You can have great multi-cultural sales & customer service successes.

Tron Jordheim

Tron Jordheim

You just need to survive the cultural confusion…

…and the cultural clashes

Remember

• Everyone wants the same things:

No matter which culture they might feel a part of…

.or seem a part of

We all want

• To save time and money

• To feel as if we are being understood

• To be respected

• To deal with people who are NOT idiots

The idiot factor

• Many people deal with insensitive, uncaring and bigoted people every day…

...sometimes all day long.

• It is not surprising that people might assume you are an idiot before they even talk to you, if they already had a few frustrating conversations before talking to you…

...or if they have preconceived notions.

The idiot hurdle

• Your first hurdle in any sales or customer service situation is your prospect’s or customer's assumption that you are an idiot.

The Turnaround

….when you do or show or say something that indicates you are in fact NOT an idiot, your prospect or customer will immediately relax, feel a sense of relief and will become prepared to make friends with you.

You are a real person with empathy

• When you are clearly not an idiot in the eyes of your prospect or customer, you instantly gain rapport and can have an honest and open and human exchange.

You enjoy the people you talk to

• When you are a real person with empathy, cultural clashes and cultural confusion are no longer offensive or hurtful to your prospects and customers…

...the clashes and confusions become opportunities for rapport building…

…and relationship building.

Cultural clashes and confusion happen

• They happen a lot

Not to worry!

You can recover from cultural clashes and confusion!

Apologize for the situation.

Put the blame on yourself.

Take responsibility for causing the confusion.

Turn the situation around

With a little humor and a little politeness,

you can turn the confusion and the clashes into

Good Diplomacy (for your brand and for yourself).

Avoid cultural confusion

• Be respectful of people…

...and their time and their money.

Avoid cultural confusion

• Treat everyone as if they are smarter than you

Avoid cultural confusion

• Try to show people that you “get” a little something about their culture

Avoid cultural confusion

• Assume it is your error if something goes wrong

Avoid cultural confusion

• Participate in and support the communities you serve

• Cause-marketing and community support go a long way

Avoid cultural confusion

• Turn your mistakes into good diplomacy with a little humor and a little politeness

You can have great multi-cultural sales & customer service successes

Tron Jordheim

Turn your successes into

• Higher sales conversion rates

• Better customer service interactions

• More referrals

• Lower costs of customer acquisition

• Higher life-time customer value

• Pleasant and interesting personal interactions

Remember

• Everyone wants the same things

No matter which culture they might feel a part of…

...or seem a part of

We all want

• To save time and money

• To feel as if we are being understood

• To be respected

• To deal with people who are NOT idiots

You can recover from cultural clashes and confusion

Apologize for the situation.

Put the blame on yourself.

Take responsibility for causing the confusion.

Listen and look for opportunities

• And your multi cultural sales and customer service successes will be many.

Good luck and good selling!

Tron Jordheim