During my relatively short career in magazine publishing, six years and counting, I’ve been lucky enough to work in the U.K., the United Arab Emirates and now Canada. During that time, I’ve had the pleasure of doing business with men and women from many different backgrounds and cultures.
I learned early on that in order to get in the door with prospective clients, or maintain existing relationships, it’s not enough to understand each individual’s business preferences. Success also requires an understanding of cultural nuances, some of which can have a major bearing on whether I’ll walk away with a sale, a call-back — or a “not interested.”
Of course, cultural backgrounds aside, how you do business is also influenced by your own background and the industry you work in. So take the following observations with a pinch of salt, knowing they come from an Englishman with an Irish background … which, as you may deduce, means I’m naturally rather outgoing and loud.
At the risk of generalizing, in my experience some cultures appreciate a soft, consultative approach where someone like myself takes the time to learn about their business needs and in turn offers thought-out, long-term solutions, sacrificing the quick sale now for a longer and more fruitful relationship down the line. Others, such as many of my fellow Brits, tend to be rather hard-nosed and enjoy the banter of pseudo-aggressive back-and-forth until our innate need for conflict is satiated and both parties leave the negotiating battlefield claiming victory.
In the Middle East, my employer explained to me that certain clients of a particular cultural background would say “yes” to almost any direct question, as it was deemed rude to ever decline a request. The “yes” had nothing to do with whether there was an actual intention to buy.
There were several confusing and frustrating situations during the time it took for me to realize that this was indeed a true and regular occurrence, but once I’d picked it up I was able to identify the real interest from the polite nods or acknowledgements that might have earlier led me to believe I’d locked up a sale.
Essentially, it boils down to learning more about your clients, learning how they like to work and how to communicate in the ways to which they respond best. These are all things any sales person worth his or her salt learns very early on. The next step beyond the fundamentals means learning something about, and taking an interest in, the cultural backgrounds of the people with whom you’re doing business.
It’s extremely helpful. That, and making sure you know what time to make that call to Australia. It’s never fun waiting until 6 p.m. to catch someone first thing in the morning in New South Wales.