The
easy access and anonymous nature of Internet is
both a boon as well as a curse for international
business. Its a boon as it provides a level playing
field for small and medium enterprises in international
market. Anyone with little investment in computer
and Internet connection can reach out to world
market and compete with the heavyweights - a scenario
completely unthinkable even a few years back.
Its a curse - because a whole lot
of ineffectual people ranging from greenhorns,
get-rich-quick agents to outright frauds and conmen
can easily disguise as experienced/respected businessmen
and waste your valuable time (at best) or at worse
rip you off.
In the virtual world of cyberspace,
often the only mean your customer has to evaluate
you is your communication - your language, presentation
and style. Your e-mail/web-site/ presentation
etc. are your faces to the world - and these must
inspire sufficient confidence in your customer
to transact business with you or at least take
you seriously. This is a marked difference from
traditional business and you should be aware of
this feature of e-commerce.
You may be well known in your own
country but the overseas customer has no way of
knowing how true your claims are. The only touchstone
he/she has is your communication - you must make
sure they are really professional looking. The
professional visitors must immediately know from
your offer that it has been written by another
professional.
Now what makes an offer professional
or get distinguished as serious ? It is not a
10-Mb file attachment on your company history
or flowery language that is going to impress your
customer - if anything these are going to bog
down your rating further. The hallmarks of a good
communication are precise and relevant content,
pleasing format/style and professional presentation.
By relevance, I mean on subject,
THE RECIPIENT IS INTERESTED. Your communication
must have a central theme and all arguments should
logically and coherently flow from there. ‘Precise’
is filtering out stuff not related to main theme.
This ruthless filtering out will make your content
‘unambiguous’
The format and style has as much
bearing as the content. Sentences should be short
and unambiguous - neatly grouped into paragraphs.
Use direct speech using a conversational style
as much as possible. Paragraph length should not
exceed 10 lines normally.
The presentation must inspire confidence
on ability of the presenter. A 150 Kb Web-page
with dozens of colors and fonts only evokes disdain
- however good the content or style may be.
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