As most of you know, I’m not from the US and as a person who isn’t a native English speaker, I’m in a pretty good position to understand the potential implications of language barrier issues when it comes to end user sales.
I’m sure most of you have noticed that there is more and more activity from China to give just one example. But as those of you who have been in touch with Chinese buyers can confirm, the language barrier problems can sometimes (again, sometimes, not always) be pretty complicated.
A lot of times, as a result of the way through which buyers from China compose their message, domain sellers tend to think that their inquiries aren’t serious. In other words, they think they’re dealing with some more “Alex”-type inquiries.
There are of course exceptions (buyers from China who can communicate in English very well) but as a general rule, I’d advise against ignoring/dismissing inquiries from China just because they don’t look like the serious inquiries you’re used to.
The same principle is valid when it comes to buyers from other countries as well.
Due to language barrier issues, lots of serious inquiries end up initially seeming anything but legitimate. Ignore them and you’re leaving money on the table.
Possibly lots of money.
The landscape is changing.
As time passes, more and more capital will flow from countries such as China, India and so on.
As a domainer, you have to adapt and adapting means (among other things), respecting, acknowledging, understanding and embracing cultural and communication-related differences.
Otherwise, you’re making a huge mistake.
At the risk of repeating myself, the landscape is changing.
More and more capital is coming our way from Asia and that is a great thing.
If you want to be on the receiving end and do well, you have to change your perspective and not let language barrier issues stand in the way of a mutually beneficial transaction.
You have no idea how many deals are lost and will be lost due to communication-related problems. Ignore this post if you want to but don’t say I didn’t warn you 🙂
September 20th, 2013 at 5:40 pm
I once received an inquiry regarding a Spanish domain and the English wasn’t that good. I assumed the buyer’s native tongue was Spanish but they were emailing in English because of my address and name. I responded in both English and Spanish but the buyer’s communication continued in English only. He turned out to be a Chinese buyer (living in Beijing) but we did reach an agreement and funds were transferred via Escrow.
September 24th, 2013 at 1:52 am
I’m currently in negotiation with a Russian buyer, speaks 0 English 100% Russian.. Well thanks to google translator my Russian seem t be doing ok so far, though it wasnt funny at the beginning.