International Sales Best Practices
Acquiring international skills can be physically tiring. This is specially true when you have to jump in at the deep end and become operational quickly. The main reason for this is related to today’s international sales best practice. Staying focused during an international sales meeting requires mental energy.
International Sales Success
There are many factors to take into account in cross-cultural communication. Different factors give you different insights into the communication. They give you an all round picture and they keep your conversation on track. If you are not focused during your cross-cultural encounter you can easily miss part of the conversation.
Cross-cultural communication is focused. You always need to have your antennas up.
Quote From Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book Of Selling
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Principle of Sales Greatness
Antennas up! |
Last Month’s Cross-Cultural Communication Tip 23
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Remember that words can mean different things to different people |
Different Levels Of Conversation
One of the reasons why you must stay focused during a cross-cultural encounter is because the conversation does not happen all on one level. Conversation also takes place on other levels such as:
- Different types of verbal communication
- Body language and physical actions
- Non-verbal and what is not said
- Context of everything involved
Communication Differences
Cross-cultural encounters also come with basic communication challenges.
- People often give different meanings to the same words
- Words do not translate 100% into the same thing
- There are often differences in language skills
- Different cultures have different Cultural Dimensions and simply communicate differently
A Question Of Focus
Some business professionals like to go into sales negotiations in teams where one person concentrates on the verbal communication and the other concentrates on the non-verbal communication. In reality the verbal and the non-verbal are both part of the communication and the person leading the sales negotiation needs to absorb all of this.
Another tactic is to have less rigid roles in listening to the conversation. A good way to improve your international skills is to do a recap after the encounter and listen to what your partner picked up out of the conversation. You will often see that you missed part of the communication and will learn to become more focused with practice.
So…
What is your focus factor? – Jeffrey Gitomer
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