Aligning businesses with different cultures

International Sales

My recent article on the definition of an International Sales Specialist raised a few questions on what makes a good international sales specialist.

Broad Base Of International Skills

First, I have to say that I distinguish different levels of international skills. The experts are easy to identify.  They always remain professional no matter where they are.

Their experience in multiple cultures is almost palpable.

• They do not get unnerved easily.
• They do not need guidance often in adapting to new cultures.
• If they need to ask a question it sounds like a question from another native and not a foreigner.

Here is something interesting…

All of the people I have met with expert international skills have been more quiet in nature.  They do not boast about their experience.  They have a certain humility about them.

Their quietness is a distinct contrast to the “international experts” with “expertise” in a small number of different cultural environments or regions.

International skills cover a broad range of interpersonal skills that help you adapt to different business environments.

Ability To Adapt To Different Cultures

Now, there are some people who do acquire international skills but do not adapt to different cultures well.

For example, these are people who live in a foreign country, but do not make the effort to understand and meet the other culture. [click to continue...]

Cross-Cultural Glimpses Of Society

Another interesting coincidence happened recently.

• I wrote about how political correctness puts up barriers to effective cross-cultural communication.
• A reader was offended by my use of the word “foreign”… and she also derailed into a series of insults.

Politically Incorrect?

To this reader, it is politically incorrect to refer to people or groups of people, and anything that can be linked to them, as “foreign”.  She finds the word “foreign” insulting.

Apparently “international” is the polite term.

Reasons Behind Offense

Now I have not heard this one before.

So I do not know whether:

• There is an English speaking community anywhere that systematically takes offense to the word “foreign”.
• There is a group of non-native English speakers anywhere that finds the English word “foreign” offensive.
• This was just an abused person venting her own frustrations.

After a little investigation it is apparent that this person is not English mother-tongue.

When Foreigners Take Offense

This raises an interesting issue. [click to continue...]

Small businesses not used to intercultural communication, can easily find dealing with international prospects challenging. It is sometimes hard to figure out exactly how your sales message has been received. You may have difficulty understanding what your international prospect needs to hear from you.

Just like with your own local leads, some of international prospects can appear to be ready to make the sale, some are hesitant and some just do not appear to be interested. With international clients, it is often not easy to interpret their reactions.

How do you know if you should step up your sales pitch, slow down or if it would be better to pass the ball to one of your colleagues who is a different gender than you are?

Often you naturally realize that you need to do a little more adjusting in your communication style to fit your international prospect.

This is especially true when your client is not following you, or appears to want to be someplace else in your sales process. The result is that you may appear less professional than you would want. Destabilizing situations can arise.

Things can even become comical. Or worse, you can have a frustrated prospect losing patience with you and moving on. Your international clients like to feel understood. How do you avoid this type of scenario? There is only one thing to do.

Open your high power listening antennas and proceed slowly. Ask your prospect simple questions to confirm what he needs to have addressed.

Adjust your communication accordingly. If your prospect appears excited about your product or service, reconfirm this a few times. This will give him the time to assimilate things more deeply.

If your prospect appears to be uninterested, do not assume you should not spend time with him. This may be normal for him. He might be used to different sales practices and needs time to adjust to yours.

Again, put on your high power listening antennas and proceed slowly. Ask questions to confirm what he needs to have addressed. If you prospect seems to be hanging around, find out what is of interest to him in your product or service and get him to open up. Sometimes international prospects require a little more personal attention in the beginning.

Creating a multicultural relationship requires time and effort for both parties. The extra time can well be worth the investment. International prospects can become very loyal long term customers if they are happy with your products and services.

Good international clients will often provide you with much more word of mouth advertising than your local clients. When you think you have mastered the international communication skills to handle your international prospects, remember to set up a systematic case study and referral strategy.

At the time of sale when your international prospects actually become your clients, gently initiate conversation about your company’s Case Study plan.

Talk to them, ask what they are hoping to get out of your product, if they have had any specific problems they are hoping to solve with your product, And then tell your new international client that you have a company plan where you follow up with clients at the appropriate time to see how they liked the product.

Ask if you could do that with their company. Who should you call? International clients will often be happy for such communication.

This will also show them you are very interested in serving them even if they are located far away.

