The Value of Time: An International Business Conundrum

My phone pinged as I was sitting in the back of a taxi traveling from S?o Paulo to Barueri. I was 45 minutes from my hotel and almost at one of my prospect's offices for our meeting when I receive an email saying the location had been changed. Immediately I had to find the new location on google maps and communicate the address to my driver in order to reroute, all in a different language. Things like this happen often with international business. Meeting times, locations and people change, sometimes when you are on your way to the meeting. These changes seem to be more frequent and more fluid in developing countries than in places like the US.

Business in the United States is fast-paced and thrives off the concept of efficiency; everything is scheduled in minutes and adhered to stringently. The only thing worse than scheduling a meeting with your co-workers, is showing up late to it. In the United States, there is a common phrase used, "time is money". In all industries, from ordering food at a restaurant to construction being completed, we expect everything to be executed in a timely manner and the quicker the better. Failure to do so results in consequences such as receiving less of a tip or losing out on a bid for the next project. No matter the industry, the United States puts a certain value on time. The question becomes then, is that same type of value associated with time reciprocated around the rest of the world? Rest assured it is not, which is okay and not a problem as long as you are prepared for it. In this article I will discuss how to address the impact this can have on international business, particularly in sales.

A common mistake that many salespeople make is that they take the position of absolute supplication when dealing with prospects. One way salespeople do this is by being too giving of their time. They will offer their prospects any time of any day for a meeting. The problem is that in doing so the salesperson will lose value and equity in the relationship with the prospect. This puts the salesperson at a disadvantage, diminishes their leverage in the negotiation process, and they will ultimately get taken advantage of by the prospect. As a salesperson, one needs to guard their time, show it has value, offer up set times throughout the week to have meetings, all in order to maintain that common ground with the prospect. Unfortunately, in some countries this tactic is more harmful than helpful and needs to be rethought.

It has been my and my colleagues' experience, from Southeast Asia to Latin America, that in some international countries time and scheduling is not treated the same or adhered to. Time can end up moving much slower than what we in the US are used to. Meetings are cancelled last second, start 10 minutes late, or as mentioned earlier, can have its location changed while on the way to the meeting. As is the case, one must be incredibly flexible and incredibly giving of one's time to get that highly desired in-person meeting. This is further compounded by international travel as the trip is only for a finite time and international trips tend to be less frequent. Any kind of timeline or agenda you are personally trying to adhere to will only serve to further exacerbate this issue.

How to Address This Problem

Preparation

Planning ahead, being proactive, and preparing for the "worse" is what will help overcome this situation. As soon as the time of the trip is known, begin aggressively reaching out to prospects for the in-person meetings. You will need to vehemently push for meeting commitments from your prospects. This could take months and you can expect to be trying to finalize these meetings even after your trip has begun. Treat the event as a very special occasion and use the appeal of an international vendor coming to visit them to your advantage. After all that work to get these meetings scheduled you should 100% expect them to change, therefore you have to be flexible and agile.

In Country Travel and Communication

Get familiar with the cities/regions your meetings will be taking place in and what the normal modes of transport are (Uber, personal taxis, black cars etc...). You will also want to familiarize yourself with in country airline provider websites. My business trips to Brazil always include flying to multiple regions within the country. As meetings are finalized and changed last minute, I often find myself up late at night cancelling initially scheduled flights and scheduling new flights on a Brazilian airline websites. Unfortunately, Expedia and the like can only do so much and for the most available flights you have to go directly to the source. There is a learning curve to these websites and the more competent you are with using them the better. Apps like,WhatsApp, are very popular in many countries for communicating. From your taxi driver to the VP you are trying to meet with, most prefer communicating in this manner and it will be important for you to have that form of communication already installed on your smart phone.

Reestablish Your Value

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, being too giving of your time as a salesperson can lessen your value in the negotiations. Since this is nearly unavoidable in many international arenas, the salesperson has to gain that value and leverage back elsewhere. To do so, put a higher value on other parts of the process that you still control. A great example of this is around putting higher value on the information you provide about your services. Prospects will have questions, they will need to know about certain aspects of your products/services as they go through their own evaluation process. Every time that you are asked for a piece of information (implementation time, billing, price, functionalities etc...) be sure to ask for information in return (questions around: Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline, etc...). This is a perfect time to take advantage of the Principle of Reciprocity, whereas when you are doing something for someone, it is the best time to ask them to do something for you. In doing so, your prospect will learn that your information is valuable and comes at a price, further establishing the mutual respect the two parties should have for each other.

In closing, the international business realm is diverse and the way time is treated is volatile. This is not a negative aspect of any country, merely something you must be aware of so you can take advantage of the opportunity to be more innovative in your approach. The more planning you can do to circumvent mishaps will only serve to improve your overall success. Be proactive, be agile, and find ways to reestablish you and your organization's value in the sales process.