Don’t Waste Your Time Negotiating With The Wrong Person

Cindy King — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:00:32 +0000

Don’t fall into the first cross cultural communication minefield of not thoroughly identifying the right person you need to negotiate with.

International business negotiations are not easy to navigate. Sometimes even the simplest of assumptions right at the beginning can lead you astray.

It’s true, wasting your time negotiating with the wrong person does not happen often. But when it does, it can lead to a fiasco. You waste a lot of your time and increase your foreign lead costs. But you might even jeopardise your future business relationship.

Do not automatically assume you know whether you are speaking with the right person or not, especially if this is your first international business negotiation or if you are dealing with a culture extremely different from yours on several levels. You don’t want to everyone around you to see you on a wild goose chase.

Cultural differences can complicate simple communication. It is not always obvious to understand how a foreign company’s management is structured.

You might assume it is similar to what you are familiar with.
A key word might have been translated poorly.
A job junction simply might not have an accurate translation into your language.

And in some cross cultural communication it can take both parties some time in understanding who should be speaking to who.

You might be perceived as not being the right company representative to meet with the appropriate person in your prospects company.
Politeness is easily misinterpreted in any cross cultural communication and in business environments the correct way of doing things varies from culture to culture.

This is one of the advantages of teamwork in international sales. Two people see more than one person. Often one person is specifically assigned to picking up cross cultural communication signals.

Remember to verify whether you are indeed negotiating with the right person early in your communications.

Some people may take offense if asked outright. Most people will even accept a straightforward question if it is early in your communication. But there are always more polite ways of verifying. And you can include a short follow-up cross verification in any of your correspondence in writing shortly afterwards.

Good cross cultural communication skills are all about clarity and trust. Establishing the right negotiation partner is the first part of the international sales process.

Cindy King's International Business Blog » cross cultural communication blunders

Don’t Waste Your Time Negotiating With The Wrong Person

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