Aligning businesses with different cultures

Readers often ask me for my opinion on whether they have an international market or not.

The short answer is that no matter what anyone thinks, you are the only one that can find the answer that question.

Here are a few guidelines to help you:

Elimination

First eliminate the obvious restrictions on international trade.

• Lethal products have restrictions

But do not automatically exclude international sales.

• It is usually not viable to sell fresh baked bread to foreign country, but a bakery would easily sell information products to international clients

This step requires a minimum level of common sense and some basic research.

Research Possibilities

Next, research some possibilities.This is a wide sweeping exercise.

• What do you have to sell?

International sales implies international clients.  And this means that you have something to sell to them.

• What would other people in other countries be willing to buy from you?

This is a tricky question, because you may not know what expertise or products you have that interest people in other countries.

When in doubt:

• Get on the phone and ask questions
• Research
• Test your idea

Test Your Idea

The best way for you to know whether you have an international market is to carry out a small test.  Rub elbows with your foreign clients.

The type of test you run depends on your business.

Ideally you need to get direct feedback from your international clients on your products.

If this is not possible you may decide to approach professionals that import similar products and get feedback at this level.

The Actions You Take Will Give You The Answer

There are many examples where people succeed in selling products into foreign markets, and there are also examples where people fail.  This is understandably why people are cautious.

The truth is that only your actions will tell you whether you nave an international market.   As you take action there are a few variables:

• Your product
• The country you are selling to
• Your timing

And there are also many other variables within each of these.

Test your idea on a small scale, and you will learn how to manoeuvre these variables in selling to international markets, whether you start off with an excellent product match or not.

More From Cindy

Interested in reading more on my personal opinions and experiences with cultural communication and international sales?

CindyKing.biz on cross-cultural communication

Read the whole story

This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 1 Discover Your International Business Be sure to check out the other useful tips to discover your international business.

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• Instructions on how to use Your International Sales Road Map

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• A complete list of current Core Business Guides & Sub Guides for Your International Sales Road Map.

Still confused? Review your answers in the first Core Business Guide

• Core Business Guide 1 – Discover Your International Business

Simply click on one of the 8 different color coded boxes immediately below to access other core business guides.

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...]

Mind-Set In Cross-Cultural Communication

Cross-cultural communication is not an exact science. When you begin a cross-cultural business conversation for the first time, you cannot be sure where it will end.

Within cultures, people are different. Within the same cultural group:

• There are different ways of saying hello
• There are different ways of being polite
• There are different ways of being respectful

Most people do not fully understand the way in which differences in cultures, and even within cultures, impact communication. Let’s look at how people approach cross-cultural communication. [click to continue...]

International Website Design

You need good web design for good online results

For any website aimed at an international audience, be it a personal blog or a corporation website, the web design is even more critical for acceptance.

Good website design can be the difference between a first time visitors leaving after a couple of seconds or adding your site to their favorites.

Here are seven tips to help improve your design: [click to continue...]

International Business Negotiations

As a North American International Sales & Marketing professional in Europe for over 20 years I have a fair bit of negotiation experience between North Americans and Europeans. As I was often the most multilingual person in the office I was often called in desperation when my colleagues thought all communications had be permanently severed with their clients.

There is one essential thing I picked up: if you are well prepared you will be able to navigate the cross-cultural negotiation challenges that inevitably pop up.

So, before any cross-cultural meeting don’t skip the essential preparation. Set aside enough time to sit down, think about the person you will be meeting and clearly identify: [click to continue...]

International Content Creation

What small business development tool will allow a company to communicate internationally and also provide feedback from foreign leads and clients?

Would you believe a Two Page Monthly Newsletter translated into the language of your international target market?

With a little thought and preparation a two page monthly newsletter is the best platform for a small business to start an integrated international marketing plan.

Limiting your monthly newsletter to 2 pages makes it very versatile and limits translation costs. The newsletter can be printed recto-verso on demand from your own office printer. There are many cultures where a hard copy is considered important. A hard copy is seen to have more value than an email. Using your office printer eliminates expensive publishing costs. A factor small businesses really appreciate when they are just starting to develop your international client base. [click to continue...]

I often see two barriers to effective international marketing.  The barrier usually depends on the size of the company.

Small And Very Small Companies

Most of the small companies do not really have a marketing strategy.  They assume international marketing is a website.

And occasionally, if they realize this is not enough, they look for specific internet tactics to find the right solution.

Larger Companies

What happens here is inaction.

I have come across different excuses for the inaction, but inaction is the main barrier to establishing an effective international marketing strategy.

Company Centered Barriers

Now if you talk to company executives who are struggling with their international business development, you will often hear market-centered excuses.

• Language barriers
• Market differences
• No market for our products

…that sort of thing.

They focus on perceived market-centered barriers.

Now, let’s go back…

Have a closer look at the two barriers I gave earlier:

• No real marketing strategy
• Inaction

These are company-centered barriers.

International Marketing Gives You The Answers

In order to develop your business abroad you absolutely need to understand each of your international markets.

If you think you can target one broad international audience without digging deeper into each specific country and culture, have a look at these two articles:

• 5 Traditional Marketing Steps To Become An International Business
• The 7 Traditional Paths To International Business Development

Review these with your own business and then read this:

• Why Selling To Everyone Is Too Expensive

In international business development your international marketing gives you information you need to make your overall strategy.

Even when you use preliminary market research to guide your international business expansion, you will still need to rely very heavily on your international marketing.

International marketing performs two important tasks.  It gives you the information you need to:

• Make the best decisions for your overall business strategies.
• Find out how each of your foreign markets wants to be sold to.

A Real International Marketing Strategy

Marketing is about communicating with your market. You aim for a two way relationship to make sales.  International marketing is the same, but with international markets.

Imagine giving a speech to a huge crowd of people.  That is what you do on the web.

You can create a two-way relationship with one communication for a large crowd…

…if the crowd of people you are talking to has something in common, with you and with themselves.

But international markets are made up of several different countries and cultures.  This crowd of people is already different.

Action

No matter how great your international business strategy is, you need to put it into action for it to work.

Remember…

• International marketing will give you vital feedback for the success of your international expansion.
• International marketing is authentic interaction with each of your foreign markets.

Many larger companies get caught up into inaction, because every department head wants to control the strategy.

This gives an interesting twist the problem.  Instead of one person speaking to a crowd, you have a crowd speaking to a crowd.

…Now just how do you expect to create authentic communication with people you do not understand in the first place?

Of course, you can say that big companies do this.  Big companies also have big budgets, they can afford expensive mistakes.

Getting Beyond The Barriers

Without any real international marketing strategy and without taking action, your dreams of an international business will never get off the ground.

In today’s North American business world, I often think business complicate things.  There is so much intellectualization of sales and marketing.

International business is most successful when it is kept simple.

You have something to sell.  You just need to know:

• How your buyer wants it
• Why he wants
• Where he wants it
• How he wants to be sold
• Where he wants to be sold
• When he wants to be sold

These are the same basic questions you need to answer for your domestic market. Luckily for your domestic market, you probably know most of the answers to these questions.  And if you don’t it is easy for you to make an educated guess, or carry out a little market research with fast and accurate results.

International markets make this a little harder because you do not have the answers to any of these questions.  The smallest assumptions can jeopardize the success of your international strategy.

The solution is easy…

• Start with a clean slate.
• Methodically use your international marketing for your international market research.
• Cross-research your results.
• Regularly revaluate your strategy.