You know, I never like that phrase. The customer is always right well but I do agree with you. You may not feel it inside but a couple words is worth a million dollars. As an American it’s difficult for me to put myself in the mind of the Russian woman who is the sales manager. The way that she feels looking at the American CEO. Even though she acted friendly and kind and even flirting with him a little bit, she didn’t consider him a friend at all. Actually thinking about this deeply, It’s the worst thing you could show to American in a business deal, that you only see them as money. It will be difficult for me to teach Americans that even if the conversation seems very friendly, you should just still answer directly and don’t open your personal life.
But as you have said, if she had just said the right thing, even if she didn’t feel it, then suddenly, they would have a very large contract, and I’m sure that she would’ve desired that result more than having a customer walk away from a $1 million deal.
Talking with one of my colleagues that work in an IT company with me as a developer this morning I realized that this message is difficult to hear for Russian Developers. It's difficult to not just say I don't know when the thing will be fixed. But working with the West it's extremely important that you let them know that you are working on it and that you will get back to them in a few hours with more information. If they understand that you're going to be giving them more information in a few hours they will not panic and they will realize that you are being responsible which is the primary trigger point for business in the West. If you say something like I don't know or I'm not sure and you don't say anything else it looks to the West as if you are being unresponsible.
I do realize that you will not know for sure what is wrong or how long it will take you to fix it. So I'm not talking about giving them firm timelines I'm talking about using the right language and the right cultural communication to allow your self and your company to be looked at in the right way
I hope this helps. If you have any questions about this or would like to discuss it please write me in the comments
Your point about Mr. I totally do agree with this and I think that showing respect in an email is very important especially when you do not know the person personally you have not met them personally so I do address my emails as Mr. or I use first and last name.
In an email, I would not pretend or act like anyone’s friend. I would be very very respectful and polite.
A. But I would give my name.
B. I would try to address the actual need or desire or both of the client in my email..
On the phone: in America, people are much nicer than many places in the world, especially in business the business. Even on the street in some states, they are extremely friendly and will waive and say hello.
This translates to a friendly demeanor in business phone calls. Even cold calls.
I do try to be respectful during a cold call, but also friendly and light.
The total way that you approach business phone calls in America are much nicer and have a friendly atmosphere.
I was reminded of this very sharply this week when I was cold calling American or one of my IT companies that I consult with.
After I got off the phone I remember thinking oh my God it’s nice to talk to Americans again.
if you use the way that Russians communicate with the Americans, you will not get the result that you would like. You will not have a successful pre-sale. You will not also be able to convert any potential contacts into sales.
As always, if you would like to comment further, please let’s have a discussion. My aim here is to help IT be more successful and dealing with the western companies.
I am so very glad that this helps. If you want to design a website for the American and Canadian market or even for the German market, I will try to help you. Just ask me and I will try to provide as many details as I can here.
Yes, I agree with you, these are important in any market. What I am pointing out here on my Habr channel is the cultural differences in the way the websites look. There is many differences in the way that the marketing appeals to the public of the different nations. If you do Not hit these key points in your website presentation, your website will literally turn away business.
Currently, I’m working with clients to build their websites and to make them designed for the market of the United States and Canada.
So
The examples that I’m giving are the mistakes that are being done by Russian IT companies when building their websites.
I sincerely hope that if you read my article, you will have a better understanding of what not to do. I would like Russian IT companies to be more successful in selling their products to the United States and other western markets.
Be mindful of the serious look on Russian faces.
2. And the text of the website towards professionalism, which is another way to say responsibility.
It is extremely important for the way that you present the text…. It cannot be large blocks of technical text.. instead of small amount of tax with a read more button.
Software developers, like to think about their code and development process. As you rise in ranks and become a senior developer or a team lead it’s important to participate in Presale meetings as a technical representative. It’s for this reason I wrote this article, to help you be more successful, talking to the west.
Thank you Alex. Yes, attempting to show how Russian IT can look and talk to the American companies to continue to work with him in these difficult times.
It’s amazing that you ask about this. I was playing that for the next article, but I’ll tell you a little right now. In general, it’s very positive. So if you wanted to move there or work for a company from there, the connotation will be very positive)
Yes I do agree with you. In general there are very large cultural differences between Russia and America, Russia and the Western world. There are some things that we share for instance if you look at the cultural decision mapping, which is my personal training that I give to companies and I speak professionally at expos, You can see that we share a desire to solve the problem rapidly and we also are only happy once the problem has been solved. Both countries follow this exact plan. However how we get there is different. In America the main trigger point for business is responsibility. If you extrapolate that to what you have said in your comment you can see that the team and the chain of command are extremely important. I will see now if I can attach a photograph here so that you can see cultural decision mapping.
The main business trigger point in Russia today is still personal pride of the director that has the yes no power in the deal. This is a direct opposite to the trigger point for business in America which is responsibility. These two mix like oil and water.
Western is a standard term for the Western companies and countries. Look it up. Western countries are the United States England Canada Germany France Belgium Sweden Switzerland Finland Norway. Now there are some differences in these countries and differences of the way you do business with them so don't lump them all into one category. I primarily deal today with hooking Russian business in with Western countries.
You are making the same mistake that many IT professionals in Russian speaking countries make they focus on the skills of development their language that they write in and their professionalism in the IT sphere. This is all good but it will go to nothing if you can't get the job in the West. You must nail the interview and doing so is not as easy as it seems. There are many things that in Russia you think of it in one direction and in the west they think of it exactly opposite. One example would be small talk.
