The Emphasis of Large Companies on Understanding Customer Culture

Jim Blythe writes in 100 Great Marketing Ideas: We have always been told that customers’ buying behavior and decisions are influenced by their culture. Yet many of us still know very little about the cultures that exist within our own society.

🔹 Therefore, if we want to succeed in marketing, we must pay attention to our customers’ culture—just as the financial services company Aviva does.

🔹 Aviva operates several large call centers to provide financial advice to its customers. Like many other companies, it has set up some of these call centers in India, where labor costs are low and the educated workforce speaks English fluently.

🔹 However, many skilled Indian employees have never visited countries like the United States or the United Kingdom, nor are they particularly interested in traveling to or living in those countries.

🔹 As a result, despite their familiarity with the English language, they are unfamiliar with the culture of English‑speaking countries—and this cultural gap can lead to misunderstandings and tension between them and customers.

🔹 For this reason, Aviva offers various training programs focused on understanding American culture for its Indian employees.

🔹 These programs are not just about how American customers speak or which verbs, expressions, idioms, and phrases they commonly use. They also cover topics such as weather, road conditions, political issues, economic matters, and more.

🔹 The reason for teaching these topics is that Americans like to start conversations with small talk—often about general subjects like the weather—before getting to the main point of their request.

🔹 Therefore, if call center employees lack knowledge about such topics, they will struggle to build rapport with the person on the other end of the line.

🔹 Aviva’s example highlights the importance of offering specialized training programs for our salespeople, marketers, and customer service teams—programs that teach the details they need to connect more easily and effectively with their customers.

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