Multilingual Sales Support

Sales folks, take note! Spamming a target company's employees with your services and requests for meetings will result in your company making its way onto a buyer's blocklist. As a buyer in the localization industry, I receive dozens of emails and LinkedIn requests every single day from vendors looking to showcase translation, AI, QA services, and more. It's not humanly possible to give personal replies to every outreach. When vendors can't get through to me, they often reach out to everyone on my team... and sometimes to many others across my company. I'd love for this practice to stop. It wastes valuable company time and makes a vendor appear desperate and non-strategic. Here's what to do instead: 1. Appeal to ego! Invite a target company’s decision-maker to a panel, or start a vlog series and ask buyers to appear and discuss industry topics. It’s also a great opportunity to reposition your company as a thought leader. 2. Offer genuine insight, not just services. Share a case study, white paper, or benchmarking data that’s actually useful to the buyer’s role, and do it without a sales pitch. 3. Build a reputation before you build a pipeline. Comment thoughtfully on posts. Contribute to community conversations. If you consistently show up with value, you’re far more likely to get noticed. 4. Target smarter, not broader. Don’t shotgun your message to an entire company. Learn the org. Understand the buyer’s scope. Then send one well-researched, personalized note that shows you actually did your homework. 5. Focus on mutual value. Can you help solve a known pain point or offer perspective on something changing in the market? Frame your outreach around collaboration, not consumption. 6. Use timing to your advantage. Keep tabs on when companies are hiring for roles associated with your offerings, launching in new markets, or attending conferences. That’s when buyers are more receptive to new solutions. 7. Lead with generosity. Offer a no-strings-attached resource, intro, or suggestion that doesn’t benefit you directly. Reciprocity is a powerful trust builder. And please! Don't ever ever call me on the phone! ;)

This map will likely spark debate, and that’s exactly why it matters. It shows the major ethnolinguistic and cultural groups across Africa, a reminder that the continent’s borders, drawn in European boardrooms, often ignore what’s true on the ground. From a business and development perspective, this is critical. Because you’re not selling into countries. You’re engaging with communities. Understanding regional identities, like the Hausa influence across West Africa, or how Swahili unites parts of the East, can make or break your market entry strategy. This map reminds us: ✅ Africa is not one place. ✅ Culture matters more than just translation. ✅ Success requires local knowledge and humility. Now, to be clear, I see some questionable depictions here. Not everything on this map is perfectly accurate. And I’m sure the comments will be lively (feel free to jump in). But from my perspective, much of what’s shown reflects real social and cultural dynamics that we often overlook in boardrooms and market reports. Doing business in Africa? Start by knowing who you're doing business with, not just where. #AfricaBusiness #CulturalIntelligence #MarketEntry #EthnolinguisticAfrica #DevelopmentMatters #MrExportToAfrica #AmplifySales #DoingBusinessInAfrica #LocalizationNotJustTranslation

Nobody tells you this about enterprise sales The biggest deals are lost in the first 5 minutes. Not because of your pitch. Not because of your price. Not because of your product. But because of the language you use. Here's what I discovered after analyzing 1000+ sales calls: The higher the deal value, the simpler the language needed to win. Example: $5K deal (Lost) Rep: "Our value proposition addresses critical pain points in your tech stack integration, offering seamless scalability..." $50K deal (Won) Rep: "We help companies stop losing customers due to slow website loading times." See the difference? I tested this with a struggling SaaS team: Before: Complex sales language - 22% close rate - 108-day sales cycle - $127K average deal After: Plain English only - 41% close rate - 71-day sales cycle - $198K average deal Simple change. Massive impact. The truth is, every exec can smell rehearsed "sales talk" from miles away. Want to close bigger deals? Drop these phrases: - "Value proposition" → Say how you help - "Pain points" → Say what problems you solve - "ROI analysis" → Say how much money they'll make - "Scalable solution" → Say how you grow with them - "Best-in-class" → Say why you're better Top performers don't sound like salespeople. They sound like trusted advisors who happen to sell. Start talking like a human. Watch your deals grow. What's the worst sales jargon you've heard lately? P.S. If you need help with your sales, send me a message Let's talk about finding your breakthrough strategy

