We have repeatedly said that its easy to do business in New Zealand. We, however, made a caveat that even though the country ranks first in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report, there are contexts that should be taken into because each country is unique. Doing business does not just involve complying with regulatory requirements, it also, more importantly, means dealing with people – people whose culture may be different from the one you are familiar with.
Be straightforward
When it comes to business-related interactions, New Zealanders, according to Just Landed, are “somewhat reserved.” New Zealanders, however, can be “friendly, outgoing, and social” once you have established a more personal relationship. New Zealanders also value punctuality. To do business in New Zealand, be straightforward. Make decisions based on facts and figures rather than emotions and feelings, Just Landed suggests. New Zealanders are also averse to exaggerating claims and would rather negotiate using realistic figures. The country has no bargaining culture, so New Zealand businessmen rely on hard data.
Speak the local language
New Zealand mainly speaks English. The universal language, however, is loaded with slang and local speak that can confuse even native English speakers. Just like the rest of the world, New Zealanders use Facebook, Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber, according to Marketing Association. The association says 1.9 million people in New Zealand access Facebook every day, with 1.5 million of these accessing the site from a mobile device.
Communicate in their time zone
WhatsApp and other messaging apps are popular tools for international business communications. They are not only cheap, they are fast, handy, and instant. Time zone is one of the challenges faced by international companies. Time zone difference can slow down communications. When the NZ business partner has already opened shop, the European partner may still be deep in sleep. With messaging apps, you can call, conduct meetings, or collaborate at any time of the day, where ever you are.
Use messaging apps to contact and share information
These messaging apps allow a quick exchange of information necessary to business transactions. To cite an example, New Zealand is 12 hours ahead of Paris. With messaging apps, a New Zealand macadamia nuts grower can send his price list to a Parisian baker with just a few clicks on his smartphone.
More than the ease of conversation and exchange of information, messaging apps foster better engagement between two parties. They assist in building deeper relationships as they allow parties to create tailored solutions to their problems. These apps are P2P, which means all communications are direct, as opposed to communicating through emails. Especially in customer-centric industries, like the debt collection agencies in NZ, engagement is most important to achieve the results you want — collect on unpaid amounts.
Conversational commerce using these messaging apps will soon take a new turn, with the integration of other services into one app. This is similar to China’s WeChat, which allows users to shop, pay, and book activities without ever leaving the platform. Although users worry about data security when all of their personal information are in one app, developers are coming up with ways to reduce risks so that technology can work to improve people’s lives, and not the other way around. The world is small and fast, you need to get on with the latest technology if you want to maximize your business opportunities.