My presentation at Outsource People 2015 inspired a series of workshops I'll be giving in Kiev and Lviv - sign up now to get even more in-depth training: goo.gl/zLDvTh I'm honored to be working with Nataly Veremeeva of Cossacks IT as host and organizer. About me: I'm the CMO of Ekipa and one of its cofounders. I'm a native of the United States, a multilingual graduate of the Yale Law School who has lived in four different continents, and I've worked with businesspeople from around the globe.

1. Intercultural Sales Cycles
Jennifer Roberts, CMO Ekipa.co

2. Who I am + background

3. Ekipa
Global marketplace for software development teams

4. Why does culture
matter for remote
software teams?

5. Intercultural communication
●Inherent in any outsourcing relationship
●Goes deeper than brochures and business cards

6. In remote work...
Every interaction happens across cultures.
Most preferences are subconscious and
culturally determined.
Many frustrations and missed opportunities
are tied to expectations and failure to
communicate.

7. Case Study: One email, five realities
Subject: Progress and new projects (Jan 15 2015)
Body: I wanted to let you know we will be delivering the
final live version of your app one week late. The holidays
here last week reduced our productivity.
I also noticed you did not implement a mobile version. Your
project was for responsive HTML5 but we can do a mobile
app for you as well.

8. Case study: One email, five realities (cont.)
What are each of these people thinking?

9. Japanese man: This project was supposed to be done today and now they
want more work from me. Time to withdraw my project and stop
communicating.
Middle eastern man: How rude, he wants to rush right into sales. How can I
even trust him?
American girl: What’s the benefit of building a mobile app?
Brazilian guy: Would it hurt you to be a little happy? Bad energy.
Ukrainian girl: This client has the wrong assumptions. I’ll prove they need it
done another way.

10. Focusing on USA + Ukraine
I surveyed executives, freelancers, developers, and
project managers from both countries
These are their own self-reported expectations and
what they perceive in the other culture
Case studies taken from Reddit, other forums, and
my own experience

11. Typical American Client

12. Some common expectations and frustrations
Service-centered experience
Wealth of choices plus a can-do culture
means:
They expect you to smile and be
somewhat friendly

13. ● Service-centered experience (cont.)
They expect competition for their attention
(worldwide selection)
They expect their needs to be
accommodated (customer is always
right)

14. ● Service-centered experience (cont.)
They expect frequent communication from
service providers
“Checking in” and updating

15. Case Study: Improved Email update
Subject: Progress and moving forward (Jan 2 2015)
Body: Hi, Jennifer! We’re anticipating a slight delay in
building your app next week due to mandatory staff
holidays. On the bright side, we did complete programming
all the way through the first 4 steps of 5 outlined in our
development plan. Please let me know if you’d like more
information on our progress.

16. Expectations, Frustrations: American
Communication (or the lack thereof)
Clear communication, except when it’s not
Americans tend to think they communicate clearly and
don’t understand when others are confused

17. ● Clear communication (cont’d)
Accents
How are you doing?
Jargon
“Let’s synergize around our core
competencies so we don’t drop
the ball on scalable initiatives”

18. ● Clear communication (cont’d)
Positivity
Communicate your expectations clearly
But don’t be too negative about setbacks
“Can-do” culture means present solutions
too

19. Case Study: Even Better Email update
Subject: Progress on your app (Jan 2 2015)
Body: Hi, Jennifer! I wanted to remind you that we’ll be out
next week due to mandatory staff holidays, as per our
development roadmap. On the bright side, we pushed
ahead all the way through the first 4 steps of 5 outlined in
our development plan. Please let me know if you’d like
more information on our progress.

20. Some common expectations and frustrations
Working for someone = you’re on the same team
First step is understanding what they need.
Win/win, collaboration.
Expectations are communicated openly.

21. Some common expectations and frustrations
Goal-based mentality: you are responsible for
delivering results.
Deadlines are firm - you commit to delivering on
a certain date and you make it happen.

22. Case Study 2: Final delivery email
Subject: Your app is done (Feb 2 2015)
Body: Jennifer your app is finished. Unfortunately we could
not design the payment process for bitcoin because our
lead bitcoin developer got sick. We did all other work as
you assigned. Project has been delivered within 1 week of
anticipated end date. Please send payment in full.

23. Case Study 2: Better delivery email
Subject: We did it! (Jan 29 2015)
Body: Hi, Jennifer! Great news: we’ve finished building
your app. You can access the files here, and we’ve also
uploaded them to your server. We’ll be in touch about
billing shortly.
Also, I was wondering why you didn’t build a mobile
specific version - this could improve your performance on
other devices. Let me know if you want to talk more.

24. Typical Ukrainian Provider

25. Some common expectations and frustrations
Straightforward culture: you don’t need to smile at
strangers, or be overly enthusiastic when selling

26. American “positivity” might feel like...

27. Some common expectations and frustrations
Honesty
If something sucks, you say it! If you think the
other person’s assumptions are wrong, you
argue your point

28. What this feels like to one USA businessperson:
“Ukrainians can take a tough stance and dig their
heels in the sand. If they say it's black, it's black. As
a customer this can be frustrating, because it often
requires flexibility to sell something a customer
wants.”

29. What this USA attitude can feel like to the recipient...

30. Some common expectations and frustrations
Customer-seller relationship is the opposite
of in the USA:
In Ukraine, a customer visits a
supplier if they want something.
Clients should be happy to work
with a provider, not the other
way around

31. Related to customer service: “checking in”
What another USA businessperson said:
“During delivery, a team in Ukraine can be working on a
project and think they’re making a lot of progress or they
can be completely stuck. A customer has no way of
knowing without updates. But if technical teams under
communicate, the customer’s uncertainty can derail any
project even if the technical team does everything right.”