This article is part of a series on International Market Research. Here are the other articles in this series:

• Take Action To Uncover International Business Opportunities
• 7 Initial Market Research Ideas To Define Your First International Expansion
• Initial International Market Research Can Feel Like A Cliff Hanger
• International Market Research - Don’t Get Stumped When Digital Age Communication Fails
• 5 Success Keys For Small Businesses Developing Into International Markets
• 5 Factors To Consider When Marketing To Different Cultures
• Music In Cultural Differences

Small businesses complicate their efforts in trying to uncover international business opportunities. Their own personal actions have far more impact on their success than relying on translators and looking for foreign joint venture partners. The small actions you can take at home will have more immediate impact on your international business development than the services you can buy. Why is this?

The more interaction you have in learning more about your foreign markets, the more you will be able to equate your acquired market knowledge with the products and services you sell. Yes, you will probably end up needing the services from your target market.

But the knowledge you can acquire from the countries where you would like to grow your business is priceless.

Sure translations are important. Adapting your sales materials to for a perfect cultural fit is important. But if you can start off from where you are, with what you have, you will learn a lot more in the process and you will make a better choice when seeking to get those foreign services.

Actions - If You Already Have Some International Clients Or Prospects:

• Develop those contacts further, so that you can learn more about those clients. - Call them up.
• Find the appropriate person to speak with.
• Talk to him.
• Ask him if he liked your products and why.
• Ask how he finds your products different to what he can buy locally.
• Ask him if he knows anyone else locally who could benefit from your product.

Actions - If You Do Not Already Have International Clients And Don’t Know Where To Start:

• Which market do you think your product might sell well in?
• Or is there an international market that really attracts you?
• Choose a country and start researching.
• Google your competition in that country.
• Use Google Advance Search to set the country.
• Use automatic website translation software to read online.
• Get a feel for the market.
• Then pick up your phone, call your embassy in that country.
• Are there any other associations in that country for professionals from your country living there?
• Get on the phone and start talking to people.
• If you feel you are not getting anywhere, change your conversation style.
• Ask different questions.

You need to know as much as possible about each specific foreign market. Start off slowly, one country at a time. Make a concentrated effort to understand everyone’s opinion. You will begin to see a path to take.

Next Step

Once you have a basic understanding of your foreign market. Create a localized website, in your target country. Start with a mirror image of your main website. You will need to adapt your communication to local cultures. Ask for local market feedback. Depending on your target market you may be able to do this in your own language. You may want to set up a landing page with a survey for locals in their own language. It would probably be a mistake to translate your entire main website before getting feedback from your target market. Keep any translations to a minimum in the first stage. Think of the actions you can take to build relationships with these foreign clients. Do not be afraid of language barriers. Simply present yourself truthfully and show your eagerness to learn how to do business in their culture. When people see your willingness to meet them on their territory, they will notice you. The more action you take, the more you will be visible and the faster you will open your new international markets. This article is part of a series on International Market Research. Here are the other articles in this series:

• 7 Initial Market Research Ideas To Define Your First International Expansion
• Initial International Market Research Can Feel Like A Cliff Hanger
• International Market Research - Don’t Get Stumped When Digital Age Communication Fails
• 5 Success Keys For Small Businesses Developing Into International Markets
• How To Learn From Intercultural Communication Difficulties
• 5 Factors To Consider When Marketing To Different Cultures
• Music In Cultural Differences

Companies often adopt a progressive approach to localization. In part due to the time it takes to translate the website, the investment in translation, and also to refine the local marketing strategies.

In this case, the company will localize the website before translating all of the web content. Local users respond well to this if they have something in their local language and you show them clearly where to go to find further information. The key is to keep the links open to the more detailed information during the transition and to label them clearly and appropriately for the native user.

For your localized website to communicate well you need a certain depth of content. As translation costs are expensive and time consuming, companies often prefer to take this transition slowly, to adopt their website as closely as their website templates allow them to the local markets.

This is why initial localized websites often feel little more than a brochure and do not create a good user experience. If you give some thought to this transition process, the website can be transparent about what the extent of translations. This gives the user control over his experience with your website. Online communication will continue.

The localization of your website also involves tailoring various website elements to the local culture. Icons, photos, local holidays, date and time formats and search engine promotions.

Only after all of these elements have been researched and modified will the international user feel « at home ». Your website is then operational in a foreign country. This is website localization.

International Market Research

Small businesses have a great challenge if they are based in one country and selling to another country. Understanding the demographics of your foreign markets will make you more sales.

But it is often hard to really get into the demographics of your international markets. It can be hard to stretch yourself to fully understand cultural differences and the consequences in your sales and marketing strategies.

This is also complicated by single language markets made up of many, many different cultures. You not only have one set of specific demographic characteristics. You can literally have dozens.

