With the summer holidays approaching (perhaps some of you have already started) and airports filling up with suitcases and people eager to travel, it's a golden opportunity to reflect on what travel actually brings - not only personally, but professionally. Especially in sales and marketing, where understanding people is the key to success, encountering different cultures can provide invaluable experience and measurable results.
At the core of effective sales and marketing is understanding people: What they need, what they respond to, and how they make decisions. This requires deep insight into behavior, context and communication. This is where experience from travel and encounters with different cultures can provide a significant competitive advantage.
Cultural competence and adaptability: The key to growth
Working with people from different backgrounds develops skills that are directly transferable to the field of sales and marketing. You learn to adapt, read situations quickly and communicate clearly, even when languages, working styles and frames of reference vary. This cultural competence is not just a soft skill; it has a direct impact on the bottom line.
Research shows that companies with cultural intelligence (CQ) in their teams are 70% more likely to successfully enter new markets (Economist Intelligence Unit). This emphasizes the value of developing a deeper cultural understanding to drive business development and global sales. A study from Aperian Global also highlights that cross-cultural training can help overcome obstacles caused by a lack of knowledge of other cultures, leading to more effective teams and better results.
Empathy in sales and marketing: Builds loyalty and increases sales
More than just language - it's about active listening and customer insight. Spending time in a new country, or even just actively listening to someone from a different background, provides insight into how people think and feel - and how they make decisions. This is valuable insight when it comes to creating messages that hit home and conducting target group analysis.
Empathy in sales and empathetic marketing are no longer just buzzwords; they are critical success factors. Ads that evoke strong emotional responses can lead to a 23% increase in sales, and emotionally connected customers are 52% more valuable than those who are not (Spiralytics). Furthermore, studies show that cognitive empathy can increase salespeople's pricing, sales volume and service quality, while selling with empathy can improve customers' decision quality by 11% (Uniphore). This confirms that when we understand the human context, we create communication with more relevance and more empathy, which directly affects sales results and builds customer loyalty.
Technology and humanity: A powerful combination
In a world of digital tools, automation and ever-increasing AI, it's easy to focus solely on numbers, KPIs and optimization. This is important, of course - measurement and improvement are critical to performance. But it's when we combine this with a deeper understanding of people and perspectives that we truly create value. Adaptability in business is crucial, and businesses that are adaptable thrive in changing environments and can adapt quickly.
It's not about replacing technology or structure - it's about enriching them. With insight. With nuance. With humanity. Culturally competent marketing not only improves customer engagement, but also enhances brand loyalty and reputation, which in turn contributes to increased market share and higher prices.
A reminder for the summer season
That's why summer - whether it's spent in a completely different country or at a café in the city having a good conversation - can be an opportunity to gain new insights. Maybe not through a new textbook or course, but through observation, curiosity and conversations with people we might not otherwise meet.
It's in those moments that we build the skills that make us better marketers and salespeople. Because we understand a little more - and communicate a little better. These are investments in your own business development and success in international marketing and global sales.
