Globalization presumes sustained economic growth. Otherwise, the process loses its economic benefits and political support. i
—Paul Samuelson, American economist, and the f irst American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize
Foreign customers typically have limited initial contact with you. Once an overseas customer makes its inquiry, it is essential you cultivate that relationship as much as any one that you would cultivate with a domestic customer. That entails acknowledging its inquiry and responding to your foreign prospect notifying them of key personnel in your organization and their contact information.
Responding to Overseas Inquiries
Typically, the initial contact will be a Request for Information (RFI) enabling the customer to gather noncompetitive information or comments enabling him to qualify suppliers for a follow-on Request for Proposal (RFP), the second step of a longer sourcing process. In this step, foreign customers inform you of their business needs and ask you to propose how you and your company would satisfy those needs. In requesting a proposal, your foreign customer seeks which goods or services you offer, collects information about specifications, your production capacity, pricing, payment, and delivery. Customers will use this information to intelligently determine follow-on activity; ceiling prices; and importantly, the total cost of ownership.
Responding to your foreign customers with clear, specific, complete, and accurate information is an excellent opportunity to promote sales and goodwill, critical to the near and long-term success of your company’s efforts. If you need to meet a deadline, send the information via datafax. Unlike telephone communications, datafax may be used effectively despite differences in time zones and languages. Because of distance, a foreign customer contact can grow “stale” and fade unless the initial business relationship is active and kept up to date. So pursue your prospective customer!
Learning about Potential Clients
There are many ways to research a foreign customer before conducting any formal business. You can save time and money by conducting basic research using these methods:
Business libraries. Several private sector publications list and qualify international firms. There are also many regional and country directories.
International banks. Bankers have access to vast amounts of information on foreign firms and are usually very willing to assist corporate customers.
Foreign embassies. Foreign embassies are located in Washington, DC, and major capitals; some countries have consulates in other major cities. The commercial (business) sections of most foreign embassies have directories of firms located in their countries.
Sources of credit information. Credit reports on foreign companies are available from many private sector sources.
Face-to-Face meetings are the best way to build relationships and trust between the parties to any transaction. This is especially the case with customers in high-context cultures in which communication is steeped in and guided by historical references, community relationships, and family interaction that require direct, personal contact, for example, China, India, and Japan. Thereafter, virtual meetings may be appropriate, but only after you conduct initial face-to-face meetings. Generally, face-to-face meetings are essential when large amounts of information must be conveyed, when your customer has unique needs, product adaptation is required, and when you face competition from competitors well-entrenched in the marketplace.
Trade exhibitions are a great way for a company to make connections and to get an idea of what commodities are in demand in different markets.
Regular travel to the customer’s foreign market and meeting with them and others important to your success in that market. Doing so enables you and senior personnel to learn more about the foreign marketplace and the importance of building a strong, productive relationship with customers there.
Ask for referrals from sources you trust.
Building effective business relationships entails building trust and, when possible, speaking the language. Trust lies at the heart of successful long-term intercultural business relationships, since partners from different cultures don’t always have the same values or assumptions about how business works. When trust is developed, partners can navigate difficult issues over time by fostering a candid exchange of ideas, issues, and agendas. The trust deficit between executives is less stark when it comes to trust based on competence, reliability, and the personal dimension of trust. In many languages, as in English, one word or sentence can mean different things. Always have excellent translators for important discussions to make sure nothing gets lost or misinterpreted. Above all, understand all the issues involved in your counterpart’s underlying interests and sentiments toward them.