Cross-Cultural Communication 30-Day Challenge – Build Trust
This is the last tip on doing what you promise in order to build trust in cross-cultural communication. Here are the previous tips:
- Tip 11 – Clearly explain what you promise
- Tip 12 -Be sure you know what your international client expects of you
- Tip 13 -Deliver what you promise
- Tip 14 -Confirm that your international client recieved what was promised and expected
The tips 1 through 5 on building trust are about smoothing the differences. Tips 6 through 10 are about cultivating quiet self-confidence. Tips 11 through 15 are specifically about doing what you promise. From tomorrow onwards the next 5 tips will be about being honest. By the end of the month we will cover 6 different aspects on how to build trust.
Do What You Promise
In the previous tips we covered how it is important in cross-cultural communication to have a mutual understanding of what is promised or expected. With cultural differences this can be challenging.
- Different people can use the same words but understand different meanings
- People do not always realize the unspoken expectations they have
- It can be difficult for different cultures to notice and understand these unspoken expectations
Trust In Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge – Tip 15
Be quick to discuss any change in your promise to international clients
In general, international business professionals strive to keep their promises. They are aware of what they promise and what has to be done.
When You Cannot Keep Your Promise
But things do not always go as planned, do they? What do you do? In international business situations I have seen people react differently than they would with their usual clients. Cross-cultural sales usually require a bit more effort. They can take a fair bit of personal investment. And some people can be reticent at the idea of having to go back and reopen those discussions. There can be a reaction of:
- Let’s wait and see
- Let’s do what we can with what we’ve got up and give our international client an simple explanation later on
- Let’s continue, this change is not important anyways
These reactions can easily backfire on you because:
- International clients will be nervous about losing their money with a foreign company, they will probably have their antennas up to notice anything out of place.
- Different cultures do things differently, your international clients will probably be more curious than your other clients.
- It is a small world and you would be surprised at who knows who.
- The fact that they do not speak your language as well as you do, does not mean that they do not fully understand what is going on.
- With cultural differences they could understand something far worse.
When there is a change to any element in your promise to an international client, you need to immediately stop and think of your international client. Usually the your best option is to immediately be honest and upfront with your international client.
Sophisticated Practices With Different Cultures
Cusiness can get sophisticated and many international professionals deal with complex environments. The problem is that these sophisticated practices may not be the same in other cultures.
- They may not be understood
- They may go against the other person’s culture
The danger in these cultures where the same sophisticated practices are not common, is that these cultures could perceive these practices as not being “right”… not what you promised. And you can lose their trust in the blink of an eye.
The Dilemma
I gave these two examples to show why I much prefer being honest with your international clients at all times.
In most cases, I found the risk of cultural blunders due to a delay in sharing information far greater than the risk of losing business because of an unhappy client.
But, I will admit that there have been complex situations where I have delayed letting my international client know about a change in my promise to him… for a short time only. But this decision was only after a detailed analysis of strategic business issues and it was taken with solid cross-cultural expertise. In addition, it was taken with full disclosure to my management.
One of the reasons why you cannot keep this decision to yourself is to be prepared in the event the client contacts someone else in your company.
This was an exception. In almost all cases the best solution is to immediately open a discussion with your international client.
Create A Relationship With One Person
It is not always a bad thing when you are forced to change your promise to your international client. Of course, it depends what you are actually going to change: if he has ordered a product you can no longer deliver, you do have a problem. But if the color or the size he wants is only available in a few weeks the outcome of the customer experience might not be so bad.
Why?
It is an opportunity of building trust. When you react immediately, open a discussion with your client and show him that you care about him and are also actively working on satisfying his needs, this builds trust.
This is not new for seasoned business professionals, and yet I have seen many of these same people become overwhelmed or over-impressed by cross-cultural differences and decide that another tactic would be better.
Instead of looking at one big picture of an unfamiliar culture, focus on one person.
It is an opportunity to develop a stronger relationship with your central business contact. International business professionals are good at connecting with people. With experience although they never underestimate the value of any of their client company’s employees, they do identify one central business contact.
Who is your central business contact? Well, depending on the culture you are dealing with, the person with whom you create this strong business relationship may or may not be the person who signs the check. He may not be the person you need to talk to in detail about the changes in your promise. But he will be the person responsible for the relationship with your business.
What about committees? Different cultures have different group dynamics. Cultural differences will impact how you should proceed. In most cases, it is still best to identify the right person to ask on how to proceed before taking any action. Your action also depends on what has changed in your promise. A close relationship with someone who understands the cultural etiquette can prove to be a precious resource in situations where there is a group involved.
International Business Is Based On Relationships
The thing to remember is not to let cultural differences stop you from creating relationships of trust with your international clients. When you are quick to share any changes to your promise, people usually understand. They may not be as forgiving if they think you sat on the information before telling them.
Business is personal and international business is full of surprises. How you handle these surprises effects your international success. International business is based on relationships of trust.
What about you?
- Do you have any stories about international companies not delivering what they promised?
- How do you tell international clients when there is a change is what you promised to deliver to them?
- Have cultural differences ever made it difficult for you to make changes to an original international sales agreement?
Get All Cross-Cultural Communication Tips:
- Read more about all of the 2009 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges
- Cross Cultural Communication Challenge 1 – Expand Your Mindset
- Cross Cultural Communication Challenge 2 – Get Extreme With Clarity
- Cross Cultural Communication Challenge 3 – Build Trust
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| Mindset | Clarity | Trust |
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| Expand Your Mindset | Get Extreme With Clarity | Build Trust |
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