Michael Soon Lee, MBA, CRS, GRI, President, EthnoConnect
Q. How important is the greeting when dealing with a multi-cultural prospect?
A. Regardless of culture, how you greet a new prospect often determines whether or not they will become a client. Unfortunately, in the first 30 seconds most untrained Realtors and new-home sales professionals will unintentionally insult a multicultural customer at least three times.
The most common way that we tend to offend prospects is by automatically trying to shake their hand. In the new world of global business, this can be extremely offensive to some cultures. For example, to touch an Asian Indian, Japanese or Middle Eastern woman could be offensive to her religion, culture and spouse. This is why we need to get into the habit of not putting our hand out when meeting any customer but instead hesitating to see what kind of greeting they offer us.
We also can offend prospects with our eye contact. In the United States we prefer direct eye contact which implies sincerity and honesty. But in other cultures such as Asians or Native Americans looking another person in the eye is considered rude and disrespectful. If a customer avoids direct eye contact we simply must become comfortable with it and do the same.
Another common way that we make multicultural prospects feel uncomfortable is by standing too close or too far away. In the United States we tend to stand about two feet apart when talking but in some countries this can be too close.
For instance, in Japan they will greet each other with a handshake or bow and then step backwards to a much more formal personal space. If you step forward to the distance that is comfortable for you it will violate their personal space and make them extremely uncomfortable.
On the other hand, other cultures like those in the Middle East, prefer to stand much closer than Americans when conversing. If you backup when they do this it can be very offensive to them.
Again, the key is to let your prospects tell you how they want to be greeted, how much eye contact they prefer and how much personal space they want. By doing what's most comfortable for the customer we are providing excellent customer service.
Q. What are the best discovery questions to learn a multi-cultural prospect's important "hot buttons"?
A. To learn any customer's "hot buttons" you need to get to know them. It takes longer to build strong relationships with multicultural customers because they not only want to know that you are competent but that you are also a trustworthy person as well. This takes more than just a few minutes to develop. You must take the time to find out about their family, where they work and what their goals are for buying a home. This may take several meetings which may include meals or other nonbusiness occasions. It takes patience and caring to develop trust with multicultural customers.
Q. How and should Realtors and site agents handle the language barrier of a prospect with limited use of the English language?
A. The easiest way to bridge language barriers is to provide information in writing. Providing brochures and computer printouts will help provide the basic information that customers need. If they are seriously interested they will usually return with a friend or family member who is fluent in English. You'll want to obtain as much contact information from this person is possible because they could be extremely important in any future transaction with your customers.
If you print brochures and other information in the languages of your largest multicultural groups it will help to quickly build trust.
Q. Where are most of the multi-cultural buyers coming from? How can agents prospect to these multi-cultural buyers?
A. Multicultural buyers are coming from two major sources.
The first are multicultural Americans who comprise over one-third of all people in this country and by the year 2050 will be the majority. The largest multicultural groups in the U.S. are Hispanics (17 percent), blacks (12.3 percent) and Asians (5 percent). The second group of multicultural buyers are international buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors, the largest group of foreign buyers currently come from Canada (23 percent), China (12 percent), Mexico (8 percent), India (5 percent) and the United Kingdom (5 percent).
It's vital that you know exactly what culture your customers are coming from. It's not good enough to know that you have Hispanics because there are six major groups that are categorized as Hispanic. Similarly, blacks are not all African-Americans. Asians are comprised of over 13 different cultures. To determine this you simply need to ask every customer, regardless of what they look like, "Where are your ancestors from?" Most people will be happy to tell you.
Every part of the country has multicultural real estate buyers but you have to do your homework to know which groups are buying real estate in your area. You can check Census Bureau statistics but the most accurate information can be obtained by talking to local agents about their customers and where they are coming from. Once you know where the majority of multicultural buyers are coming from you can get involved in their community activities, business groups and even advertise in culturally specific advertising outlets.
Regardless of whether the majority of your multicultural buyers are Canadian or Cambodian, it's crucial to treat them with sensitivity to their culture. This means learning about their culture and making adjustments to meet their unique needs.
Q. What other tips would help Realtors and site agents better communicate and negotiate the sales process with multi-cultural buyers?
A. The most important rule when working with buyers today is to ask them about their culture. Most Americans are hesitant to ask people about their culture because they're afraid to offend them. However, if you don't ask people about their culture then you can only make assumptions. You are far more likely to offend people by making assumptions than by simply asking them, "Where are your ancestors from?"
Recognize that there are two types of countries in the world: non-negotiating and negotiating.
The United States, Canada and Western Europe are non-negotiating countries where time is money. We walk into stores and commonly pay exactly what is asked because it saves time. In these countries only the largest purchases such as cars and houses are regularly negotiated. Latin America, Asia and the Middle East are negotiating countries where money is relatively scarce. They will negotiate everything from food to clothing to real estate to save money and as a result they're much better at haggling then we are.
So, if you want to have a chance when bargaining with someone from a negotiating culture, you need to attend a very good negotiating class or buy a negotiating book.
It usually takes more time to build a trusting relationship and close a transaction with a multicultural buyer because they may not be as familiar with our laws, contracts, financing and other aspects of a real estate transaction.
However, if you take the time to learn a little bit about culture and recognize that what other people do that is different from you is just different and not wrong you will likely have more multicultural customers and learn fascinating facts about different foods, religions and cultures all at the same time. It's like taking an around-the-world vacation without losing one piece of luggage!
— Michael Soon Lee is president of EthnoConnect.com and the author of "Opening Doors: Selling to Multicultural Real Estate Clients" and "Black Belt Negotiating" He can be reached at (800) 417-7325 or through his website, www.EthnoConnect.com