Getting to Know Your Neighbors: How an Understanding of Culture Can Help Your Marketing Team

You’ve been mulling the question over in your head all week, but you just don’t know what to do. You’re looking to outsource your appointment setting work for your life science business, but you don’t know whether you should outsource it locally, overseas, or somewhere inbetween. You’ve heard that outsourcing to other countries is cheaper than hiring someone in the States but you’re also concerned that there may be repercussions of outsourcing internationally that you haven’t considered. What to do?

While it can be tricky, it may be best to start by thinking about the cultural differences between America and other countries; That is to say, not thinking necessarily about any specific differences, but simply the fact that there are differences. The way people from different cultures interact with one another can be quite different. When discussing this topic with a representative from Tactical Telesolutions, they said this:

“Callers in the US can often connect with prospects in ways that callers outside the US cannot. Building rapport is important in lead generation calls and there is frequently very little time to do that. Being able to pick up on subtle cultural queues and respond appropriately to them due to shared culture can often create a connection that allows a call to move forward.

In addition, you never know the potential biases that a prospect may have and having a US based caller who either has little accent or a regional accent that is recognizable in the culture (i.e Southern drawl, Bostonian accents..etc.) can reduce resistance to the rest of the call. Lead generation calling is always challenging, and you want to reduce any friction that can happen in those calls. While you may save money by going to an overseas vendor. You may also reduce your rate of return if those callers aren’t well versed in the culture they are calling into and the regional differences even within the US itself. US callers know instinctively that you will need to modulate how quickly you speak when calling into different states (i.e. Calling into businesses in San Francisco vs calling into businesses in New York) and how they deliver value propositions to these different audiences. Callers in overseas call centers often do not know these regional differences and can miss out on opportunities to connect with prospects in the way they want to be spoken to.”

How to Operate in a Cultural Melting Pot:

Since it’s the job of the appointment setter to really get a foot in the door for a company to make sales, this matter of cultural difference is extremely important to consider. If you’re able to speak to a representative in a way that they recognize, you will likely be much more comfortable and open to doing business with the representative and their company. That, however, opens up another question; the US has so many different cultures (not to mention how many people from other cultures you’ll interact with if you’re a multinational business) how do you make sure you are catering to as many different cultures as possible?

A good way to make sure you can connect with as many people as possible is to make sure the company you’re outsourcing to hires people from many different cultures. That’s not to say hire someone to market specifically to a particular cultural segment— it would be incredibly inappropriate and incorrect to say that only a person from that culture could have a comfortable and positive interaction with a similar person. Quite the opposite, in fact; this would give your representatives experience talking to and interacting with people from many different cultural backgrounds and help them become more adept at picking up on cultural differences during their calls, as well as in everyday life. Taking this approach will not only train your employees to communicate with as many people as possible and can even give your company insight on how to market to different groups of people and strategies that you may not have thought of before.

Contact TTS today about your life sciences lead generation project.