Tweak Your Biz » Global » Cindy King’s Weekly Business Article Review – February 22, 2010

Cindy King’s Weekly Business Article Review – February 22, 2010

by cindyking on February 21st, 2010
10 Comments



Last week I enjoyed watching a couple of interesting videos and reading several sales articles on BizSugar.  Here they are, as usual with some of the thoughts they inspired on international business.

Businesses Adopting Social Media At Greater Rate (Video)

Like this article? Sweet here.

In this video Abby Johnson explains that small businesses are now using social media to find new ways to attract new business as businesses are recognizing the importance of being social.

There are parallels in how small businesses need to get creative to survive and how businesses sometimes need to get creative in the methods they use to enter new foreign markets. This is why I like to closely watch the creativity businesses use on social media.

Have you noticed any businesses creatively using of social media?

Find Alternatives And See If You Can Gain Business

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Chris Hamilton gives some examples of how a creative approach helped him to find alternative solutions and bring in more business.

A creative mindset and the ability to find alternatives are two survival tools in international sales.  These are skills you’ll always need.  So I always like hearing about other stories of different ways people brought in the business. You never know what ideas this may spark in the future.

What do you do to stimulate your creativity in finding business solutions?

Salesperson And Prospect: Differing Perspectives

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Skip Andersen shows different perspectives of both the salesperson and the prospect.  And he summarizes “The law of incongruity of expectations can work for you or against you, because it is neither good nor bad, it just is.”

Different expectations always present a challenge in international business.  And you need to understand all parts of the business process well in order to adapt to the different perspectives.  This was a good reminder to look at the whole story of what’s happening.

How do you navigate the differences in perspectives in international business?

Success In Sales Is Managing Outcomes: The Ability To Achieve Results

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S. Anthony Iannarino has reviewed 10 skills needed in sales and this is the last one in the series. It’s also my favorite when applying these skills to international business.

There are many pitfalls linked to not understanding the outcome your international prospect is buying and aligning this with the outcome your business wants.  When you begin an international sales process you may not have a good understanding of the outcome your prospect expects. So managing outcomes becomes an important part of the sales process in cross-cultural sales.

What skill do you find important in international sales?

Business And The Media With Rupert Murdoch (Video)

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In this video Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution interviews Rupert Murdoch about the Wall Street Journal.

I find it interesting that one point made is that content is the emperor.  New technological devices rely on content. When you take a step back and look at content for international audiences, it’s easy to see the importance of cross-cultural communication.

What are you doing to adapt your communication to different cultures?

3 Little Things Potential Customers Will Check About You

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Douglas Idugboe brings up some good points here about adding a personal touch, making sure you highlight current skills and providing the right website links.

When your international customers visit check about you online, they will probably look for information you would not expect.  Different cultures have different approaches to doing business. When selling to international customers you have to deal the cultural differences in your own communication as well as establishing credibility differently.

Do you know what your international customers check about you?

Ten Web Strategies To Implement In 2010

Like this article? Sweet here.

Matt Gibson gives 10 great web strategies for small businesses. I particularly like #6: Stay on the ball. And it’s easy to understand the importance of this with the examples Matt gives here.  Small businesses have the advantage of being more flexible when implementing new strategies than big businesses.

Flexibility is also very important in international business. Cultural differences can create issues where you need to be flexible and adapt to different environments.

Do you think your business is flexible enough to take advantages of opportunities?



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The Author:

Cindy King is a cross-cultural marketer helping businesses develop globally with international social media. Follow Cindy on Twitter @CindyKing http://cindyking.biz/

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  • Anonymous

    When you said “Tiger” in the title I thought you were Celeb Gossip as opposed to Biz Review and ment Mr Woods :-) — hope the hangover is better!!

  • Anonymous

    Couldn’t agree more with your points re ‘opportunity wasted’ and ‘lack of creativity’ – listened to Charles Leadbetter being interviewed over the weekend and he forecast a legacy of disillusionment and disenfranchisement within the public sector on the back of large cuts – can’t wait for that eh :-)

    But he also outlined how the Govt. could have potentially taken a more innovative approach to the need for cuts – but in my opinion a large portion of the blame for this lost opportunity surely lies with the Unions?

  • http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

    Hi Paul, Hangover is all gone now :)

  • http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

    Kelvin,

    Thanks for your comments. Social partnership may appeared to have worked during the boom, but I would suggest it just thought lazy leadership. I have no difficulty with people been paid a decent wage, I actually believe that it is important to pay our public servants well. There was a lot of talk about hard decisions in the runup, what about great decisions, what about radical decisions? what about new ways? what about increasing productivity? 12 days unpaid leave was about as creative as? perhaps HARD is now the new word for LAZY. We need to start to admit to ourselves that the people who run this country are completely devoid of ideas.

    Regards,
    Niall

  • http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

    So this is Niall with a hangover – what a scary dude :)

    Well constructed post Niall. I would like to pick up on your last para when you ask the question about stomach for the fight? My believe is that many have a vision of where they want to be – the fight is actually, to me, the bigger challenge. For the last decade, we have had it too easy. We could pretty much get what we wanted, when we wanted with minimal struggle. In the space of a year, the belief structures associated with this “easy life” have been turned on their head and many people are in an obvious state of shock. An entire generation has never had to want for anything and have not really needed to try – not through laziness, but because they simply didn’t need to. Those same people now have to understand that to gain anything requires hard work/graft, along with considerable frustration at the inevitable blocks they will encounter, in order to achieve their ambitions. This is going to take some time for many people – hopefully not so long that their vision becomes lost in despondency and inaction.

  • http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

    Barney, yes I am scary dude with a hangover :) Thanks for the great comment, I agree, but now is the time for us to come to terms with this shock and get on with it.Let’s remember that while we (the people) may have had it easy, the government are in a similar but more dangerous boat, they were not required to lead, unfortunately for the rest of us they now are. I would love to say about one of their decisions, wow, I would have never thought of that. The reality however is that it is predictable and uninspiring.There is nothing in there that would give me any confidence that they can craft a recovery.

  • http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

    Quote – “Blame the Government Niall? NO! The fact is that blaming the government is no good, It has achieved nothing. The blame rests squarely as the feet of the Irish nation.”
    Niall – great post (even with hangover)!
    I am impressed with the ability and staying power of the business owner is the crisis of the past 2 years. It will be the SMEs that get this country back on it’s feet – not the Government.
    However, we all have a part to play – each generation in their own right. Young Business execs and entrepreneurs should now look to their grandparents for some much needed direction of how to cope from boom to bust and back to boom (obviously yet to come).
    Entrepreneurs will always look at the bigger picture. They are asking new questions. Unfortunately entrepreneurship isn’t required to become a politician!

  • http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

    “Unfortunately entrepreneurship isn’t required to become a politician” and there lies the problem
    “Young Business execs and entrepreneurs should now look to their grandparents for some much needed direction” this is a wonderful steer Elaine and I’m surprised that so few people have mentioned this as part of the ongoing conversation. Great comments, I do like your style :)

  • http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

    Well it goes back to the old days when we used to look up to and respect our elders – simply because we recognised that they are wise and knowledgeable. Now its more like they get cast on the scrap heap, and their minds are not tapped into.
    We could learn a lot if we open our minds and ears :)

  • http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

    Hi Cindy, thanks for highlighting! I am looking forward to watching the Rupert Murdoch video. I agree with you that him saying because new technological devices rely on content, making content the emperor is a really interesting perspective.

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