Q & A Table of Contents
We Have Conflicting Rules For Doing Business
From: Summer, Tianjin, China
Question: How should I respond to orders from a U.K customer who doesn’t follow our regular business process? He wants to open a letter of credit before sending samples to us.
Response: If I understand your question correctly, you and your British client have opposing expectations of how business should be done. The real question is how to resolve a situation that arises when business customs differ.
When two parties disagree on the best way to move forward in a business transaction — or any issue requiring agreement — it is best to take a step back from the subject matter of the problem and focus on the process of resolution in the context of your interests. You and your British customer have different expectations of the best way to do business — but if you take a look at the situation and focus on the interests of each party there is an excellent chance you will find that those interests complement each other. Once each party realizes that, it can increase their motivation to devise a process that works for each.
In this case, you and your customer both have an interest in doing business together. The question you have to ask one another is not “Which one of us is right and which one is wrong?” but rather “What can be gained by solving the letter of credit/product sample issue?” In fact, each party needs to go deeper to understand why a particular outcome is important to the other. Does your customer need the protection of a letter of credit because of financial or legal concerns? Does your company need samples in order to investigate what resources you will need to fulfill the ultimate business agreement? Both you and your customer need to exercise empathy; try to understand why each other wants the process to go according to their rules.
Discuss the possible reasons underlying your customer’s position with colleagues within your company, with other folks you know who have done business with the customer, and if possible, with British people who might be available to give you their insights on how business transactions should go forward. After doing this research, your next step should be to ask your customer questions that will yield information about what issues drive his decisions? Remember to ask open-ended questions; questions that can be answered by a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ won’t yield very much useful information.
Asking questions can be a sign of respect; it shows you are interested in another person and take them seriously. Given the cross-cultural aspects of your situation, you should be particularly interested in finding out whether your customer is troubled by any of your business customs. If something you tend to do bothers him, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is wrong — but perhaps that information can help you modify your business approach by using different words, gestures, or in some other way modifying your style of communication so that the procedural obstacles can be reduced.
Crossing cultures — whether it be within a business or across the globe — virtually always means that people think differently and interpret a particular action in contrary ways. If you demonstrate to your customer that you have an open mind and can act with some degree of flexibility perhaps it will build his confidence that he, too, can bend a bit to satisfy interests that are important to you.
Globalization can bring tremendous benefits to many people. However it increases the opportunities for confusion and difficult communication. Pursue information, increase your flexibility, and look for trade-offs between you and your customer. Tell him, “If you do something specific that I find favorable, Then I will reciprocate and do something that will respond to your needs.”
Good luck,
Steve
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