Know US Business Culture and Best Practices- Workshop held at RedAlkemi
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
19th March 2010: RedAlkemi has always had immense faith in the expression- learn while you earn. So, in the spirit of that maxim, we organized a Special Workshop for our Sales Team on Friday. The workshop was in order to increase our client facing employees’ knowledge and awareness about US Corporate and Business Culture. Through this exercise, RedAlkemi’s employees would be able to better understand the American business attitude, they would also learn how to better pre-empt our US clients’ needs and act accordingly. The workshop covered topics like:
A) How to identify your customers’ needs and best satisfy them.
It is always best to ask your customer directly what he or she may need. Don’t just try to push your own product or service in order to make up your own targets. It is better to ask the customer how best you can assist him or her.
B) How to answer and wind up a Business Call.
It is not appropriate to begin a phone conversation by calling someone by his/her first name. The proper etiquette is to address a customer by his/her last name. For example, if the customer’s name is John Smith then you should address him as Mr. Smith. Later in the conversation, you can ask permission to address the customer by his/her first name.
C) Some interesting facts that can help you seal the deal with a US client:
Firstly, in case of any delay in project work please don’t try giving feeble excuses like technical fault, server breakdown, blah, blah, etc etc. It is better to be forthright and say that there is going to be delay in project work and to apologize for the inconvenience. Also it might be worth your while to try and offer some sort of discount in lieu of delay or offer to personally deliver the product or service to the client.
Secondly, US clients are extremely rule oriented and task-centered. Their decisions and activities largely focus around what needs to be done, and does the manner in which they divide responsibilities.
Lastly, here are some common names for everyday objects whose usage varies greatly from country to country:
|
US |
India |
|
Trash |
Dustbin |
|
Flash light |
Torch |
|
Airplane |
Aeroplane |
|
Junk |
Garbage |
|
Gas |
Petrol |
|
Flyers |
Leaflets |
