Effective communication in international trade

As Salesupp.NET (www.salesupp.net), we work hard to promote our website. Therefore, I am in contact with many businessmen/women. In this process, what I noticed is that we suffer from lack of communication. I don’t mean that we are not talking, messaging or emailing. We do much time. But still there is something missing. We don’t listen really what the other side is talking about or we don’t read the messages and emails, we receive, carefully. We are over focused on planned conversations and most of time we want to tell about our business. But, this doesn’t work. We are in international trade world and as I always insist on, the most important aspect of international trade is forming confidence between sides. This can be done only with close personal relations.

For more effective communication, there is something can be done. But, we should approach the issue in our two roles: sender and receiver. As sender we should be careful about the points below:

·       -  Don’t talk much and don’t write long. People are busy and cannot share time for long talks and messages. Try to explain yourself and your business with short words and let the other side to ask you.

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          -  Don’t be automatic. Being personal always works in human relations, which trade is about. Ask personal questions while talking or writing. It is not a good idea to send always same messages and emails.

·         -Find related person. This is very important issue. When you talk about your business, be sure that other side is the right person. If you deal with a person, who cannot be buyer of your products or is not in your interest field, you will just waste your time. I know this sounds weird. But, this is issue and I witnessed many time.

·         -Ask. I get many messages and emails, which are quite long and informative, but at the end of the email, there is no word about what is expected from me. Ask people what you would like them to do. If you introduce a product, ask them if they want to see and try product. Don’t say that “if you are interested in, let me know”. People are open to questions.

 As receiver, we have something to do as well:

·         -Listen and read. For better understanding, pay attention to real listening and reading. I know sometimes it can be difficult to read long messages, but at least try to catch main points. Maybe you can miss the many important issues due to this reason.

·         -Reply. Try to reply all calls and emails. This represents how much respect you show to other side. Even though, your reply is negative, tell it to people kindly. This will improve your reputation and can provide you new connections.

·        - Confirm. In your reply, confirm sender about you understand what they want to tell you. Don’t send them automatic reply (This is always problem in international trade unfortunately). When you confirm them, people will listen or read your words.

Effective communication is the most essential part of international trade. By developing close and personal relations, you can get sustainable trade. Enlarge your networks and try to stay in touch with companies as much as you can. After all, international trade is the profit of networking and close relations, as we always repeatJ