International Sales Professions

Before I started my own consulting business I worked for a variety of industries, mainly related to communication and new technologies. I had daily contact with clients in a sales capacity, sometimes with more marketing responsibilities than others. But I always dealt with international clients. Clients from different cultures to the company I represented. I negotiated sales, facilitated sales and over the years I worked in all of the functions within the international sales process.

International Selling Was The Only World I Knew

International selling was easy for me because I developed cross-cultural skills very early on. And I always try to find the right way to connect with people, even across cultures. Besides, living in a foreign country and being fully integrated inside this foreign country, adapting to different cultures comes naturally to me.

Dealing with international clients was the only thing I knew.

The Differences In International Selling

I’ve had my business for almost 2 years now, and I now see how big the differences are between selling to international clients and selling to people from your own country.

Here are 12 reasons why international selling is harder:

1. When you’re selling to international clients you have to focus on trust all the time. Losing trust is one of the biggest reasons why you lose international sales. Cross-cultural differences create a minefield of possible trust breakers. All salespeople know they need to build trust and actively do this. But in an international environment the cultural differences increase the difficulty in nurturing, building and maintaining trust on many different levels.
2. When you’re selling to international clients you might not notice when you lose trust. This is the hardest one to deal with. Just as cultural differences create trust breaking situations, they also make it difficult to see when you lose trust. And when you lose an element of trust without realizing it and continue selling, this creates complex situations which are not good for sales.
3. When you’re selling to international clients you also have to deal with your own personal reactions to different cultural situations. Learning how to deal with our own personal cultural baggage and not let it interfere with international business takes work. And it can also raise difficult questions to answer concerning personal integrity and personal ethics. Learning how to separate reactions to these and how to act appropriately is hard work.
4. When you’re selling to international clients you have to identify any differences in doing business, often beyond the scope of sales. Different countries do things differently, we all know that. And yet it is surprising how many of these differences can pop up and effect your business and your selling.
5. When you’re selling to international clients you have to look for wrong assumptions which can pop up in unusual places. Many cross-cultural blunders happen because of wrong assumptions. In sales wrong assumptions can be disastrous.
6. When you’re selling to international clients you have to monitor what is said and the different understandings of what is said. People can take away different understandings for a variety of reasons: wrong assumptions, cultural differences in communication, and different levels in language skills. You simply cannot do business when both parties have different understanding of what is said. So you have to keep your ears open continually and summarize understandings at regular intervals.
7. When you’re selling to international clients you need to become skilled at multitask monitoring. There are many different things to monitor in international sales. Trust, mutual understanding, wrong assumptions are just a few related to the communication. You also need to monitor how cultural differences impact certain aspects of the business deal itself. There are also risk elements to monitor. International selling requires excellent multitasking skills just to monitor the different levels of what’s going on.
8. When you’re selling to international clients you have to be flexible and maintain your business focus at the same time. Different cultures have different styles of doing business. So you need to be flexible and adapt to these differences. When you are not used to certain situations it is easy to lose your business focus. Being both flexible and business focused can be challenging at times. It takes practice and skill to master this.
9. When you’re selling to international clients you must always be ready to adapt to unexpected situations. Both the ability to adapt and the readiness to adapt are important. Unexpected situations are common in international business. Dealing with this change demands personal energy.
10. When you’re selling to international clients you have different risk factors to take into consideration. There is always a more elevated risk factor in international business. Successful international salespeople know how to be the lookout post for any relevant risk factors for his business. International selling is a more varied occupation.
11. When you’re selling to international clients you need to adopt a marketing hat as well. The role of lookout post also involves marketing feedback. Most sales professionals understand the valuable role they play to their companies marketing functions. In an international environment this marketing role is critical. The international salesperson is usually the only person with constant direct insights into his company’s market.
12. When you’re selling to international clients you must have a very clear vision of your business goals and the framework you work in. Without an accurate and clear vision and understanding of your company’s goals you will not be able to find the best way to do all of the above. In international sales negotiations this alone is a very powerful tool.

The Multiplying Effect

Skilled sales professionals will probably nod their head and say they do all of the above already. But there is a multiplying effect which makes these tasks harder in international sales.

What’s your experience?

• Have you sold to both international clients and clients from your own country?
• What differences do you see between selling to international client and clients in your own country?
• What do you think, how is international selling harder?

Please leave your comments below.

