What to Know About Conducting International Business

As your career grows and your business grows, you may find yourself doing business overseas. It’s every entrepreneur’s dream to have their ideas go international. When that happens, a lot can change in your business habits and ethics, but if you play your cards right, you can flawlessly maneuver your way around your international expansion. Here is how.

Learn the Language
If you are planning on going international in a certain market or a certain country, it helps to learn the language. If English is your first language, you will find that English is spoken in a large percentage of the world, but if you want to impress new business contacts, you can learn how to speak some of their language. Take French classes or Spanish classes as they are the other top languages in the world. Learning some Arabic is helpful as well. Chinese is another language that is useful to have. When you show up knowing some words and phrases you will win the favor of many people.

Learn the Culture
Language is culture, but culture is culture as well. When you know the culture of another country or group of people, you will ensure that as you are conducting business you are not hurting anyone’s feelings or disrespecting anyone’s customs. Knowing your place is another way of ensuring that you will not be a problem. Knowing about another person’s culture is the same as knowing their language, and that will put you in high favor. If you know how things work, a company will more likely want to do business with you because it will be a smooth transition.

Anticipate Misunderstandings
It will be a bit of a rocky road at the start because when different cultures get together, there are always random misunderstandings, and as long as you anticipate this, you will know what to do to diffuse the situation. The more you know about the other culture and their ways of communicating, the easier it will be for you to correct any mistakes anyone has made.  The same goes for you as well, the other person may make a slip up or a misstep, and that’s okay. Everyone gets a little wiggle room to get used to each other. 

Take a Trip
It always pays to visit the country before you start doing business there. When you are there in person, you can then take everything in first hand and know customs before you start meeting with people. When you are there in person, you can also determine if your product and company will do well in this new land. If it feels like a great match, this is your opportunity to practice your new language, practice living in the culture, and even scope out the local competition. 

Conclusion
Expanding overseas can have more hurdles, but it’s all about connecting in the end. These tips will help you open up communication and make yourself stand out. You are successful because you are personable and charming. Don’t lose that in translation, so the more you can connect the better.