Being Client-Centric in a Global Marketplace (1st of a 4 part series)
Selling into or building relationships in markets other than your own? Being client-centric can be a challenge if you’re not aware of or familiar with local customs and preferences for doing business in that market. This can even be a challenge when we’re trying to build relationships in opposite ends of our own countries - but it certainly gets magnified when we venture into different countries and continents.
As the world gets smaller and firms look to grow their businesses in markets on foreign soil, I felt it prudent to cover the concept of client-centricity in global markets in this blog. Enjoy this first in a series of posts on Being Client Centric in a Global Marketplace, brought to you by Dr. Ted Vokes and Gerjon Kalaci of Alexa Translations Inc.
Building business relationships and devising sales strategies for markets with which you are familiar can be challenging in their own right. Doing this in markets foreign to you can add a significant layer of complexity and uncertainty without the appropriate background and understanding of the respective culture.
If your sales goals involve foreign soil, it is no longer a bonus but a necessity of the marketplace to add cultural competence to your repertoire of strengths.
Cultural competence allows you to answer questions like these with confidence so that you don’t miss an opportunity to add value and differentiate yourself:
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How do I approach prospective clients in this culture?
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What priorities and values must be respected by my approach and rationale?
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Are there necessary protocols to observe prior to discussing business, or should we just get down to it?
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What venue is appropriate for conducting business? If it is out of office, where should it be and who should pay?
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When do I implement my sales strategy? Should I turn the conversation to business, or wait to be invited to discuss my product or service?
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To whom do I direct my attention when making my “pitch”? What form should it take?
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How do I interpret the reaction of my audience?
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What are the signs that things are going well or when there is real interest?
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How do I know when I am being told “no”?
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How do I recognize when a deal is “dead”?
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How assertive should I be?
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What are the appropriate follow up measures?
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Is it appropriate to upsell?
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What are the “deal killers” that I should avoid at all costs?
The answers to these questions and more, always depend on the culture within which you are seeking to conduct business. And, these cultural variances can differ not only from country to country, but also from region to region, within the same country.
Can you afford not to know the answers to questions like these?
In the next post in this series, we offer key considerations for doing business in BRIC (Brazil/Russia/India/China) countries.
Client-Centric Selling with the Agreement Based Sales® Program and the LEAP Adult Learning® System.