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You must show that you care about the needs and desires of the client. 

And my need and desire as a client is not to make friends with you (here and further down the text, by you I mean not the article author, but the person who sends me an email). We are not friends; we are, at best, acquaitances (and that's even if it's not a cold call!), I don't know carp about you; you don't know carp about me; so do not even dare to pretend that we are best buddies! That immediately causes the instinctive reaction opposite of what you might be aiming for: I start treating you with suspicion: "Why is this guy I barely even know is trying to pretend that he's my best buddy? He must be aiming to take advantage of me, in one way or another!

In Russia, friendship — in fact, translations are incorrect: дружба should not be translated as friendship, but more as comradeidere; "friendship" is what happens when you click on a Facebook batton; дружба is what happens when the other person covers your back in a street fight (or worse yet, on the battlefield) — дружба doesn't just happen, it has to be earned, and that doesn't happen in three seconds. You cannot declare yourself to be somebody's друг (no matter how much you may wish otherwise), only that person has the right to declare you his друг.

If you want to address me properly, what works is "Mr. Such-and-Such"; it declares that you respect me, at least as an equal. Don't go all out on, like, "hey friend..." — it even has a name, панибратство, and is not appreciated in the least.

Hi yes let’s take your point step-by-step.

  1. Your point about Mr. I totally do agree with this and I think that showing respect in an email is very important especially when you do not know the person personally you have not met them personally so I do address my emails as Mr. or I use first and last name.

  2. In an email, I would not pretend or act like anyone’s friend. I would be very very respectful and polite.

    A. But I would give my name.

    B. I would try to address the actual need or desire or both of the client in my email..

  3. On the phone: in America, people are much nicer than many places in the world, especially in business the business. Even on the street in some states, they are extremely friendly and will waive and say hello.

    This translates to a friendly demeanor in business phone calls. Even cold calls.

    I do try to be respectful during a cold call, but also friendly and light.

    The total way that you approach business phone calls in America are much nicer and have a friendly atmosphere.

    I was reminded of this very sharply this week when I was cold calling American or one of my IT companies that I consult with.

    After I got off the phone I remember thinking oh my God it’s nice to talk to Americans again.

  4. if you use the way that Russians communicate with the Americans, you will not get the result that you would like. You will not have a successful pre-sale. You will not also be able to convert any potential contacts into sales.

    As always, if you would like to comment further, please let’s have a discussion. My aim here is to help IT be more successful and dealing with the western companies.

Being a nice and professional at the same time is one of the key factor for the success in pre-sales and up-sales. you have to become The trusted advisor for key accounts.

Takeaways:

  • Do not promise what you or a product can’t do at least at 80%. 120%, an extra mile, is the goal.

  • Protect the customers from an ugly design or decisions. Respect what they want, but you must have enough background to recognize potential issues early, and escalate it properly.

  • Be on a customer side. It doesn’t mean being opposite to the company. If something works as a crap, bring some value personally and at least a partial solution to mitigate it.

  • Expert sales works better

I can feel it all around the world, having a chance to work with many VPs and the “Head of” in the USA, Europe, Africa and Asia.

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