More on International Sales Professions:

• The Job Of An International Sales Specialist
• What Is An International Business Development Executive?
• What Is An International Sales Specialist?
• What Makes A Good International Sales Specialist

Get International Clients – Business Guides On Sales

• Cross-Culture Sales
• Cross-Cultural Negotiation

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

12 Reasons Why International Selling Is Harder

International Sales Best Practices

Today is the last day we look at how to get rid of wrong assumptions. We will look at acknowledging our fundamental differences with people from other cultures.

CCCC Tip #10 - Don’t assume the other person thinks like you and try to identify how you can make the communication easier for him.

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.

It is often the simple steps that take the longest to complete.  I think most people learn this one in different stages.  It is often only when you get to know a culture well that you can fully see the scope of the cultural differences.

Cross-Cultural Communication Skills & Sales Best Practices

Here is a quote from Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book Of Sales Answers that inspires me with today’s culture tip.

How do you carry out successful international sales negotiations?  Well, one of the first steps in understanding your foreign client’s point of view.  And this first step can be the hardest one to do.  Very often, even with proper preparation, you will need to adjust your sales tactics during the international sales negotiation.

Why?  Because you almost always need direct contact with your international clients before you can begin to understand them from a cultural point of view.

And this is where:

• You need to be aware of assumptions made by both parties
• Your questions become critical
• You need cultural skills to present yourself the “right” way

In summary, it is important to recognize our cultural differences so that we can become aware of any wrong assumptions.

And…

For successful international business we must be careful of how our assumptions influence the questions we ask.  When wrong assumptions influence our questions, not only do we create a cross-cultural communication disconnect, but we also lose our sales credibility.

What Is Your Experience Of This In International Sales?

• Have you ever had a difficult international sales encounter?
• Do you always know the right questions to ask your international clients?
• How do your assumptions effect the questions you ask your international clients?

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

Want To Get The Cross-Cultural Communication Tips?

Two Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges are currently available:

• Expand Your Mindset
• Get Extreme With Clarity

Get all of the tips from these 30 & 31 day challenges, and learn more about the other planned later this year:

• 2009 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges

All International Sales Best Practices

You can find the complete list of International Sales Best Practices published to date here:

• International Sales Best Practices

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Sales Best Practice – Questions Without Assumptions

International Sales Best Practices

Today we are still concentrating on assumptions. Wrong assumptions usually play a key role in most cross-cultural blunders. International professionals learn to question themselves continuously about their own assumptions and what assumptions others might make.

CCCC Tip #9 - Be aware of any assumptions you make and be sure to confirm these during your conversation.

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.

It is by becoming aware of one’s own assumptions that you improve your ability to recognize them in yourself… and in others.

Cross-Cultural Communication Skills & Sales Best Practices

In international sales, this reminds me of a quote from Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book Of Sales Answers.

By constantly being aware of the assumptions we make, it is easy to look back at a cross-cultural encounter and guess the assumptions made by the other person.

Now, this is not to be taken as criticism. Reviewing a cross-cultural conversation is not about finding fault.  Cross-cultural communication is about flexibility and adapting to unique situations. It is a skill and not a list of “right” and “wrong” things to do.  In fact, if you try to go into a cross-cultural conversation with a pre-set notion of what it should be like, you will probably encounter serious difficulties at some point, no matter how good the list is.  Not only are cultures complex, but they are also “alive”.  They morph.  Things change.  And you need to adapt too… so be careful of your assumptions.

Instead of looking for fault, review your sales failures to try to identify where the wrong assumption first slipped into the cultural encounter. Get curious about the cultural differences.  Try to find the moment where a little misunderstanding first cropped up. Sometimes this moment happens before you realize there is a problem.

The better you become at pinpointing the precise time this happens, the easier it will be during your next cross-cultural encounter.  You will be able to guide the conversation away from wrong assumptions.  This is why I think this exercise of reviewing your past cross-cultural communication is one that helps the most in improving cultural skills. It is cross-cultural communication in practice.

What Is Your Experience Of This In International Sales?

• Do you think you know all of the assumptions you make during a cross-cultural enconter?
• Can you identify when wrong assumptions are made during a cross-cultural blunder
• What do you think you can do to avoid your cross-cultural friends coming to wrong assumptions?

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

Want To Get The Cross-Cultural Communication Tips?

