EthnoConnect Newsletter Q4 2008

Cross-Cultural Selling
By: Michael Soon Lee, MBA, CSP
Monday, November 10, 2008

Just a reminder that my latest book, "Cross-Cultural Selling for Dummies" will be out this month. If you purchase this book on Amazon.com on November 24th or 25th you will be entitled to a free teleseminar on this topic. Just fax me a copy of your purchase confirmation to 925-905-0437 (no cover sheet needed).

In a slow economy you need to find new customers wherever you can. Multicultural buyers are an untapped market for most businesses in the United States. Minorities spend over $2 trillion a year which is greater than the GDP of all but the nine largest economies of the world.

Not only is the multicultural marketplace lucrative but it is exploding. There is no part of the country that isn't impacted and the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimate is that while minorities are currently one-third of the population they will be half by 2042. This growth is due to the fact that, on average, minority families are younger and larger than whites.

This is a huge opportunity if you know how to meet the unique needs of Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, Middle Easterners and others. The challenge is that your relationships with these consumers and, sometimes the products they buy, is different from Anglo customers. In my book you will learn how to market to multicultural customers and adjust your sales presentations.

Here's an excerpt from "Cross-Cultural Selling for Dummies":

Embracing the "Global Rule"

Many salespeople say that the way they relate to multicultural customers is to simply treat everyone "the same." This may seem like the right approach on the surface, but it can actually turn out to be not such a good idea. New parents often say that about their children, too, until they have been parents for a few years and realize that each of their children is a unique individual with different needs, desires, talents, and passions.

Not only is treating everyone the same impossible but it's also undesirable. It is tantamount to saying that if a customer came into your store with a seeing-eye dog and a white cane because she was blind, you would just hand her a brochure to "read." You would never even think for a moment of doing something like that. Instead, you would adjust your presentation to meet the needs of the customer whose sight was impaired by reading the brochure to her and perhaps letting her touch or sample the product.

Remember:
For similar reasons, you want to adjust your presentations to meet the unique needs of people who are culturally different. This is the Global Rule. Everyone knows that the Golden Rule is to "treat others as you would like to be treated." The Global Rule goes one step further: Treat others as they would like to be treated. When you begin to practice the Global Rule, you soon discover that becoming more sensitive to other peoples' cultures does not require a great deal of extra effort, but it does require increased awareness, training, and sensitivity.


Best wishes,

Michael Soon Lee, MBA
President – EthnoConnect™
www.EthnoConnect.com

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