People worldwide are potential customers if you demonstrate sensitivity to their cultures and in meeting their special needs.  In addition, it’s important to bear in mind that the demographic mix in any country such as ours is changing – so even the way in which we market and sell to our local customer’s needs to reflect these changes just to maintain market share.

To be successful in sales you need to base your approach on building trusting relationships, so that you demonstrate understanding of their wants and needs and how you can accommodate them.  The important point to remember though is that other cultures may develop relationships in a different way to you and may not want the traditional products and services as your local customers.

Cross-cultural selling is really about adjusting your Marketing, sales techniques, presentation, products and services to meet the needs of these multicultural customers. It’s about being constantly aware of how culture affects your interactions so that you can continuously adapt to your customer’s needs.

How Australia’s cultural mix is changing

Based on statistics sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) we can see that our cultural demographic is changing.

For example:

• At 30 June 2010, population was calculated at 22.3 million. In the previous 12 months net population growth was 377,100 (+ 1.7%) of which 43% was from natural growth and the remaining 57% (or 215,600 people) was from Net Overseas Migration.
• Over the last 20 Financial Years natural increase has been the largest contributor to net population growth.  However, during the past 5 years (2005-2010) Net Overseas Migration has increased to be the major contributor to net population growth – estimated by the ABS at +234,000 people per annum in each of the last 5 years.

What other countries are experiencing growth from Net Overseas Migration

In the same 5 year period (2005-2010) the following countries experienced significant gains in population from Net Overseas Migration (sourced from ABS):

•    Australia =     +234,000 per annum
•    Canada =     +220,000 per annum
•    France =    +100,000 per annum
•    Italy =    +400,000 per annum
•    Singapore =    +144,000 per annum
•    South Africa =    +140,000 per annum
•    United Kingdom =    +204,000 per annum
•    USA =    +991,000 per annum

This migration movement in international markets could have serious implications for how and where you market your business.

Where is this Net Overseas Migration coming from?

Just as Australia and the other countries overseas (listed above) have experienced net growth from overseas migration, so too have other countries experienced net loss to migration. The ABS estimates the following countries net loss figures in the same 5 years period (2005-2010):
•    China =    -377,000 per annum
•    India =    -600,000 per annum
•    Indonesia =    -259,000 per annum
•    Philippines =    -247,000 per annum
•    Vietnam =    -86,000 per annum

These statistics have implications for your business in terms of where our growth is coming from, cross-cultural awareness needed for each country source (i.e., is your website translated into different languages, do you have/need staff with foreign language skills?) and potential different products or services needed.

Marketing with Global Appeal

Irrespective of your or your staff’s sales skills, if your marketing only features white, middle-class locals, or if it is worded in such a way that doesn’t appeal to customers from other cultures, then you are missing (and potentially losing) a large segment of your potential market.

There needs to be real depth to your marketing campaigns:
•    Revamp your ads and displays to be more appealing to prospective multicultural customers
•    Get your timing right
•    Keep messages simple – don’t use masses of text where a simple message will do
•    Make adjustments for different cultural beliefs
•    Avoid stereotypes and potentially offensive language
•    Translate ads into different languages wherever possible
•    Have your website updated with translation options in various languages
•    Have staff with language skills
•    If marketing locally, to a different ethnic group gain some input from a local Chamber of Commerce where that ethnic group is strong.
•    Investigate advertising through ethnic media (i.e., foreign language newspapers or magazines)
•    Look at sponsoring an event or community initiative if trying to attract a particular ethnic group locally

Depending on the size of your business you may have your own marketing team or use external companies.  Irrespective of your setup you need to get your staff’s buy-in – so that they understand the need for multicultural marketing.  This also extends to your sales team – obtaining training in cross-cultural selling is essential. Don’t overlook the needs of other areas in your business too such as Accounts, Receptionists, Customer Service, Service Dept, IT, Finance, Manufacturing, R&D, and HR. This needs to be a business-wide commitment. Unless all areas are involved and buy-in to the process then your internal resistance to change can be greater than the resistance of potential external customers.

Adjusting your sales techniques

Irrespective of culture, customers who are really motivated exhibit three attributes:
•    They have a deadline to buy.  That’s the usual reason people are Shopping around.
•    They need to buy.  How badly do they need to buy what you are selling?
•    They can buy.  Can the customer afford what you are selling – either to purchase outright, or using finance?

Like with any customer, use lots of open-ended questions to determine wants and needs. Be conscious that some cultures feel uneasy with too many open-ended questions.  Once again, like any sales situation change to closed questions when their wants and needs have been met and you are ready to close the deal.

Be aware that questions from multi-cultural customers generally differ depending on whether they have been raised in a low-, or high-context culture.

For example, low-context cultures tend to care more about the deal that about you, your company or other unimportant matters.  They just want to know about the product or service, the cost, payment options, and how long to wait for delivery.  Examples of low-context cultures are Americans, Scandinavians, Germans and the Swiss.

High-context cultures need to feel comfortable with you, to know they can trust you and your company.  They are often less concerned about all details relating to the product or service and the deal.  Often their questions to you may seem intrusive or personal but this is how they build a relationship with you and your company.  Examples of high-context cultures include the Japanese, Chinese, Arabs and the Greeks.

Regardless of high- or low-context, multi-cultural customers often ask the same questions repeatedly.  Usually this is to test whether you are going to change your answer – whether you waffle or are direct.

There is no need to scrap your sales presentation – just tweak it so that customers from different cultural backgrounds can better relate to it.  However, overuse of humour can be disastrous so the best advice is: Don’t use it.

Be prepared that many cultures are used to haggling for price, terms or any other aspect of the sale that they can.  This may be a totally new concept for your staff so it is advisable to provide training to your staff so that they can handle this without savaging your profit margins.

Fine-tuning Customer Service

Cross-cultural sales and marketing is much more than the appeal of your products and services to other cultures.  For long-term success, you need to adjust your after-sales service.

Hiring staff with the right attitude first, then aptitude is vital. You can train them in products and services but if they don’t have a customer focussed attitude you can never train that into them.  However, cross-cultural training is vital for all these staff as is giving them enough power to handle decisions.

Focus on relationships - not sales.  Treat customers with respect – reply to calls or e-mails promptly and answer all questions.

Show patience.  Angry people, no matter their culture, often just want to be heard – rather than seek a solution.  Only when they feel heard will they listen to you.

Summary

Instead of wondering whether you can afford to accommodate multi-cultural customers, you should be asking, “Can I afford to ignore a large and growing number of potential customers?”

If you don’t – someone else will.  On-line sales have made the world one market – companies need to adjust to this and the ability to compete may be easier than you first think.  Simply having your website translatable in various languages, the ability to meet their needs quickly and have the right after-sales customer service can start paying dividends quite quickly.