Two Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges are currently available:

• Expand Your Mindset
• Get Extreme With Clarity

Get all of the tips from these 30 & 31 day challenges, and learn more about the other planned later this year:

• 2009 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges

All International Sales Best Practices

You can find the complete list of International Sales Best Practices published to date here:

• International Sales Best Practices

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Sales Best Practice – Track Your Assumptions

International Sales Best Practices

Today we drill down further into asking questions to avoid wrong assumptions and improve clarity in cross-cultural communication.

CCCC Tip #8 - Ask questions to get any specific information and avoid assumptions.

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.

OK, why is this here? Well, this is a mistake I often notice with people new to international business. Remember it is usually safe to assume that what is obvious to you is probably not obvious to someone from a different culture.

Cross-Cultural Communication Skills & Sales Best Practices

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

Today’s cross-cultural communication tip and the quote from Jeffrey Gitomer reminds to set the right framework. If you start off in the wrong place you will need to change places to get where you want to go.

One very common mistake in international business is to assume that every company in the world has employees with the exact same job title for the same job function. This is a wrong assumption.

If a “Job Title X” has a particular job function in your country and a different one in another country, you might be speaking to the wrong person.

Instead of insisting on finding the translation for the job title you arefamilar with it is usually much better to describe your needs, what you are looking for and then reconfirm this with the person concerned. This means asking specific questions.

The thing to remember is to carefully ask the right questions, and get specific when you need to, to set the framework for your encounter. No one likes wasting their time. Others appreciate a clearly defined framework. It makes the cross-cultural communication easier.

What Is Your Experience Of This In International Sales?

• Do you know if people with your equivalent job title have the same job function in other countries?
• How do you start off your international sales encounters?  Do you find it different?
• Do you often have to go back and give more details during cross-cultural sales encounters?

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

Want To Get The Cross-Cultural Communication Tips?

Two Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges are currently available:

• Expand Your Mindset
• Get Extreme With Clarity

Get all of the tips from these 30 & 31 day challenges, and learn more about the other planned later this year:

• 2009 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges

All International Sales Best Practices

You can find the complete list of International Sales Best Practices published to date here:

• International Sales Best Practices

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Sales Best Practice – Set The Framework

International Sales Best Practices

Instead of creating barriers in cross-cultural sales, here is another tip to improve clarity.

CCCC Tip #7 - Ask questions to clarify even the slightest uncertainty or assumption.

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.

Yes, this is an obvious piece of advice. The trouble is that you are probably very good at picking up uncertainty and wrong assumptions when communicating with people from your own culture. And this might make you brush this piece of advice aside.

Before going any further, let’s look at how this ties in with international sales best practices?

Cross-Cultural Communication Skills & Sales Best Practices

Here is a quote that comes to mind from Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book Of Sales Answers.

The trouble with cross-cultural sales is that cultural differences make it difficult to pick up on wrong assumptions and areas of uncertainty. One of the best ways to monitor this is to become good at finding the right questions to ask.

I do not think that you can sit down and learn a list of standard questions.  This will not work well. Instead of learning a list of questions by heart, I think it is best to focus on learning the cultural skills required. This means practice and acquiring several cultural skills to help you improve your questions:

• Curiosity
• Empathy or understanding the other person’s point of view
• Understanding the business fundamentals involved
• Flexibility

You see, it is not merely a case of firing out questions one after the other.  In cross-cultural sales you have to learn:

• How to ask the questions
• What the right questions are
• Which questions add to your credibility and which ones take away your credibility

So this obvious piece of advice is not always easy to master in cross-cultural communications.  Even skilled international professionals spend time thinking this through properly.

Good questions clarify uncertainties, avoid wrong assumptions and guide you through the international sales process.

What Is Your Experience Of This In International Sales?

• Do you always know which questions to ask in cross-cultural sales?
• Have you ever had a tiny question at the back of your mind during a cross-cultural sales encounter and let it go by without asking the question?
• Have you asked a question in a cross-cultural sales encounter and felt it came out wrong?

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

Want To Get The Cross-Cultural Communication Tips?

Two Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges are currently available:

• Expand Your Mindset
• Get Extreme With Clarity

Get all of the tips from these 30 & 31 day challenges, and learn more about the other planned later this year:

• 2009 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges

All International Sales Best Practices

You can find the complete list of International Sales Best Practices published to date here:

• International Sales Best Practices

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Sales Best Practice – Questions Clarify & Guide

International Sales Best Practices

Today is the first cross-cultural communication tip on how to avoid assumptions and get extreme with clarity.

