International Sales Best Practice – Thorough Preparation

International Sales Best Practices

There are several steps in creating clarity in cross-cultural communication for good international sales best practice. A basic step is to remember to take the time to explain things properly. And it is an easy one to forget. This is because when you are communicating with people from another culture, it is easy to think that the communication is just as easy for them as it is for you. Unfortunately this is not always the case.

Good explanations are always appreciated. Even when the other person “understands” you well enough. Good explanations give people from different cultures the time to adapt this information to their own cultural environment.

There is no doubt:

• Clear explanations add clarity and improve momentum to your international business negotiations.

CCCC Tip #24 - Break complex ideas into easy pieces and present them in a logical order.

This month’s series takes last month’s tips to get extreme clarity in cross-cultural communication and brings them into an international sales perspective. Remember to download the free calender for an easy reference to all of the 30 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge Tips on clarity. Get the complete International Sales Best Practices series here.

There are many valid reasons why we might want to skip explanations or cut them short.

• Flights to catch
• Eagerness to get to the rest of the conversation
• The meeting started late
• There are only one or two people who might need the explanations
• The explanations are in writing and can be consulted somewhere else

But the truth is, in international business when you do not take the time, at the right time, to provide clear explanations you usually have to:

• Spend more time catching up later
• Sort out additional cultural misunderstandings that crop up
• Gain lost momentum
• Bring up other issues at the wrong time or out of sequence

Well, I guess you can say that you shoot yourself in the foot when you do not take the time for good explanations.

Things tend to go haywire when you do not take the time to explain things clearly and when needed.

This is usually when top business executives start looking frantically for a cross-cultural ninja to bring the communication back on track.

Yes, I know this from personal experience as I have been called in urgently on several occasions to fix problems created by others at a critical stage in international sales negotiations.  On each of these occasions the crisis was caused because explanations were needed earlier, and not delivered at the right time, or in the right way.

Cross-Cultural Communication Skills & Sales Best Practices

This reminds me of today’s quote from Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book Of Sales Answers.

Good explanations are important in international business. Here are a few things to think about, your explanations should be:

• Clear
• Timely
• Immediate
• Given slowly enough to be digested in real time, or provided with the time it takes to understand them

This helps you avoid cross-cultural misunderstandings and helps you to maintain the same understanding with all parties involved.  Good explanations come with good preparation.

What Is Your Experience Of This In International Sales?

• How well do you prepare your international sales meetings?
• How much time to you take to prepare the explanations you need for your international sales process?
• What are the common explanations your international clients need ?

Please share your comments below. I’d love to hear your stories!

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• Expand Your Mindset
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Tagged as: best practice, best practices, clarity, cross-cultural sales, cross-cultural selling, explain, global sales, international competence, international negotiation, International Sales, international sales skills, international selling, international skills