Kim Regin Sustmann · Fast Forward · Communication · International Sales · Friendships

Well, International Business is about communication. The picture is illustrating a situation where I just had signed a contract with a Chinese company. Helping them to come to the European markets. A short time after we signed the contract, the same day, the manager asked me to go into a meeting room and then explain to all his managers how it was to make business in Europe. And I’m sitting in front of this Chinese group of people, the two sitting left to me, they spoke some English. And the rest was just looking. And I had a preplanned English PowerPoint I was using. It is not about the word ‘understanding’. It’s more about the word do you comprehend? And this is where International Business Cross Culture very often goes wrong. Business in Europe is about knowing how and knowing who. It’s about having a network. It’s about knowing the markets. Empathy is about understanding, comprehending, trying to see who you have on the other side. Understand the way they are. It’s about relationships. It is a people’s business. It’s very important. I’m not trying to sell them anything. I’m explaining them what my products can do. And what they can do for them. And together we find a concept which would be the right one for them. In Europe, we have trust. Straight away. The first time you and I we met each other, we had trust. In Asia, it’s different. You earn trust, it takes time. You need to get closer and closer and closer. In this specific case, I came back to this guy five years ago. I called him saying: are you home? And he greeted with me with open arms. I hadn’t seen him in the company for twenty over years. And said: look here Kim. This was the bottle you gave me thirty over years ago. I kept it and cherished it. And I saved it for a memorable day. That wasn’t the customer’s attitude. That was a friend’s attitude.