International Sales Best Practices
The list of differences between successful salespeople and those who fail continues. Without this your rate of success diminishes dramatically.
International Sales Success
Successful international salespeople all have one thing in common, they know how to stay focused on the sale and not get sidetracked by any cross-cultural communication issues. It is this focus combined with cultural skills that makes the sale.
Quote From Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book Of Selling
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What’s the difference between successful salespeople and salespeople that fail?
Successful salespeople keep their eyes on the prize. |
Last Month’s Cross-Cultural Communication Tip 22
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Recognize the difference between culture shock and culture barriers |
Additional Challenges To Stay Focused
For many salespeople it can be a challenge to stay focused during an international sale. There are several reasons for this:
Cultural Differences - Here is one example:
When people meet with great differences in cultural dimensions of high individualism and high collectivism, it can be hard to deal with everything that goes on.
Many cultures need to connect on different levels before they buy. Cultural differences make it difficult to identify the boundaries of what is personal and what is professional. It is very easy to lose focus if you are not used to this.
Communication Mismatch – Language and cultural barriers can create two different understandings of the same conversation. This means you may never be focused on the real conversation.
Overload - There is just so much going on it is easy to get sidetracked.
Cultural Experience
As you can see above, there are different types of problems in remaining focused.
International experience and basic cultural skills will help you get through many of the cultural differences that stop you from remaining focused. Salespeople without this international experience will need to get beyond their own initial culture shock.
Communication mismatch often happens when there are real cultural barriers. This takes a little bit more work.
- Remain focused on your sales goal
- Question yourself
- Try a different place to connect and find the real conversation
This is the best way to find the path you need to take to get through these barriers.
With regards to dealing with the overload… this comes with practice. One thing is for certain, I am always 100% alert and focused in an international sale.
So…
How focused is your success effort? As focused as your play effort? – Jeffrey Gitomer
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2009 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges
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