I managed teams in India for years. Then I got APAC. Nothing worked. Same frameworks. Same playbooks. Same communication style. Different results. Mostly bad ones. I was running meetings the way I ran them in India. Direct. Fast. Agenda-driven. In some countries, it landed well. In others, I could feel the room go cold. Back then, someone gave me advice I didn't fully appreciate at the time: "Slow down. Understand how people here think. Business will follow." So I started paying attention. Asking questions. Watching what worked and what didn't. Today, I manage a team across 7 offices. We speak 11 languages. We serve customers in 12+ countries. Here's what I've learned about working across APAC: - In Japan, silence often means agreement. Precision matters more than speed. Never surprise anyone in a meeting. - In Korea, context is everything. Explain the "why" before the "what." Hierarchy shapes how feedback flows. - In Vietnam, people are direct. Candid. They'll tell you what's broken if you ask. - In Indonesia, harmony matters. Pushback is subtle. You have to read between the lines. - In Singapore, time is currency. Get to the point. Skip the preamble. - In India, silence in a meeting often means disagreement. Or confusion. Rarely agreement. Same region. Wildly different operating systems. The mistake I made early on? Assuming one style fits all. It doesn't. Cultural fluency isn't about being "sensitive." It's about being effective. What's one cultural nuance that took you time to understand?

If only I had known … that English won’t always open doors. At least 1.5B people speak English. BUT is English really the language of business? Not if you’re pitching in 🇫🇷 France. Not if you’re negotiating in 🇧🇷 Brazil. Not if you’re building trust in 🇯🇵 Japan or 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia. For B2B expansion, it’s not just about what you sell, but in which language you sell it. In Southern Europe, German Mittelstand, or Poland → local language wins. In the Middle East and parts of Asia → English is a second layer, not the foundation. In LATAM, English may get you through one meeting → but Spanish or Portuguese is what builds trust. My personal experience from 500+ expansion journeys: Sometimes hiring a local - or working with some local experts - is more valuable than another sales deck in English. In the end, it’s not just about translation... it’s about trust. So... Would you trust a pitch in English, or prefer local language? What’s the funniest translation or cultural mix-up you’ve seen in business? ------ 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 Upvisor Global 🌐 With 450+ expansion projects in the global tech space under our belt, we support investors, founders, and executives of tech companies with the right steps & advice for international expansion. 𝘞𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.

When I started thinking about market expansion for the next episode of #MarketerinTech: 𝐔𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝, one name came to mind instantly—Winifred Wong. Having worked with her before, I knew her POV would be gold. She’s is working firsthand on what it really takes to turn global ambition into local traction—and she didn’t disappoint. Winifred’s approach to local market success starts long before a campaign launches. It begins with deep listening—to local sales, to customers, to the macroeconomic and cultural pulse of the region. It’s not just about translating messaging, but truly tailoring it to reflect real customer needs. She and her broader team constantly refines based on feedback, local terminology, and channel preferences—yes, including region-specific SEO reviews. But that’s not all. They bring in local voices too—amplifying success stories from nearby customers to build resonance and trust. One of her strongest plays? Building a local partner ecosystem. These aren’t just resellers—they’re trusted allies who co-solution, co-sell, and bring regional relevance to every engagement. That’s how you scale and stay close to your customer. ------ #𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉: 𝑼𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒌 ------ ✅ Top 3 Takeaways 1. 𝑫𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 — Culture, customer needs, and macro context shape your GTM more than you think. 2. 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆 — Tailor your messaging and your channels. Translation ≠ localization. 3. 𝑩𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 — Partner ecosystems amplify reach, relevance, and relationships. 💡 My 2 Cents Market expansion isn’t a launch, it’s a relationship. The teams who win are the ones who embed—not broadcast. And nothing says commitment like showing up in the right channels, in the right language, with the right local partners. #B2BMarketing #MarketExpansion #GotoMarket #PartnerMarketing #GTMStrategy #CMO #leadership #MarketingPOV

The fastest way to sound like every other rep and lose connection with the buyer? Describe your prospect's problem in your words instead of theirs. You say "data silos." They say "I can't find anything, it's all over the place." You say "lack of visibility." They say "I have no idea what my team is actually doing all day." You say "inefficient workflows." They say "I'm drowning and I'm doing everything twice." Same problem. Completely different language. And the second you use your words instead of theirs...you sound like every other vendor who doesn't get it. In order to truly connect, you have to change the way you talk about the problem. You don't describe the problem. You describe THEIR problem, in THEIR words. And you know where you find those words? They're on your calls. They're on CS calls. You just have to actually listen for them. When I sit down to review a call, I'm not listening to the rep. I'm listening to the prospect. Here's exactly how to mine it: - Pull 30 recent discovery calls. - Ignore what your rep said. Listen only to the prospect. - Write down the exact words they use for the pain — verbatim, not cleaned up. - Highlight the emotional words: "drowning," "frustrated," "no clue," "all over the place." - Build a swipe file of their language, sorted by problem. - Feed those exact words back into your discovery, your demo, your follow-up. A prospect once told me, "Every Monday I open the CRM and I want to throw my laptop." I never said "reporting inefficiencies" again. I said, "So... no more Monday laptop-throwing, right?" They laughed. Then they bought. This week: listen to 10 of your own calls. Not to grade the rep. To steal the customer's words. Write down 10 phrases exactly as they said them. Then go use them. Sell in their language, they feel understood. Sell in yours, they feel sold to. BONUS TIP: I've set up research agents that comb reddit, google, LI, etc to listen for how prospects speak about the problem and day to day and it updates weekly on a spreadsheet. Capturing the voice of the customer in real time!