The best place to start is to determine specific demographic information for each of your target markets, and to move on from there. The process actually gets easier the more cultures you adapt to. Your company will get faster at understanding how to adapt to each different culture.

An interesting example was how MTV adapted its music to each country. There are two main factors that came in to play.

• Music is culturally different in each culture.
• MTV targets a younger audience and youth do not have the same lives in different cultures.

MTV realized early on that they needed to adapt their music to the culture in each country. This is fairly easy to understand.

But what was interesting was that they realized that in some countries the vast majority of households only had one television set. Therefore their television shows would also have to be culturally acceptable to other generations. If the older generations were offended in any way, MTV would not be turned on.

Demographics do need to studied and defined for each culture. It is a very enriching experience. Fully understanding your international markets will show you the opportunities for your international business growth.

Here are a few more International Market Research articles:
- Here’s A Blog To Help Your International Market Research
- Why Is International Market Research So Important?
- How Do You Learn About Your International Markets?
- How To Know Where Your International Markets Really Are With Business Blogging
- How Do Your Foreign Prospects Use Their Search Engines
- 5 Factors To Consider When Marketing To Different Cultures 

Website Internationalization

Some companies feel they have a global market e-commerce with an online presence. But are the international clients coming to your online store? And if they are, how did they find you?
Does your online website have a real presence in foreign countries?

Once you have a local or national business operating through a website, there are a few steps you can take to develop your market further abroad.
Targeting international markets still involves the same type of market analysis you needed for your current business. Often a bit more market analysis is needed to allow for the cultural adaptation of your products.

This market research is multiplied by the number of countries you would like to do business in.

Assess Your Communication

Then you must step back and look at your current means of communication. The website you have for your own local market. How would foreigners react to your website?
There are a few general questions to ask yourself:

• Is your website clear and easy to understand?
• Could an 8 year old easily understand what your company does?
• Do you only provide an 800 number? Do foreigners know how to reach you? Put in your local land line telephone number. Give your full physical address.
• Is your order form compatible for international addresses, or does it get stuck if you don’t put in an American State code? Make sure your order forms have enough lines for foreign addresses.
• Do you use one specific word for things? – having two or three ways for saying one thing makes it harder for foreigners to follow you. Choose between “car” and “vehicle”. It is a good idea to create a glossary of company terms – you will greatly appreciate this later on.
• Do you use specific cultural expressions or slang? Keep your communication easy to understand by everyone.
• Does your website refer to specific national holidays? Is that something you should change?
• Do you have any embedded words in your diagrams? Avoid them and it will make it easy for you to translate any images later on.

Making these changes should not take away the strength of your sales message to your local market. The good practices for an effective website in your local market are very similar. Taking those local good practices a little further will open your website up for international expansion.
Your communication will become clearer to your international clients.
Once you make these transitions to your current website you will be on your way to your next transition towards an international business: Localized Websites.

Don’t miss the business guide on Get International Clients
-Website Internationalization 101

Here are a few more Website Internationalization articles:
- How To Get Your Communication Platform Ready For International Marketing
- Why I Am Creating An Information Product On Website Internationalization
- Write A Better International Website
- Buying Logos For International Websites
- Design Websites For Speed In International Internet Marketing
- First Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
- Stop Pushing Your Foreign Visitors Away
- Easy Content For All Of Your Web Site Readers
- Be Reachable To Everyone
- Show The World Your Location
- An Easy To Read Website For Your International Visitors First Impression
- Is Your Website Sabotaging Your International Business Development?

International Business Development

Small businesses complicate their efforts in trying to uncover international business opportunities. Their own personal actions have far more impact on their success than relying on translators and looking for foreign joint venture partners.

The small actions you can take at home will have more immediate impact on your international business development than the services you can buy. Why is this? The more interaction you have in learning more about your foreign markets, the more you will be able to equate your acquired market knowledge with the products and services you sell.

Yes, you will probably end up needing the services from your target market. But the knowledge you can acquire from the countries where you would like to grow your business is priceless.

Sure translations are important. Adapting your sales materials to for a perfect cultural fit is important. But if you can start off from where you are, with what you have, you will learn a lot more in the process and you will make a better choice when seeking to get those foreign services.

Actions : If you already have some international clients or prospects :

- Develop those contacts further, so that you can learn more about those clients. - Call them up.
- Find the appropriate person to speak with.
- Talk to him.
- Ask him if he liked your products and why.
- Ask how he finds your products different to what he can buy locally.
- Ask him if he knows anyone else locally who could benefit from your product.

