Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

That’s a great quote for international B2B sales, many of which happen in English, the second language for both sides.

And remember, B2B sales, as much as we like to fool ourselves into thinking they are rational, are really, because the buyer’s stakes are so much higher than in a typical B2C transaction, just a thin veneer of rationality layered on top of a heaping pile of irrationality and insecurity.

So English is going to get you to their head, but not to their heart, and when you are talking to an irrational and insecure person, the heart is where you need to be.

And no, just for the record, I am not saying you need to learn French. There are other ways to do what you need to do.

I say this with experience, having lived over 20 years in places (China, and now Turkey) where my own language was not the language of the people around me. English is the table stakes, but it won’t get you to the heart, and the heart is where you need to be. Call me if you want help getting to the heart.