EthnoConnect Newsletter Q4 2009

Multicultural Insults
By: Michael Soon Lee, MBA, CSP
Thursday, October 01, 2009

In the first thirty seconds most salespeople will insult a multicultural customer at least three times! Don't forget that no matter how effective your multicultural marketing may be, if people are treated this way when they come into your store or office they still won't buy from you.

What are some of the ways African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and others are insulted by salespeople? Here are just a few:

• Automatically shaking hands. Many people, especially Middle Eastern, Asian Indian and Japanese women, are not comfortable shaking hands with strangers. Instead of sticking your hand out to everyone you meet hesitate for a moment to see what kind of greeting they give you and just follow their lead.

  
• Looking people in the eye. While Americans tend to consider direct eye contact to be a sign of honesty and respect, in some cultures it's not the same. In many Asian and Native American cultures, for example, looking someone in the eye is rude and to be avoided. If a customer looks down just do the same.

  
• Using the first name. We Americans tend to be friendly and informal by calling other people by their given name. However, many cultures consider this to be very disrespectful. Wait until the customer asks you to call them by their first name before doing so.

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