You know, I never like that phrase. The customer is always right well but I do agree with you. You may not feel it inside but a couple words is worth a million dollars. As an American it’s difficult for me to put myself in the mind of the Russian woman who is the sales manager. The way that she feels looking at the American CEO. Even though she acted friendly and kind and even flirting with him a little bit, she didn’t consider him a friend at all. Actually thinking about this deeply, It’s the worst thing you could show to American in a business deal, that you only see them as money. It will be difficult for me to teach Americans that even if the conversation seems very friendly, you should just still answer directly and don’t open your personal life.
But as you have said, if she had just said the right thing, even if she didn’t feel it, then suddenly, they would have a very large contract, and I’m sure that she would’ve desired that result more than having a customer walk away from a $1 million deal.
Talking with one of my colleagues that work in an IT company with me as a developer this morning I realized that this message is difficult to hear for Russian Developers. It's difficult to not just say I don't know when the thing will be fixed. But working with the West it's extremely important that you let them know that you are working on it and that you will get back to them in a few hours with more information. If they understand that you're going to be giving them more information in a few hours they will not panic and they will realize that you are being responsible which is the primary trigger point for business in the West. If you say something like I don't know or I'm not sure and you don't say anything else it looks to the West as if you are being unresponsible.
I do realize that you will not know for sure what is wrong or how long it will take you to fix it. So I'm not talking about giving them firm timelines I'm talking about using the right language and the right cultural communication to allow your self and your company to be looked at in the right way
I hope this helps. If you have any questions about this or would like to discuss it please write me in the comments
Hi yes let’s take your point step-by-step.
Your point about Mr. I totally do agree with this and I think that showing respect in an email is very important especially when you do not know the person personally you have not met them personally so I do address my emails as Mr. or I use first and last name.
In an email, I would not pretend or act like anyone’s friend. I would be very very respectful and polite.
A. But I would give my name.
B. I would try to address the actual need or desire or both of the client in my email..
On the phone: in America, people are much nicer than many places in the world, especially in business the business. Even on the street in some states, they are extremely friendly and will waive and say hello.
This translates to a friendly demeanor in business phone calls. Even cold calls.
I do try to be respectful during a cold call, but also friendly and light.
The total way that you approach business phone calls in America are much nicer and have a friendly atmosphere.
I was reminded of this very sharply this week when I was cold calling American or one of my IT companies that I consult with.
After I got off the phone I remember thinking oh my God it’s nice to talk to Americans again.
if you use the way that Russians communicate with the Americans, you will not get the result that you would like. You will not have a successful pre-sale. You will not also be able to convert any potential contacts into sales.
As always, if you would like to comment further, please let’s have a discussion. My aim here is to help IT be more successful and dealing with the western companies.
Thank you very much
I am so very glad that this helps. If you want to design a website for the American and Canadian market or even for the German market, I will try to help you. Just ask me and I will try to provide as many details as I can here.
Yes, I agree with you, these are important in any market. What I am pointing out here on my Habr channel is the cultural differences in the way the websites look. There is many differences in the way that the marketing appeals to the public of the different nations. If you do Not hit these key points in your website presentation, your website will literally turn away business.
Currently, I’m working with clients to build their websites and to make them designed for the market of the United States and Canada.
So
The examples that I’m giving are the mistakes that are being done by Russian IT companies when building their websites.
I sincerely hope that if you read my article, you will have a better understanding of what not to do. I would like Russian IT companies to be more successful in selling their products to the United States and other western markets.
Be mindful of the serious look on Russian faces.
2. And the text of the website towards professionalism, which is another way to say responsibility.
It is extremely important for the way that you present the text…. It cannot be large blocks of technical text.. instead of small amount of tax with a read more button.
I’m glad that I can help. If you have any questions, write them here, and I will try to answer.
Software developers, like to think about their code and development process. As you rise in ranks and become a senior developer or a team lead it’s important to participate in Presale meetings as a technical representative. It’s for this reason I wrote this article, to help you be more successful, talking to the west.
Thank you Alex. Yes, attempting to show how Russian IT can look and talk to the American companies to continue to work with him in these difficult times.
It’s amazing that you ask about this. I was playing that for the next article, but I’ll tell you a little right now. In general, it’s very positive. So if you wanted to move there or work for a company from there, the connotation will be very positive)
Thank you very much, Glad to help the Russian economy and international business.
Yes I do agree with you. In general there are very large cultural differences between Russia and America, Russia and the Western world. There are some things that we share for instance if you look at the cultural decision mapping, which is my personal training that I give to companies and I speak professionally at expos, You can see that we share a desire to solve the problem rapidly and we also are only happy once the problem has been solved. Both countries follow this exact plan. However how we get there is different. In America the main trigger point for business is responsibility. If you extrapolate that to what you have said in your comment you can see that the team and the chain of command are extremely important. I will see now if I can attach a photograph here so that you can see cultural decision mapping.
The main business trigger point in Russia today is still personal pride of the director that has the yes no power in the deal. This is a direct opposite to the trigger point for business in America which is responsibility. These two mix like oil and water.
Western is a standard term for the Western companies and countries. Look it up. Western countries are the United States England Canada Germany France Belgium Sweden Switzerland Finland Norway. Now there are some differences in these countries and differences of the way you do business with them so don't lump them all into one category. I primarily deal today with hooking Russian business in with Western countries.
You are making the same mistake that many IT professionals in Russian speaking countries make they focus on the skills of development their language that they write in and their professionalism in the IT sphere. This is all good but it will go to nothing if you can't get the job in the West. You must nail the interview and doing so is not as easy as it seems. There are many things that in Russia you think of it in one direction and in the west they think of it exactly opposite. One example would be small talk.