FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some of the questions readers ask me. Just click on the sections below or scroll down to see the questions.

Questions About Me And The Purpose Of This Blog

Who is Cindy King?

I am a North American but have now spent more time in Europe than the country where I grew up, the Bahamas. I have over 25 years experience in international sales, marketing and business development. What would you like to know about me?

Here is some more about me.
Read here to find out more about my skills in cross-cultural empathy thanks to being multicultural, multilingual and comprehensive intercultural experience.
Here is a bit more personal information about me for my Twitter friends
And this is what is published online about me

What is the purpose of this blog?

This is my personal blog. It is where I share how to develop cultural and international skills for international business. I also blog here:

Get International Clients – on international business strategy
Cindy King On Posterous – on fun things found online to develop cross-cultural & international skills
Twitter – on everything cross-cultural and international with a business focus

As I write about international strategy Get International Clients, I like to focus this blog on the skills needed before jumping into international business strategy.

What are the main topics covered on this blog?

Anything that I find relevant to the skills needed in international business today based on my own experience. These fall into the 5 categories used on this blog:

Content For International Sales – to get the most out of your international web marketing
Cross-Cultural Communication – which comes into play in all aspects of international business
International Business Development – and the web options for businesses today
International Sales – including cross-cultural selling
International Web Marketing – and also social media marketing, international marketing, cross-cultural marketing and multicultural marketing

What are your favorite social media places to meet people?

These are the places I frequent regularly. Stop by, say hello, share any links you think I would like to tweet about.

Facebook – FriendFeed – LinkedIn – Posterous – Delicious – StumbleUpon – Twitter – YouTube

Personal Questions

I’m visiting Paris. How can we meet up?

First of all, are we friends? Are you sure I know your real name? Have you actually introduced yourself properly do me so I have an idea of what you do, what you have to say? Have we spoken on the phone before? You’d be surprised at how many people ask me to meet them in Paris without even realizing I have no clue who they are or whether we’d have anything to say to each other.

I’ll be honest, coming into Paris to meet someone I don’t know is not something I do. It’s not that I don’t like meeting people. I do. It’s simply because I don’t actually live in Paris and I’m a very busy person. On top of this, coming into Paris ruins a full days work for me. And the bustle of Paris usually means I’m tired the next day and so I lose a second days work.

So if you think I would enjoy have a conversation with you in person, send me an email. Let’s talk, get to know each other first and I’ll see whether I want to take the time off or not.

I’m visiting Paris and renting a car/bikes/hot air balloons to come to see you.

Notice how this is not a question? Well, I’m embarrassed to say this happens to me so often it’s becoming uncomfortable.

First of all, if you have meet me on Facebook, you’ll notice that I keep my private life totally separate from my professional life. This means that although I’m super friendly to everyone online and in public places, this isn’t an invitation to come to my house. I’m only online for business. My contact details are easy to find for legal reasons… not because I want you to drop by without being invited.

So unless I very specifically ask you to come to my house, please don’t be upset if I decline your suggestion. I simply don’t think it’s appropriate to introduce people I’ve never met in person to my family and open my house to them. Having a coffee in a public place in a big city is more appropriate for meeting people the first time. Unfortunately I live in a small village and without an appropriate public meeting place.

Questions From Students

Please fill out these dozens of questions by the day after tomorrow

Look, I appreciate it’s not easy to learn about international business from a classrom. But this blog is shared by too many universities for me to continue answering your emails. And I’ll be honest, sending me an urgent email because you need my reply and then disappearing forever is not very polite.

Instead of shooting me an email, why not engage in discussions in the comments on one of my blog posts? This is more sociable.

You did not cover everthing (in my text book)

That’s right! I don’t write this blog for students.

I write it for people with one foot already in international business and I only write from my personal experience.

Questions About Working With Me

Can you critique my website or blog to increase international results?

Yes, I provide website and blog critiques that go through 3 different criteria:

Website checklist for standard best practices
International checklist for an English language website targeting a broad international audiences.
A brief cross-cultural communication analysis of the cultural dimensions between 2 countries only – your country and one other country you are targeting.

You can also get quick feedback on your international marketing materials, including sales web copy, targeting either North American or European markets.