7. Pakistanis (largely Muslims) greet with salaam, which is equivalent of our "hello." The salaam is done by bowing with palm of right hand on forehead. Salaam means "peace" or "Peace be with you."

8. Postures also have meaning. Ready to settle in with your Middle Eastern client? You may be most comfortable sitting back in your chair and crossing your legs. Well, don't! In Middle East, one of most insulting things you can do is sit with your legs crossed so bottoms of feet are pointed in other person's direction. The foot is dirtiest part of body and sole of shoe is dirtiest of low. To show someone bottom of your foot or shoe means you're looking for a fight!

9. Even handshaking cultures do it differently. Many Britian’s prefer a brief but firm handshake. The French prefer a light grip while sharing a single gentle shake that's quickly withdrawn. Germans will give a very firm handshake -- just one "pump" then quick withdrawal. More than one shake with Germans or French is considered aggressive. Italians will shake hands and then hug friends or kiss them on both cheeks.

10. Bear in mind other person may be trying to accommodate your culture, so don't assume they will use their traditional greeting. For example, if you start first, for instance bowing, and then see a hand extended for a shake, and switch to that, other person will then have switched to a bow and this becomes awkward. For many cultures such "awkwardness" will kill relationship early on, which means deal is off.

11. Greetings are critical first moves in relationships. Begin with a polite word or two, such as "Mr. and Mrs. Takida, it's so nice to meet you at last," and then hesitate for a moment to see what they want to do and are comfortable with. Then mirror their gesture, be it bow, hand shake, abrazo (hug) or nothing! Use your intuition! When in doubt, err on side of conservatism.

I look forward to day when we abandon our collective need for safety through homogeneity and reclaim our natural curiosity about what is not like us. We then will no longer need to "manage" diversity, and will have no need other than to engage it and open ourselves to receive its gifts.

I recall a very unpleasant shopping experience I had in a major office supply store recently. It has been an ordeal. By time I got to checkout counter, I was exasperated. The checkout clerk said, “You look like you’re mad,” and I replied that I was annoyed (though not at him), to which he replied, “Well you ought to see what it’s like working here.”

You see how downward spiral gets set in motion. The checkout clerk gets final brunt of mistreated customer, and then has nothing good to say. The customer who expresses distress gets only negative feedback in return. In sum, no one has anything good to say about store or service.

It’s About Relationships

The more progressive businesses are realize importance of relationships to business, and formalizing connection. In fact I just read a job description for a “Global Relationship Manager,” whose responsibilities are to be “working with customers to develop and enhance sales, support and service performance.”

Establishing rapport with a happy and satisfied customer isn’t that hard; it’s keeping relationship going with unhappy customer. However, this is essential. The worse thing customer can sense is indifference. There is nothing more intolerable to most individuals than to be ignored.

I’m sure you’ve heard someone at one time or another say, “It was awful. No one spoke to me. Not even so much as a ‘Go to h***.’” Yes, most people would rather be cursed, than ignored.

You may not be able to “fix” things exactly as customer wishes, but you will have shown you cared, and this is no small thing. It fact it makes all difference in their perception of shopping with you.

Remember, we don’t deal with reality, we deal with perception of it. The fact remains about whatever they were upset about, but whether they perceive you as caring or not, changes reality. You become “someone who would not have done that intentionally,” rather than “someone who doesn’t give a d*** about me or anything else.” Think of how this reflects on you, your business, your service, or your product.

And, of course. if you don’t really care you can’t fake it. The bottom line here is to care about customer service and then act it out in real time.

According to experts at least two-thirds of dissatisfied customers will continue to do business with you if their concerns are addressed and resolved in their favor. The number increases dramatically (approaching 100%) if you resolve issue in their favor on spot. In this way instead of having someone who bad-mouths you all over town, you may have won a customer for life. Is it worth it?

Be present with a good attitude yourself, and make sure your customer service representatives have been trained to give customer service with emotional intelligence.

They can learn to make a positive connection with customers by simple techniques such as:

·Making eye contact and smiling

·Stopping what they’re doing when a customer approaches, smiling and making customer feel welcome

·Using such niceties as “please,” “thank you,” “excuse me,” and “may I help you?”

·Addressing customer by name after they’ve read it on check

·Introducing themselves to customer, in addition to name tag

·Asking questions such as “How is your day?”, or “Is it still raining outside?”

·Speaking to children and babies accompanying shoppers

·Showing on your face that you recognize a customer when he or she returns

·Expressing patience and warmth in your tone of voice

Knowledge of people and their emotions is as important to sales and customer satisfaction as knowledge of products and services.

It’s still about customer service and customer service is about relationships. Help your employees develop their emotional intelligence skills, as well as expertise about products you sell and watch your business grow.