Actions : If you do not already have international clients and don’t know where to start:

- Which market do you think your product might sell well in?
- Or is there an international market that really attracts you?
- Choose a country and start researching.
- Google your competition in that country.
- Use Google Advance Search to set the country.
- Use automatic website translation software to read online.
- Get a feel for the market.
- Then pick up your phone, call your embassy in that country.
- Are there any other associations in that country for professionals from your country living there?
- Get on the phone and start talking to people.
- If you feel you are not getting anywhere, change your conversation style.
- Ask different questions.

You need to know as much as possible about each specific foreign market. Start off slowly, one country at a time. Make a concentrated effort to understand everyone’s opinion. You will begin to see a path to take.

Next Step

Once you have a basic understanding of your foreign market. Create a localized website, in your target country. Start with a mirror image of your main website.

You will need to adapt your communication to local cultures. Ask for local market feedback. Depending on your target market you may be able to do this in your own language.

You may want to set up a landing page with a survey for locals in their own language. It would probably be a mistake to translate your entire main website before getting feedback from your target market. Keep any translations to a minimum in the first stage.

Think of the actions you can take to build relationships with these foreign clients. Do not be afraid of language barriers. Simply present yourself truthfully and show your eagerness to learn how to do business in their culture.

When people see your willingness to meet them on their territory, they will notice you. The more action you take, the more you will be visible and the faster you will open your new international markets.

Here are a few more International Business Development articles:
- European eCommerce Market Still Strong
- Should Successful Internet Marketers Get Into International Marketing?
- Online Success? Study Traditional Paths To International Business Development For More
- Action Strategy For International Business Development
- The Business Of Content
- Brick And Mortar Companies Use Information Products For International Business Development
- Is The Expense Of Foreign Travel Stopping You From Getting International Clients?
- New International Business Development Phase Today With The Right Marketing Mix
- Boost Your Company Way Out Of Your Local Recession Field
- Case Study For Getting Your Website Visible In Japan
- Information Products Can Save Your Business In A Slow Economy
- Internet Success For An Isolated Brick and Mortar Store
- Third Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
- Internet Strategies For French PME
- International Marketing Strategy For Small Businesses - The Right Mindset

Website Localization

As a small business owner would you like to develop your international business? Would you like to reach an international audience as wide as possible? Even if you already have a global website, you will reach more people simply by translating your website into more languages. How do you select which languages to use?

Do a little internet surfing and you will see that some companies have websites in over 10 languages. Businesses are offering over 20 languages are more common than in the past and the increase in choices of language is rising each year.

Deciding how many languages and which languages to use for your website takes time. How do you decide which languages to use when translation costs can be expensive and cultural marketing mistakes are notorious?

The choice of languages, and website translations, can take time. But this is not the first step. The first step important for your international business development is preparation for future multiple multilingual websites.

By simply being aware of the steps involved in website globalization you will avoid common pitfalls. It will save you time and money in the long run if you prepare for their future implementation right from the start when creating your local website. Preparing for progressive growth today can prove a key element in reaching all of your international markets tomorrow.

Sufficient preparation will give you the key market information you need to make your websites truly global.

Translation is not the only key element to a fully customized global website. There are four main areas for success global websites.

Language

The first is obviously the language. To reach 80% of today’s internet users you need to communicate in at least 10 languages. The long time standard choice of languages, French, Italian, German and Spanish, will no longer suffice. In addition to the larger countries with high internet user demographics, the smaller developing countries can also represent a great market to target.

Companies can surprise themselves by choosing languages they did not think of just a short time ago. Many of the companies now offering over 20 languages did not imagine they would offer so many languages so quickly. Plan for expansion.

For best results, plan on extending the choice of languages your website is available in. The expansion of internet users is still underway. Internet demographics are changing.

The trend is confirmed. More and more businesses are increasing the number of languages available on their website. Part of the reason is due to business globalization. Also, internet users all over the world are also expecting to find more information in their own languages. This is why companies are expanding their choice of languages so dramatically.

Localization

The localization of your website is also a critical factor in bringing your online business global. What is localization? Localization involves the complete translation of your website, and registration in all of the appropriate local directories.

Not all websites are located in the same country. There is not one search engine that references every single website in the world in all languages. Google is the number one ranked search engine. Google is not the number one ranking search engine in every language in every country. There are many search engine options available that are specific to one language.

