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Here are the articles I enjoyed reading on BizSugar last week and some of the thoughts they inspired on international business.

7 Ways to Improve Your Business Acumen for Sales

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S. Anthony Iannarino raises the important need for business knowledge in sales today.  Having a sound knowledge of business has always been important in international sales. The risk of losing control in the sales process is too great when you don’t understand how business works in other cultures. And in practice this is something international sales professionals continue to learn in the field.

Anthony gets us a few ways to improve our business acumen.  I particularly like letting clients teach you about their business.  Although you need to establish the right environment first to do this, it is an effective way to improve your sales skills.

How do you think your general business knowledge impacts your company’s sales?

3 Ways to Improve Your Ability to Diagnose for Salespeople

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Here’s another great read by S. Anthony Iannarino. This time Anthony writes about diagnosis during the sales process.  It’s useful to think about your own process of diagnosis because in international sales you spend a fair amount of time and effort making sure you get it right.

I can easily equate a couple of the points he makes with international sales: building a diagnostic tool and suspending judgment.  But in a cross-cultural environment the ability to understand how your actions impact the different aspects of your client’s company is crucial… and it’s not always easy to do. This is why thinking about the tactics you use is a great exercise.

How well do you understand how to sell to your international clients?

What Consumers Expect When Visiting Your Website

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David Siteman Garland gives us some insights into the changing expectations for North American websites. Given how these trends in online marketing impact many other countries I find the title interesting.

Different cultures have different expectations. Although it’s easy to assume the North American trends will also work well across an international audience, this may not be the case.  Identifying the cultural differences in expectations for your product or services is crucial for international web marketing.

What do your international clients expect on your website? What does not work as well as you would expect?

Online Business And Revenue Models

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Caelen King says the web is democratizing business and the lack of high cost investment means that many online businesses are also forgetting to do their homework.  This is a common problem I encounter with regards to international business. People seem to forget basic business research before setting out on the assumption that a website opens a door to a global market.

Caelen gives a breakdown of the different online business models and possible revenue generation models.  It’s a good reminder to carefully think about your business model and how this will impact your online success.

What type of business model interests you for your international business?

Stop Being the Idea Guy and Just Do It!

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I love ideas and hearing different perspectives on a variety of topics.  In this article Bill Rice raises the question of getting beyond ideas and taking action. This reminded me of a few incidences recently where someone wanted to get more business, but was not willing to roll up his sleeves and start taking action.

Early in my international marketing career I was confronted with a very ungrateful task of crunching numbers. It was a week long chore which no one wanted to do even if it was essential to the company’s marketing.  I bit the bullet and never regretted it.  Jumping in and doing the work that needs to be done to move your business forward can give you insights you just can’t get elsewhere.

Do you make the right choices in how you spend your time?

Creating Resonation Points in Your Customer: Six Sales Tips to Sell More

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Here is another great article by Skip Anderson on improving your sales skills. This time it’s about creating resonance with your clients. This is one of the first things international sales professionals are confronted with.  You almost always need to adapt your communication with international clients.

Skip shares how to find the resonating points when selling and his last point is the most critical one for international sales: understand your customer. This takes the most amount of work in cross-cultural sales.

How well do you know the resonation points in your international customers?

Why Size Matters & Smaller Is Better

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Lisa Barone’s article got my thoughts going in a few different directions with regards to international business. First of all, just like Lisa points out here, a small targeted audience can be worth much more than a bigger, less targeted audience.

Next, the idea of size brings up the importance of adjusting your actions to the context involved. In some countries you need to communicate more with the group as a whole and in others it’s more important to find the right person to talk to.  Awareness of size and it’s relevance to your business is important.

Are you happy with the size of your international audience?

What articles have you read recently? Have any of them inspired you with regards to international business?  Please share them in the comments below.