Assessing Your Cross-Cultural Sales Readiness
20. Which would be a high-context culture?
D. China
China and most Asian as well as many Spanish-speaking countries tend to be high-context.
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21. When working with a group of high-context buyers, who is most crucial to the buying decision?
E. They all are
In high-context cultures, group decision making is common, so the consensus of the group is vital to closing a sale. (Chapter 10 offers addi- tional insights on how to pick up on buying signals in various cultures.) 22. When talking with new immigrant buyers who show no body
language, which would be a definite buying sign?
C. Talking in their own language
Smiling and laughing often indicate uneasiness or lack of understanding, and nodding usually means the buyers are listening but not necessar- ily agreeing with you. Talking in their own language means they have moved to the emotional level of buying. It’s easy to talk about product specifications in a language you learned from a book, but to discuss how you’d feel when you owned a product or used a service usually requires you to speak your native language.
23. What does signing a contract usually mean in low-context cultures?
A. The end of negotiations
Signing a contract in low-context cultures usually ends negotiations. On the other hand, it begins negotiations in high-context cultures where bargaining can continue up to and beyond delivery of the product. (For more about negotiating with customers from other cultures, check out Chapter 13.)
24. “Nibbling” is common among high-context cultures, which usually means:
C. Expect to give concessions after a contract is signed
Nibbling is asking for additional concessions after the contract is signed.
25. Which gesture is most universally offensive?
A. Pointing with the finger
Pointing with the finger is generally the most universally offensive ges- ture. Many cultures consider it rude or even obscene. In most cultures outside the United States, the entire closed hand or a head nod should be used to indicate a specific direction.
26. Salespeople from which cultural group are most likely to clash with African American customers:
D. Asians
Asians are at the opposite end of the cultural spectrum from African Americans. From eye contact to personal space preferences to showing
27. Which group is least likely to openly complain about poor service?
B. Hispanics
Although Hispanics are less likely than any other group to complain about poor service or faulty goods, they’re also more likely to tell rela- tives and friends to avoid buying from customer-unfriendly companies.
28. Which group is most likely to openly display emotions during negotiations?
E. Middle Easterners
Middle Easterners tend to be very emotional and emphatic as part of their negotiating technique.
29. Which group is least likely to try to negotiate the price of your product?
A. Whites
European Americans come from nonnegotiating cultures where only large purchases are regularly bargained on.
30. Which thank-you gift would be least appropriate for Asians?
A. Watch
Watches and clocks tend to remind Asians of the “winding down of life,” so giving a watch would be taken to mean “I wish you were dead.”
Probably not the sentiment you had in mind! (For additional advice on giving appropriate gifts, check out Chapter 15.)
How’d ya do? Scoring the test
To score your test, total your number of correct answers. You can then determine just how knowledgeable you are about selling to customers of diverse cultures:
Your score: _____
26–30: Outstanding! You’re culturally competent and probably have many diverse customers. Heck, you probably could’ve written this chapter.
21–25: Very good. With a few minor adjustments, you’ll be well prepared to take full advantage of the multicultural marketplace.
16–20: Pretty good. You can handle most situations, but could use some fine-tuning to obtain more multicultural sales.
12–15: Fair. You’re not about to get kicked out of a foreign country for a major faux pas, but you’re not ready for the United Nations, either.
< 12: Yikes! You’d better stay away from cross-cultural selling until you get the proper training. Keep reading.
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Refocusing Your Cultural Lens
Think back to some belief you held as a child that, in the process of growing up, you eventually were forced to question and then dismiss. It may not just be your concept of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, but perhaps it was some- thing you were taught in Sunday school, an unbreakable rule your parents told you about the opposite sex, or even some scientific fact you learned in grade school that was proved to be untrue by the time you reached high school.
What happened to make you change your mind? You obtained new informa- tion that refuted what you previously thought. Education and experience tend to do this to people. The more you discover about life and about the world you live in, the more your belief system and perspectives are challenged and eventually changed.
If you scored low on the cultural competency quiz earlier in this chapter, your case isn’t hopeless — not by a long shot. You simply need to start refocusing your cultural lens, as explained in the next sections.
Giving yourself an attitude adjustment
Most differences between people that can be traced to cultural differences aren’t wrong, they’re just different. The first step in being more accepting of cultural differences is to purge the word “wrong” from your vocabulary.
You’ve probably gotten a bad haircut at one time in your life and asked an acquaintance what she thought of it. Perhaps she said, “Well, that’s different.”
You knew she didn’t like it, but at least she tried to be nice about it. Take the same approach toward cultural differences, at least until you can truly accept the differences you notice.
Here’s an exercise that can help you physically experience how difficult it may be for you to accept a variation to something that you have become accus- tomed to over time:
1. Cross your arms as you normally would.
2. Make a mental note which hand is on top.
3. Uncross your arms and refold them with the opposite hand on top.
You probably find the new position of your crossed arms uncomfortable because you’re so used to doing it the “right” way. But if you had to, you could probably get used to folding your arms the new way. This is what becoming culturally competent is all about. You have to become aware of what you view as “normal” really is and adjust to other people’s ways of
Throughout this book, but especially in Chapter 4, we offer plenty of advice on how to develop cultural competency. After you know the basics, the more you practice, the more comfortable you become.
Building empathy and understanding
Americans have an old saying about understanding another person by “walk- ing in his shoes.” This is exactly what you need to do to begin understanding how people from other cultures are likely to feel when they try to navigate the traditional American culture they encounter in the United States for the first time.
To walk in the shoes of someone who has a different background, perform one or more of the following exercises:
Empathy walk: Have a friend blindfold you and then lead you around a familiar setting like his home or office. You’ll both learn what it’s like to be blind, and he’ll experience what it’s like to lead someone who is blind. Then reverse roles.
Foreign language immersion: Go with a friend to a religious service that is delivered in a language you can’t understand (Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Greek, Korean, or some other language). For a short time, you’ll experience what it’s like for people who don’t speak English to try to understand our language.
Mind trip: Take ten minutes and imagine you’re a stranger in a foreign country where people don’t speak English. Then list 20 things that would be challenges for you and how you would deal with them.
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