International Sales Best Practice – Take Action

International Sales Best Practices

Today here is another difference between failure and success and what this means to salespeople.

International Sales Success

This is often the first thing I say to people when they tell me they want to develop their international business.  I live in an area with a high density of small to mid-sized French companies.  Many of these companies are successful.

When I go out and about locally, I often run into business owners who tell me they really want to take their business international. And the second thing every single one of these people then tells me is their fear of risk.  Their obvious business success leads me to assume that they have already dealt with risk before.

There are many reasons why we delay taking action.  These reasons are often valid and it can be comforting to look at the situation through these same glasses, or from this same viewpoint.  Successful salespeople know how to take action no matter what.

Quote From Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book Of Selling

What’s the difference between failure and success in salespeople? Take Action.

Last Month’s Cross-Cultural Communication Tip 1

Just starting to build your international business? Start honing your cross-cultural communication skills at the same time.

Different View Points

Sometimes you need to move your view point of one situation.  It is important not to remain with one fixed view point when you start an international business.

When action seems impossible, or unwise, take a walk around the situation.  Change your vantage point.

• Does it still look exactly the same?
• Have your options changed?
• Is there an obvious action to take?

The Opportunities Of International Business

Different cultures have different ways of seeing things.  When you first start developing your international business, make the extra effort to develop your own cross-cultural communication skills at the same time.

Better Visibility = Better Actions

The extra vision you get from understanding different view points also makes it easier to see the action you need to take.  A better understanding of any situation leads to better actions.

Sometimes the knowledge of what you cannot see can also help you take right action.  This is a very common trait in successful international salespeople.  Cross-cultural skills broaden your awareness of what you do not know.  Luckily you also learn how to take action, or actions in steps, within these environments.

Of course, successful people go beyond seeing the right action to take, they also do it.

So…

Are you action or B.T.N.A. Big Talk No Action? – Jeffrey Gitomer

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