Cross-Cultural Readiness
Prepare yourself and your leaders for the realities of doing business in a new market.
Rehearse the first meeting, the negotiation and the first hard conversation with your new team before any of them happen for real.
Many deals in a new market are lost before price comes up
Your product works and your team is strong. People get caught out by how business is done locally: who to talk to, how fast to move and what “yes” actually means.
Relationship before contract
Trust takes several meetings to build. Push for a decision at the first one and the door can close.
Who really decides
A title doesn't always tell you who holds authority. Watch for family ownership, seniority and the advisor in the room.
What “yes” means
A polite yes, a refusal that never says no, a long silence. Each of them means something, and you learn to read it.
Pace and calendar
Weekends fall on different days, Ramadan changes the working rhythm, summers are slow and approvals take a while. Plan the deal around all of it.
Situations, not stereotypes. We write the scenes for each country with people who have done business there, so they cover the range of behaviour you'll meet instead of one “national type”.
Live through the key moments before you fly
Get your briefing
The country, your role and what is at stake. In the demo it's Saudi Arabia and a first meeting with a distributor; in a pilot you name the country and the roles.
Practise with AI counterparts
Local partners, clients and staff respond the way people in that country would. Answer in your own words, by voice or text.
Get your readiness profile
Where you're ready, where you're at risk and what to practise in the 30 days before the trip.
Hospitality, small talk and when (not) to open the laptop.
Pace, saving face and bargaining without losing trust.
Giving feedback, working with hierarchy and motivating people in ways that land.
Protocol, introductions and follow-up.
A readiness profile built from what you said and did
- A level from L1 to L5 for each cross-cultural competency in your chosen market.
- Evidence from your dialogue pinpoints the moment trust grew or slipped.
- A 30-day plan for the run-up to the trip: which scenes to repeat and what to read.
- A team view for HR shows who is ready to go and who needs support.
“So can we agree on the terms this week?”
Asked at the first meeting, after the host had moved the talk to family twice.
Built for the country your people are going to
You tell us where your people are going and what they will do there. We build the scenes for that country and that job. Your people play them in English, Russian or Arabic, whichever they work in.
The country
Local business norms, the calendar, who makes decisions and how fast things move.
The roles
A founder opening an office, a manager taking over a local team, a sales rep meeting distributors. Each person practises the situations their job will bring.
Your company
In a pilot we add your products, your partners and the regulations you work under.
For the people who carry the company into a new market
Executives, relocating managers, sales and BD
- Founders and executives opening a new office
- Managers relocating to lead a local team
- Sales and BD teams selling to a new region
Know who is ready before the move
- A readiness check built into the relocation package
- Practice in place of a one-off culture briefing
- A measurable result for each person you send
Before you start
How long does the demo take?
About 15 minutes: play through one key moment with AI counterparts and get your readiness profile.
Which countries do you cover?
The one you are sending people to. Tell us the country and the roles, and we build the scenes for them. The demo is set in Saudi Arabia.
Is this a culture course?
No. You practise real situations and get feedback on what you said and did. The plan adds short reading only where it helps.
Who writes the scenarios?
Our methodologists, together with practitioners who have worked in that country. Every scenario is reviewed before release.
Can we use it for a whole relocation programme?
Yes. In a pilot we add your company context and give HR a team view of readiness.
Walk into your first meeting in a new market already rehearsed
Try one scene now: 15 minutes in the browser, with your readiness profile right after. Going to another country? We build the scenes for it on request.
