — deals that are slower to start tend to be sticky once they land.
I've seen it enough times to say it plainly: a Finland launch rarely fails on the product. It fails on the wrong tempo, the wrong language, the wrong moves overall and when no one on the team who actually knows the game.
That's why I help companies to launch in Finland successfully.
START A CONVERSATION
Thinking about launching or scaling in Finland?
Tell me a little about your situation. I read every message myself and reply within a day.
or email info@detgodalivet.fi · LinkedIn