Cross-Cultural Communication 30-Day Challenge – Get Extreme With Clarity
You need to constantly seek to improve clarity in your cross-cultural communication. This is the price to pay for successful international business relations.
Clarity In Cross-Cultural Communication Tip 7
Here is today’s tip:
Ask questions to clarify even the slightest uncertainty or assumption
This reminds us to be on our guard. Whenever you have the slightest question about the congruency of your conversation with a foreign client, ask a question. Of course, you might need to find the right question to ask to get the answer you need. And sometimes you will not be able to identify what seems out of place.
- Do not keep this little feeling to yourself.
- Go back to the conversation and ask questions until you find the right one.
- Don’t worry if you do not find an answer, keep this in memory and review the whole situation later to try to get a better understanding
This is something you improve through practice. This is an exercise that will help you improve your cultural skills dramatically.
Of course, ideally in asking your questions you identify an area where you can improve clarity in your own understanding of the communication. But in asking your questions, the chances are that you also improved clarity for the other person’s understanding of you too.
Use this tip as a starting point. Think about what this means to you. Not sure what you think about this? There are a few links below for suggested reading to get you started. Follow each of these tips this month to improve your cultural skills.
Further Suggested Reading & Viewing
- How Assumptions Kill International Sales
- Don’t Waste Your Time Negotiating With The Wrong Person
- Stop Pushing Your Foreign Visitors Away
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Where To Get Your CCCC Tips Every Day In June:
- Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge 2 – Get Extreme With Clarity
- By following me on Twitter @CindyKing
- By using the Twitter hashtag #cccctips
Get All CCCC Tips:
First Month: Short tips to think about
There are 4 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges in 2009. Cross-cultural communication can be overwhelming. International business professionals are often too busy to take the time to improve their cross-cultural communication skills. This is why this challenge is divided into 4 specific areas of improvement and why the tips are very short.
| Challenge | Why | When |
| Mindset | It all starts here | March 2009 |
| Clarity | Your first priority | June 2009 |
| Trust | To bring in sales | September 2009 |
| Personal Development | For strong cultural skills | December 2009 |
These 4 different aspects of cross-cultural communication are what I found to be the most important to me throughout my 25 years of international sales and marketing. You can read more about the other monthly challenges here:
- 2009 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges
- Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge 1 – Expand Your Mindset
Don’t forget to download the Free Mini-Poster from the first monthly challenge to Expand Your Mindset
Use Your Cultural Skills to Get More International Sales
Second Month: Short review on how to use the cultural tips to get more international sales
Are you an international business professional? Then don’t stop at this month’s challenge. After each monthly Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge, the following month reviews each one of these tips once again, this time together the corresponding International Sales Best Practices.
This is where things get fun. You will see where to put your cultural skills into practice to get more international sales. Turbo charge your learning by going through the cross-cultural communication tips once again, this time looking at them from a sales angle and through the eyes of an international sales professional.
 | Want to learn how to avoid cultural blunders? Subscribe to this blog feed. Need to turbo charge your cultural skills? Get my short cross-cultural communication tips. Ready for serious international marketing? Skype me or email me & let's grow your business. |