A user in a foreign country will probably use his local search engine, in his own language, when looking up information on the web. You can create a local website. Or you can register your website in the appropriate local directories in the local language. If you cannot be found, your translation costs are worthless.

Companies often adopt a progressive approach to localization. In part due to the time it takes to translate the website, the investment in translation, and also to refine the local marketing strategies.

In this case, the company will localize the website before all of the content is translated into the local language. Local users respond well to this if they have something in their local language and they are clearly shown where to go to find further information – see Navigation Techniques. The key is to keep the links open to the more detailed information during the transition and to label them clearly.

For your localized website to communicate well you need a certain depth of content. As translation costs are expensive and time consuming, companies often prefer to take this transition slowly, to adopt their website as closely as their website templates allow them to the local markets.

This is why initial localized websites often feel little more than a brochure and do not create a good user experience. If a little thought is given to this transition process, the website can be transparent about what has been translated or not. This gives the user control over his experience with your website and does not stop communication.

The localization of your website also involves tailoring various website elements to the local culture. Icons, photos, local holidays, date and time formats and search engine promotions. Only after all of these elements have been researched and modified will the international user feel “at home”.

Navigation Techniques

Another key element to a successful global online business is the use of appropriate navigation techniques. This will help users to find their local language website quickly and easily. Some .com websites have more than half of their traffic from internet users abroad. These international users should be directed as easily as possible to their local websites. There is no perfect navigation strategy. The key is to find the best solution for your business and your users.

There are a few techniques you can choose from to direct traffic to your local website. However the techniques are evolving as the number of languages is increasing. With this increase in languages it is easy to understand the decline of the pull down language menu. There are just too many languages being offered now. Also, the use of flags is not as popular as in the past.

Today, the techniques generally considered include using a country domain name. Some companies, such as Google, have done very well with geolocation and language recognition. And the rising trend is to use a splash global gateway or a permanent global gateway.

As you choose which techniques are best suited for your company, remember two rules of international business etiquette:
1. Indicate the foreign language in the foreign language and script.
2. Remain neutral. Do not show favoritism for a particular country.

The best thing is to check out what others are doing in industries similar to yours and to keep checking to see any new trends. With the increase in countries being targeted, even more navigation techniques are sure to be developed.

Company Branding

The last key element for a successful global website is consistency across cultures. One of the best tools for ensuring consistency is using web templates. Templates ensure the same company branding across cultures.

But the reason why templates are such an important element to a successful global business is the savings in time and money. Templates make it easier to manage websites in multiple languages. You will naturally choose templates that are easy to modify into different languages and templates that are compatible in different countries. Your technical teams will find it easier and quicker to work with templates. They eliminate technical issues such as resizing. Your sales and marketing teams will also appreciate them. Templates make international promotions a lot easier; your marketing reactivity will be quicker.

Templates have a huge impact on the cost of translation and timeframe for implementation. Translations of web content can take longer than foreseen.

As stated earlier, when companies first set up a localized website they often only translate the basic outline of their website into the local language. And then they often decide to look for a better adaptation of their web content for local markets. Templates can provide companies the framework needed.

Using company wide web templates does not restrict local websites. Web templates are designed with multiple translations and multiple local websites. This will actually help the local websites by having less design elements to translate.

Consistency in the language used is also very important and often over looked. This is a good tool to have in place even if your website is in one language, especially if your website has a lot of content or gives specialized details.

When multiple translations are made from one document consistency in language is critical for accuracy. Inconsistent language can easily lead to errors in translation giving users the wrong information.

The best tool to use for language consistency is a company glossary. Establishing a company glossary before printing any written content is a good move.

Using a consistent vocabulary on the main website will also make it easier for foreign users to understand your message. It will also help the translators in their job.

Prepare For International Growth

What can you do to prepare your company for international expansion? Even if you are a small business with little or no current international clients, take the time to plan for the development of a globalized website. Include this step as part of your international business strategy.

A little thought while setting up your main website will help you make the transition into multiple language websites a lot smoother. A little preparation beforehand will save you time and money when you actually need the translations. You will be able to respond quickly and appropriately as your international business grows.

Don’t limit your company’s international potential by not seeing beyond your needs today. Start preparing for the international expansion your global internet company promises you tomorrow.

Don’t miss this business guide on Get International Clients
-Website Internationalization 101

Here are a few more Website Internationalization articles:
- Analyze Your Foreign Prospects Navigation Habits
- Second Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
- Localization Is A Door To Innovation
- Which Directories are You Relying on?