The most common mistake is treating the GCC as one homogeneous market and copy-pasting a playbook from Europe or the US — wrong language assumptions, wrong channel mix, wrong price anchoring. Close behind: stopping at the trade licence and assuming customers will just show up.
Other repeat offenders: underestimating how relationship-driven B2B sales cycles are here, launching without validating demand first, and hiring a full local team before proving the model works. Most of these are avoidable with a short diagnostic phase before committing real budget.