You might think this does not happen often. After all, most business professionals recognize the intrinsic need for trust in all business to take place. Without trust, customers do not want to buy from you.

And yet, this is the reason why most international leads usually fall through.

Additional Cross-Cultural Barriers To Trust

You see cross-cultural communication is mined with trust breakers at just about every turn you make.

And even worse, you can lose your international prospects without even knowing how or why.

You do have one very good weapon to help you detect trust breakers.

Basic Personal Communication Skills

What basic personal communication skill is common across all cultures?

Listening

Listening is the very first place to start. This is where communication begins.

Listening helps you to:

* Create a relationship with your international clients
* Be liked – everyone likes being listened to
* Show interest and respect
* Create trust

We all think we are good at listening. But we are all human beings, and we all also like to take part in the conversation.

Ad this is were good cross-cultural communication demands stronger listening skills. You need to put aside your own natural desire to talk, and sit back and listen more attentively for a little while longer.

Focused Listening

To understand your international clients better and anticipate where trust breaks down you need to concentrate on focused listening.

Focused listening gives you a deeper understanding of your international clients.

* It often only takes a few more seconds or minutes longer. But demands a heightened sense of concentration on listening.
* It allows you to pick up the whole conversation and listen to both verbal and non-verbal signals.
* It slows down your own conversation for you to take the time to ask questions and get clarification.
* It creates a real conversation somewhere in the middle between two cultures.

Yes, curiosity can also help you to understand your international clients… after you have listened to them first.

Basic Trust Building Block

For these reasons, focused listening is the first trust building block.

And it is something easy to do.

At least it should be something easy to do. The trouble is that many people do not take the time to listen, nor do they make the personal effort to listen attentively.

Increase your listening skills and you increase your cross-cultural skills quickly too.

The truth is, your personal listening skills have a greater direct impact on your international sales than you think.

So, spend a few extra seconds and focus your listening the next time to speak to your international prospects or clients.