QWhiz

Founding AE / ex-SDR

Valued Contributor

rapport with foreign folks?

my company hired me as a founding AE for international sales a couple of months back (EdTech). I've been doing decently ok, giving some demos, closing a few low-ticket deals, taking some discoveries, having a lot of email convos. For my company International is anything and everything but US. I talk to folks from south africa, portugal, canada, australia, italy, indonesia, taiwan, singapore and a lot more. Lion's share are PQLs.

I'm based out of India, and I am struggling to do any sort of rapport-building or friendly introductions over zoom calls. I simply cannot relate to them. I can't talk about food, weather, any live event or anything else happening there. Like the last deal i closed with argentina prospects, the only thing I knew about Argentina was Messi, and the fact that their flag has a freakin' sun on it. How do i go about rapport building with these international folks? Do I study their country for some time before jumping on a zoom call?

13

27 comments

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

8

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

You just have to be genuine and sincere. And to braintank’s point, you could simply tell them you’ve not yet been fortunate to travel to their country, but you’re interested in learning something about it. Then listen.

Also read the room. If they don’t have time for small talk, cut the chit chat short and don’t irritate them.

oldcloser

Arsonist

4

💀

Don’t irritate them? I gotta wrote this down. THIS is what I’ve been doing wrong!
✍️✍️✍️

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It's always something glaringly obvious when you think about it.

oldcloser

Arsonist

2

💀

Totally

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

Absolutely this. Social cues are highly important.

QWhiz

Big Shot

2

Founding AE / ex-SDR

Never travelled out of India. I can use this as a template on every call - "haven't had the fortune of traveling to your country". In a few weeks, I can get depressed though at my fortune. haha. But thanks for the advice.

DefaultSalesDude

Executive

1

Director

@Sunbunny31 is right. I was in an international role and also had a hard time building rapport. What helped me was trying to be genuine and shift the focus on their problems... not my solution. Those are the important parts and you'll gain rapport over the sales cycle.

braintank

Politicker

5

Enterprise Account Executive

Ask them about their country, silly

GDO

Politicker

2

BDM

this right here. Just be interested.

also what is PQL?

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

2

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

Product-qualified leads.

jefe

Arsonist

0

🍁

And be genuine about it - you'll learn some cool stuff.

FoodForSales

Politicker

4

AE

Have you googled "how to develop sales rapport"? Or better yet, Sales GPT that?

Or you can just skip asking about the weather and ask about their company and what prompted them to reach out. Ask them about their job and responsibilities. Ask what they hope to accomplish with your solution and how it could affect their business.
Or dont.

pirate

Big Shot

4

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Just tell them that. Look I am Indian...never been to Argentina. What's the best bit. People love to talk about themselves

QWhiz

Big Shot

1

Founding AE / ex-SDR

love this

butwhy

Politicker

4

Solutions Engineer

I think this is a fantastic use case for ChatGPT, and maybe Twitter. 30 seconds of research will do good.

Also keep in mind that some cultures just do not rapport build like others. For instance...Germany. Just give them numbers and you are their best friend. Also in the UK, rapport is a little backward in that until they are mocking you, you cannot be sure they actually like you and your product.

QWhiz

Big Shot

3

Founding AE / ex-SDR

yeah.... The Taiwanese resellers send me kiss emojis and prefer speaking over whatsapp chats. Kiss empjis for real.
😘

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Focus on the solution and skip the rapport building. They called you.

QWhiz

Big Shot

1

Founding AE / ex-SDR

True. But what about a casual intro? Like the first minute or two 0 just to set the tone of the call?

Pachacuti

Politicker

0

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

@QuizWhiz If you can’t talk about something superficial for 2-5 mins, sales isn’t for you. And I mean that in a very absolute way. A basic sales skill is being able to talk to people about nothing in particular. Or asking them simple questions about themselves - “how long you worried there” “what changes have you seen in that time”.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

Do a quick research. Tell them you read xyz about their country and would like to learn more. Do you think you’ll have enough time for this during your first convo?

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

2

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Rapport 101 - take interest in the other party and then they will take interest in you.

QWhiz

Big Shot

0

Founding AE / ex-SDR

Some of them are jerks! I try so hard, but their sad faces just make me want to get straight to the point.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

2

Sales Rep

Rapport can be about there company, talk about an article you read or something on their website

QWhiz

Big Shot

1

Founding AE / ex-SDR

right in the first 2 mins of the call?

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

1

Sales Rep

Feel like rapport building is best in the beginning but can be done throughout

ApocalyBoom

Politicker

1

Account Executive

tell them Look Im Indian...Ive never been to Argentina. Which is the best bit. People love to talk about themselves

QWhiz

Big Shot

1

Founding AE / ex-SDR

@ApocalyBoom - gr8 idea

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