Cultural awareness isn’t a ‘soft skill’—it’s the difference between a win and a loss in negotiations. I’ve seen top leaders close multimillion-dollar deals and lose them, all because they misunderstood cultural dynamics. I learned this lesson early in my career. Early in my negotiations, I assumed the rules of business were universal. But that assumption cost me time, deals, and valuable relationships. Here’s the thing: Culture impacts everything in a negotiation: - decision-making, - trust-building, and - even timing. Let me give you a few examples from my own experience: 1. Know the "silent signals": In one negotiation with a Japanese client, I learned that silence doesn’t mean disagreement. In fact, it’s a sign of deep thought. It was easy to misread, but recognizing this cultural trait helped me avoid rushing and respect their decision-making pace. 2. Understand authority dynamics: Working with a Middle Eastern team, I found that decisions often come from the top, but they require the approval of key family members or advisors. I adjusted my strategy, engaging with the right people at the right time, which changed the outcome of the deal. 3. Punctuality & respect: I once showed up five minutes early for a meeting with a South American partner. I quickly learned that arriving early was considered aggressive. In that culture, relationships are built on patience. I recalibrated, arriving at the exact time, and it made all the difference. These are the kinds of cultural insights you can only gain through experience. And they can’t be ignored if you want to negotiate at the highest level. When you understand the subtle, but significant, differences in how people from different cultures approach business, you’re no longer reacting to situations. You’re strategizing based on deep cultural awareness. This is what I teach my clients: How to integrate cultural awareness directly into their negotiation tactics to turn every encounter into a successful one. Want to elevate your negotiation strategy? Let’s talk and stop your next deal from falling apart. --------------------------------------- Hi, I’m Scott Harrison and I help executive and leaders master negotiation & communication in high-pressure, high-stakes situations.  - ICF Coach and EQ-i Practitioner - 24 yrs | 19 countries | 150+ clients   - Negotiation | Conflict resolution | Closing deals 📩 DM me or book a discovery call (link in the Featured section)

Global content ≠ local impact. Here’s something I’ve seen waaaay too much with tech companies: Global pushes out campaigns/reports. But when they land in APAC? They fall flat. Why? Because they don’t speak to local pain points, buying behaviors, or decision-making processes. A marketing leader in Ho Chi Minh doesn't necessarily care what a company in Texas is doing. Now here’s the unsexy truth: Most regional teams don’t have the budget—or internal resources—to fully localize everything. So what can you do? Here are 3 scrappy, underused plays I’ve done with clients: 1. Use “Glocal” Templates → Create a core framework (e.g. 70% HQ-approved content) → Leave 30% for regional storytelling: local stats, use cases, or even idioms Example: Swap “enterprise cloud” for “secure tech stack for family-run conglomerates”—it lands differently in SEA (especially in markets like the Philippines and Indonesia). 2. Local Voiceovers > Full Video Redos → Instead of redoing global explainer videos, re-record the voiceover in-market → Keep the visuals, change the narrative tone It’s fast, cheap, and works surprisingly well in markets like Japan and Thailand. 3. Build a Regional “Swipe File” → Collect winning LinkedIn posts, sales decks, event slides from your region → Turn this into a resource for HQ and other regional teams It proves that what works in San Fran may need a remix in Jakarta. You don’t need a massive budget to make content land better. You just need to make it feel like it was made for here, not there. (Happy to share more examples offline.) What have you seen work well when localizing global content?

🗣️ "Should we launch our product in Spanish or English for the US Hispanic market?" 👀 After helping launching 10+ tech products in this market, here's what the data actually shows: 📱 Language Preferences by Generation: 👨 👩 Gen Z & Millennials: ▶ 76% prefer English for tech products ▶ BUT 82% want customer support in both languages ▶ 91% appreciate bilingual marketing 👴 👵 Gen X & Boomers: ▶ 65% prefer Spanish interfaces ▶ 89% need Spanish support ▶ 72% make purchase decisions in Spanish 🔑 Key Insights: 1️⃣ Interface ≠ "Support Your product can be in English", but support MUST be bilingual. 2️⃣ Marketing = Both Campaigns should run in both languages, with cultural nuance. 3️⃣ Documentation Hierarchy: ▶ Technical docs → English ▶ How-to guides → Both ▶ Customer support → Spanish first #HispanicMarketing #ProductStrategy #Localization #TechInclusion