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.
