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German Business Culture: 5 Steps to Cross-cultural Success

November 15th 2018

By bloomreach

Doing business in another country can be a real challenge. For Dutch companies, Germany is often the first foreign market they choose to address. It’s big, financially sound and culturally not that different from the Netherlands. But is that really true?

It’s often after finding out that simply translating their existing messaging to German doesn’t do the trick that companies start to realize that a different approach might be necessary. But what exactly should you do differently when addressing the German market? In this blog post, I will talk about the five most important things you should keep in mind when doing business in Germany.

1. Adapt your message

This is a common mistake made by Dutch companies: they try to address their German audience in the same way they address their home audience.

In my experience, the Dutch are much more used to very direct communication, while the German audience can be more sensitive to this direct tone.

For instance, it’s common to use a more formalay of addressing people in Germany. This more formal attitude is also reflected in the use of humor in marketing. It’s sometimes said that Germans don’t have the strongest sense of humor, but as some of the funniest people I know are German, I take a firm stance that this isn’t true. Their humor is just different. Dutch humor is more "in-your-face", British humor seems to be more sarcastic, Americans have more wisecracks, and German humor is often based on wordplay or more contextual jokes. These things said, there is unfortunately no surefire way to address a German audience. Like in every other country, there are big differences depending on the type of people you are trying to reach - youngsters or seniors, creatives or technicians, city or rural audiences - which you should also keep in mind.

2. Be aware of regional differences

Although we have regional differences in the Netherlands (as most countries do), they are not nearly as big as they are in Germany. First of all, realize that it hasn't even been 30 years that the eastern part of Germany was a communist country. This history is still reflected in the way people think and behave and is an important reason why Germans care so much about privacy and data collecting.

Southerners value traditions and take a lot of pride in their prospering industry with companies such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Siemens and Bosch. Northern Germany has the reputation of being very down-to-earth, and from my experience people from Hamburg are almost as direct communicators as the Dutch, perhaps stemming from the trading background we share. The western part of Germany, in my opinion, is the most similar to the Netherlands in terms of communication style and humor but, even there, there are many cultural differences to be aware of.

3. Act like a German

Germans like to do business with other Germans. This fact is something to bear in mind when you create your message for the German market. There are multiple examples of Dutch companies who have emphasized their Dutch-ness towards their German audience - and haven’t been very successful with it.

Germans value their western neighbours for their creativity and openness, but have a tendency to stick to home-grown products for other qualities. So business tactics depend on what you’re offering. If you're a creative agency, you may well want to promote yourself as an innovative Dutch company. On the other hand, if you’re a manufacturer trying to sell machinery, it might be a better idea to have a Germans to carry out business.

4. Emphasize different aspects

Germans place higher value on different aspects of a product or service than Dutch people do, which means that in many cases you might want to, as I touched on above, change your messaging for the German market.

Being a family owned company that was founded 100 years ago might not be something you would emphasize in the Netherlands, as people might associate this with slow movement with less innovation. In Germany, however, having a rich tradition is proof of trustworthiness and industry knowledge that is invaluable. A nice design or an innovative idea is great but, if it hasn’t proven itself, you’re going to have a hard time selling it to Germans. An exercise I’ve found helpful is watching German television commercials to get an idea of which product features or company values are being emphasized across industries.

5. Avoid uncertainty

Basically, all of the above mentioned aspects root from one very important idea: Germans hate uncertainty.

This is why German contracts cover just about every tiny detail that could ever possibly cause a discussion later on; why quality and reliability are valued so highly; why Germans are always on time (and expect you to be so as well); and - very importantly -  why they prefer to communicate in their own language. This last point is especially important when it comes to complicated technical negotiations with a lot of jargon involved: Germans tend to stick to their own language just to make sure they don’t miss any important details. This strict attention to detail also means the sales cycles in Germany can be lengthier than in other markets. I’ve known sales representatives who had already given up on their German prospect when all of a sudden - sometimes after a year or more - they found out they were still in the race and in some cases even got the deal.

 With all these unique measures to take into account, you might think that the German market is too complex to enter. Well, let me add one very important thing: once you have acquired a German customer, there’s a good chance you have a client for life. German customers are very loyal to good suppliers - which is also why it’s so hard to get a foot in the door as a newbie. Provided that you’re always delivering on time, in good and constant quality, you can be pretty sure your customer will happily continue to rely on your product.

Keep this in mind when doing business with Germans and you’ll remember why it’s completely worth the effort to adapt to their culture.