32. How to bring two cultures together

33. Big issue #1: Communication
Over-communicate
Assume nothing!
Make sure you understand what the other side
expects
Take time to learn about the other side’s culture

34. Big issue #2: Trust
Establish trust early on in a project
USA clients have heard a few horror stories
of remote teams taking money and not
doing any work, or doing it poorly.
Checking in and showing progress/results

35. Opportunities to excel with
North American clients in
International Sales Cycles
Marketing, Sales, Fulfillment, Support

36. Marketing: blogs, webinars, ebooks
Content establishes your authority
Shows off your expertise
Shows you’re familiar with marketing trends
(push v pull)
Content creates trust
Prospects can see you’re good at
communicating

37. Example: Could be better

38. Examples: Getting there

39. Tools to create great content
Grammarly: in-line grammar and spelling editor
Hemmingway: style editor
Canva: create awesome graphics

40. Selling to a USA client
Have a positive, can-do attitude
Smile (a little bit)
Provide them with content: reviews, references,
examples of previous work
Under-promise and over-deliver
Follow up quickly and be reliable

41. Selling to a USA client (cont.)
A. Sales
1. Focus on understanding needs and working
together
a) Win-win attitude vs. hard selling

42. Case study 3: hard sale gone wrong
Subject: Build software with (Redacted)
Body: Hi Jennifer my name is Inna. I work with (Redacted)
and we have clients from all over the globe. We are world’s
#1 software provider. You should contact us for your software
development needs.

43. Case study 3: hard sale gone wrong, reloaded
Subject: Following up with (Redacted)
Body: Hi Jennifer you did not respond to my previous
message. I notice we are in the same software development
group and you said you are looking to hire. (Redacted)
should be your choice. When can we schedule a call?

44. My reaction as a sales prospect...
Yes, this is really me.

45. Case study 3: Understanding and win-win
Subject: We’d like to help you grow CasaBella
Body: Hi Jennifer, my name is Inna. I work with (Redacted)
and I noticed you’re the CMO of CasaBella. I checked out
your website and it looks like you’ve just got a landing page
up. How can we help you build it? Let me know if you’d like a
quick 10 minute call and I can give you my advice.

46. Selling to a USA client (cont.)
1. Hard work comes in following up -
a) remind them of your value proposition
and keep conversation open
b) Remember: they won’t come to you, and
you need to show how you have what
they need

47. Fulfillment: time and communication
Set out a timeline and stick to it
USA can be more inflexible about time
Communicate about milestones and roadblocks
Although we do understand that circumstances
change

48. Case study 4: why I broke up with my provider
ME: Hey Inna, yesterday I saw on my project calendar we were going to
have mockups ready for the website a week ago. We’re launching in 5
days but I haven’t received anything from you. Is everything ok?
INNA: Yes Jennifer. Everything is fine. We have a slight delay in
producing the mockups. Please be patient and we will give them to you.
ME (in my head): Wow. Time to move on and find someone else.
That team from India seemed polite.

49. Case study 4: why I love my provider
INNA: Hey Jennifer, we’ve got half the mockups ready for you to review. I
know the deadline is next week but could you please take a look so we
know we’re making good progress?
ME: Thanks, that looks great!
ME: Yeah that’s fine, as long as we get them at least 5 days
before launch. (In my head) Good thing they’re making progress! I
guess nobody can prevent mandatory days off.
INNA: Just FYI, next week we have mandatory federal holidays. We
might be delayed by two days producing the other mockups. Is that ok?

50. Fulfillment: questions and causation
Ask questions, examine assumptions - but not
100% brutally
USA culture is a bit more open to criticism if it
has a positive can-do spin
Remember, this is a can-do culture

51. Fulfillment: when things go wrong
Never, ever play the blame game.

52. Customer Support: What keeps them coming back
Be responsive, even if only to acknowledge their
request. North America is an “on-demand” culture
It’s become the norm to “meet and exceed”
expectations
Maintain a positive, accommodating attitude

53. Case Study 5: I will never work with you again
Subject: Ticket #00678540 Feb 28 15:00
Body: (Redacted) has received your ticket. Please be patient
as we are experiencing a high volume of support tickets at
this time. Your problems are important to us.

54. Case Study 5: I will never work with you again (cont)
Subject: Ticket #00678540 Mar 3 11:40
Body: Hello Jennifer. Unfortunately we cannot solve your
problem because it comes from usability issues on certain
devices, if we had made you a mobile specific version it
would not have been a problem. Have a nice day.

55. What’s going on inside my head as an American...
Nobody should ever
have to see me like
this.

56. Case Study 5: I love my Ukrainian team
Subject: Ticket #00678540 Feb 28 15:00
Body: Hi Jennifer! We’re writing you to acknowledge that
we’ve received your support ticket. Someone from our team
will review it as soon as they can and respond.

57. Case Study 5: I love my Ukrainian team (cont.)
Subject: Ticket #00678540 Feb 28 15:40
Body: Hello Jennifer. Sorry to hear there’s a problem with your app on
Nokia phones. We’ve taken a look at the HTML5 code and we found a fix,
which we will implement for you for free.
By the way, you can avoid problems like this in the future by building a
mobile specific version. I can call you tomorrow to explain more - when
are you free?

58. For more info...
Follow our blog at blog.ekipa.co
Reach out personally: jennifer@ekipa.co