CCCC Tip #6 - Ask follow up questions to confirm mutual understanding.

Remember to download the free calender for an easy reference to all of the 30 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge Tips on clarity.

Most sales professionals recognize the value of good questions.  In cross-cultural communication, the right questions are key to establishing clarity.

How does this tie in with international sales best practices?

Cross-Cultural Communication Skills & Sales Best Practices

Here is a quote to remember from Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book Of Sales Answers.

The most successful international professionals are masters at finding the right questions to ask.

The first 5 cross-cultural communication tips in this series are about listening.  Listening helps you to pick up any areas of your communication where you need more clarity. Asking the right questions helps you to bring clarity to your cross-cultural communication.

This is the first step in avoiding the wrong assumptions.

Although some people are better than others at finding the right questions to ask, this is a skill that improves with experience.

Great questions bring great results.  In cross-cultural communication great questions can speed up the sales cycle and in some case they make the sale much easier.  Great questions help create the connection and they also help build trust.

What Is Your Experience Of This In International Sales?

• Did you ever look back on a cross-cultural communication and see that you missed a question?
• How you often need to ask questions to clarify understanding in your cross-cultural communication?
• Do you think you can ask better questions in your cross-cultural communication?

If so, please share your comments below. I’d love to hear your stories!

Want To Get The Cross-Cultural Communication Tips?

Two Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges are currently available:

• Expand Your Mindset
• Get Extreme With Clarity

Get all of the tips from these 30 & 31 day challenges, and learn more about the other planned later this year:

• 2009 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges

All International Sales Best Practices

You can find the complete list of International Sales Best Practices published to date here:

• International Sales Best Practices

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Sales Best Practice – Ask The Right Questions

Improve Your International Marketing

Do you want to find the best marketing tactics to develop your international markets?

Before jumping into international marketing, you first did to be aware of why there are different marketing tactics.

It is easy to think that:

• Everyone shares your definitions of marketing terms everywhere else
• Marketing tactics that work well in your environment will work and definitely not harm your company in another environment
• A good marketing practice that works well in your environment can halt all business possibilities in another country

These assumptions can be wrong.  When you start off with an error in the foundation of your international marketing strategy, you will not get optimum results.

Let’s look at some assumptions that lead to confusion…

Different Definitions

People from other countries do not always have the same definition of marketing terms.

• Even if you think your have the right translation, this marketing term might mean something different in two different countries.
• There might be other cultural influences that affect the scope or meaning of your marketing term.  You might need to rethink your marketing strategy.

Some of the terms where I notice differences in definitions are:

• Brand marketing
• Cross-cultural marketing
• Global marketing
• Interactive marketing
• Intercultural marketing
• International marketing
• Multicultural marketing

These differences can be small.  But when you are establishing your marketing strategy, it helps to acknowledge these differences.  This enables you to find the best international marketing tactics for your business.

When coordinating with different cultures you always need to clarify definitions.

Marketing Sophistication

Another source of confusion I see is the difference in sophistication of marketing tactics used in different countries.

It is much easier to start at the very bottom of the basics.

No matter what marketing tactics you set up do not forget adapt the basics to your new foreign market:

• Your offer
• The positioning of your offer
• The positioning of your company

When you get these right you will usually know how to choose the best marketing tactics to open your international markets.

Different Marketing Environments

Different countries have different marketing environments.

One marketing tactic may work well in one country and may not work in other cultures.

It is easy for marketing professionals to make assumptions.  But they also quickly learn to verify assumptions before approaching new international markets.

Awareness Leads To The Right Questions

Yes, some assumptions can lead to confusion.

Most marketing professionals notice when a wrong assumption is made and start asking questions to correct it almost immediately.

We also need time to notice problems.  And, in practice, we do not always have this time.

Awareness is the key.

Simply being aware of the danger of  wrong assumptions usually gets you to spend an extra minute or two to question the right tactic to use.  Questions help cross cultural barriers.

Knowing when to ask the right questions at the right time is one of the first  international skills you acquire through experience.

More To Improve Your International Marketing

• Branding And Building An International Business
• Marketing Maturity At Different Stages
• Marketing Tactics For Different Countries

Don’t Miss:

• International Web Marketing
• Improve Your International Web Marketing

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Marketing Tactics For Different Countries