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Article by Judith A. Starkey

Multicultural Customer Relations

As the U.S. population becomes increasingly heterogeneous, organizations are faced with a growing demand to provide multicultural customer service.  Not only are customers more diverse, but employees who serve them also represent a wide variety of cultural heritages.  In the face of this dual challenge, global communication techniques are required to succeed.  Today customer relations strategies need to incorporate (1) how employee backgrounds may affect their attitudes toward customers (the buyers), and (2) how customers' values may affect their interactions with employees (the sellers). 

This article will examine two actual case histories from our archives, and discuss how cultural factors contributed to misunderstanding and customer dissatisfaction.  Recommendations for prevention and positive action are included.

It should be noted that these examples are neither intended to convey all cultural values of any one group, nor to suggest that these attitudes would be valid in every case—due to our unique life experiences, we all have different degrees of acculturation.  Rather, these histories are meant to illustrate what may occur, based on frequent cultural learnings.

Case Study One

You (a middle-aged Anglo-American woman) walk into your local bank and, when it is your turn in line, find a young Asian woman (first-generation Korean immigrant) behind the teller's cage.  You are a little annoyed because she does not acknowledge your presence by looking at you or saying anything.  Feeling ignored you finally ask, "Are you available?"  The Asian woman glances briefly at you, then looks down and says, "Yes," maintaining her expressionless demeanor.  You hand her your paperwork and she processes the transaction, never looking at you and remaining silent.  When finished she lays your receipt on the counter, being careful not to touch you in the process.  (You think to yourself, "She acts like I'm diseased or something, like I'm not good enough to touch!")  You leave the bank feeling frustrated and rebuffed by the lack of interpersonal exchange you have come to expect.  After all, the bank wouldn't be in business without you, the customer, and they should act more appreciative!  If this keeps up you just may take your business elsewhere.  Who needs to be treated like you're invisible?!  You want your bank to treat you like a person, not a machine.

Analysis

The customer's acculturation was typical of many with Anglo-American expectations, as well as those of African-Americans, some Hispanics and some Europeans.  This customer expected at minimum direct eye contact, a welcoming "Hello" from the bank representative, a pleasant smile, and probably a closing phrase, such as "Have a good day."  Such personal attention would have conveyed that the bank acknowledged her value as an individual and as a customer.  Not to have received what the customer felt was basic courtesy was insulting—to her dignity and self-esteem.

From the teller's point of view, she had been taught by her family that it was inappropriate—even rude—to look at someone directly if she wanted to convey respect for that person.  Smiling would also have been out of place, as in her culture this is a very familiar gesture and should be used only with close friends and family; emotional expressions should be contained in public.  If a male customer approached her, smiling could be perceived as borderline flirtation (in her mind).  Her group orientation resulted in her not wanting to stand out or call attention to herself, so she waited for the customer to initiate the transaction.  Her silence was also respectful, since she had learned that to honor seniority, young women particularly should be careful about calling attention to themselves.  In addition, her values included honoring people's sense of personal space, and she felt touching would have been an invasion of that territory, as well as excessively familiar.  She felt she was fulfilling her job responsibilities adequately by devoting her attention solely to processing the transaction.  In her mind, engaging in conversation with the bank's customers would have been overstepping her authority.

Case Study Two

You (a young Hispanic male) are making a follow-up sales call to a middle-aged African-American man who has recently received his first order of your widgets.  You want to make sure everything was all right with the first shipment and try to establish an ongoing relationship with this new customer.  Once it's clarified that the widgets were satisfactory, you think about how you can build rapport with him.  You are uncomfortable with the way he looks at you and wonder if he dislikes you.  On the other hand, when you were explaining some new features of your product line, you felt frustrated because he was looking everywhere but at you, so you weren't sure if he had understood or—for that matter—was even interested.  He gave no sign that you had "connected" with him.

Trying to find some common ground, you see photographs on his credenza.  You ask him if they are of his family.  He pauses a moment, and answers "Yes."  Thinking you are on the right track to establish a relationship, you ask him some questions about his family.  However, the more you query him, the quieter he gets until, suddenly, he says he has to terminate the meeting due to another commitment.  You think to yourself, "What did I do wrong?  I was just trying to show interest in him as a person and then demonstrate our common concerns by telling him about my family.  In my culture, family always comes first.  He acts like I insulted him or something.  Why was he so hostile?"

Analysis

The attitudes of the salesman reflect values often learned by Latinos, as well as common those often taught by Anglo-American sales strategists.  Hispanics usually learn respect for authority within a hierarchical framework and, thus, use eye contact with discretion, i.e., establish eye contact but look away periodically.  African-American men, on the other hand, often have different conversation modes.  When they do look at others it can be perceived as direct and deliberate with a steady gaze.  On the other hand, they do not feel required to look at the speaker, respond with conversational noises like "hm-hmm," or nod their heads occasionally to show they are listening...as many other cultures do.  A strategy for the salesman in this situation could be to ask open-ended questions periodically.  This would require the buyer to parapharase his/her understanding verbally and, if there is confusion, the seller could clarify.

In many Hispanic cultures (where family takes high priority) it is proper protocol to raise family issues as a basis for establishing a business relationship.  Indeed, not to do so could convey disinterest in a crucial part of the buyer's life.  This is standard operating procedure in Mexico.  However, African-American men may perceive such personal questions from a relative stranger to be intrusive and disrespectful.  A strategy the seller could safely use would be to start establishing a relationship with comments of a more general nature, allowing the buyer to proceed at his own pace.  For example, the "weather" is always a neutral topic, as it affects everyone equally.

Recommendations

In each of these cases the employers needed to train their employees, emphasizing that their job responsibilities included paying attention to customers' expectations.  Multicultural sensitivity training can alert these employees to what their customers' concerns are.  Communication skills should be practiced.  Then, by using their powers of observation and communicative skills, the employees will be equipped to modify their own behavior appropriately to insure more positive customer relations in the future.

Speaker and author Judith A. Starkey is president of The Starkey Group, Inc., providing multicultural strategies for today's world through consulting, keynotes, seminars, training  and products.  For more information see www.StarkeyGrp.com.

For permission to reproduce this article contact jas@StarkeyGrp.com or the address below.

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