How I Saved a Regional Sales Expansion by Coaching Across Cultures

I still remember the video call that almost melted my screen. My client, a managing director from a Chinese technology firm, was visibly frustrated. His new sales team in a key Southeast Asian market had been in place for six months, yet revenue sat at a dismal 30% of their target.

“We set clear KPIs, we run daily huddles, we even brought the team to headquarters for a product boot camp,” he vented. “Still, they say ‘yes’ in the meeting, but nothing happens after. I feel they are just polite—maybe even lazy.”

My gut told me the issue wasn't laziness; it was a deep cultural disconnect. I asked him to pause the KPI talk for a week and let me run a cultural X-ray on his team's operating system. He agreed—mostly out of exhaustion.

The Six Silent Disconnects

Numbers don’t shout, but they whisper truths. My diagnostic tool, which measures preferences across six cultural dimensions, immediately surfaced three critical red flags. The most profound disconnects lay in a fundamental clash of styles. My client’s highly effective, home-market approach was in direct opposition to the cultural norms of his new team.

1. Individualism vs. Collectivism: My client scored sky-high on Individualism; his new team leaned strongly toward Collectivism. His practice of celebrating top individual performers, a motivator at home, inadvertently created a sense of public shame and loss of “face” for the team, undermining their collective harmony.
2. Task vs. Relationships: He was intensely Task-focused; they were Relationship-focused. He saw team lunches and after-hours drinks as a distraction from the work, while his team saw them as the very foundation of trust required for a collaborative effort.
3. Hierarchical vs. Flat: His company espoused a Flat decision-making structure where anyone could challenge an idea. His team, however, operated on Hierarchical principles. They were waiting for explicit clarity and direction from him, while he was waiting for them to take initiative.
4. Structured vs. Flexible: He operated on Structured timelines, expecting a step-by-step approach to sales. His team, comfortable with a more Flexible cadence, preferred to adapt to the rhythm of the client and the local market, which he perceived as stalling.
5. Fact-Based vs. Complexity-Centered: His sales pitches were Fact-based, filled with data, specs, and performance metrics. His team, and their customers, gravitated toward Complexity-centered stories that wove in context, long-term vision, and social impact.
6. Direct vs. Contextual: He spoke in the Direct style common in his home market. His team, however, lived in the Contextual zone, where a polite "maybe" can mean "no" and a lack of overt enthusiasm signals a deeper concern.

 When I showed him the data, he took a long breath. “So my efficiency is their pressure?” he asked. “Exactly,” I said. “Let’s re-wire, not retire, your playbook.”

From Disconnect to Mastery: My Playbook for Cultural Coaching

I moved the conversation from blame to behavioral design, using the IAC Coaching Masteries as our guide for a tight four-week sprint.

• Mastery 1: Establishing and Maintaining Trust. We began by ensuring the client creates psychological safety for his team: “I believe that you know a lot more about your market than I do, and I appreciate any advice or suggestions how we can co-create solutions to grow our business here.” That simple declaration lowered defences and let him show some vulnerability and authenticity.
• Mastery 3: Engaged Listening. I asked him to spend his joint sales meetings as a silent observer, noting every nod, pause, and subtle shift in tone. He returned amazed: “When the customer said ‘interesting,’ their tone actually meant ‘I don’t understand.’ And our sales rep kept talking anyway.” He began to listen not just to the words, but to the subtext.

·       Mastery 5: Expressing. My client’s new task was to articulate, without judgment, what he was observing in his team. He began his one-on-ones by saying, "I've been watching how we work together, and here are a few things I've noticed. I see you often unable to handle price objections by justifying the value we provide. I also notice we often leave meetings without a clear next step." This open expression of his observations, without accusation, began a dialogue about their collective values.

·       Mastery 6: Clarifying. He then used his new observations to seek clarity directly from his team. "I'm curious," he'd ask, "when the customer says your price is too high, what does that mean to you? Does that mean we will get the sale if we lower the price?" And, "Help me understand why we don't like to set a clear next step after a customer meeting? Is there something that makes you feel uncomfortable to suggest that?" He was no longer assuming; he was clarifying, allowing them to explain their choices and reasoning.

• Mastery 7: Inviting Possibility. With trust and clarity established, he could now challenge his team's habits. "We are a great team, and we respect each other," he said in a group meeting. "But right now, our old way of working isn't getting us to our goal. To reach our target, we have to try something different. Are you willing to experiment with me?" He was goading them, with their permission, to break with existing norms and test new approaches that could deliver better results.
• Mastery 8: Helping the Client Set and Keep Clear Intentions. He began every new initiative by explaining the "Why." "This target isn't just a number from headquarters," he'd explain. "It’s how we will fund our new logistics hub here in Jakarta, which means we can serve our customers faster than anyone else. It's about our reputation, our legacy, and our ability to reinvest in our community." He focused them on the relevance of their ideas and suggestions, challenging any idea or habit that was not in service of that larger purpose.
• Mastery 9: Creating and Using Supportive Systems & Structures. He worked with his team to build new systems that supported their strategies. He instituted a buddy system, pairing each headquarters product manager with a local sales lead for peer coaching.

 The Results That Speak Louder than KPIs

Twelve weeks later, regional revenue hit 95% of its target. But the bigger win was invisible: the average deal cycle shortened by 22% as relationship groundwork removed back-and-forth clarifications. More importantly, employee morale inside the local team soared. As one salesperson commented, “We still work hard, but now the numbers feel like our numbers, not headquarters' numbers.”

My client’s own reflection captures the shift: “I came in thinking this market needed my speed. I learned they needed my understanding of their context first before guiding them to a better outcome.”

Mastering cross-cultural coaching isn't about giving clients the right answers; it’s about helping them ask the right questions. Is your business losing out because you’re speaking a language your customers don’t understand?

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