Germany - Cammy McAdams

 

Germany

 

 

Being a very old country Germans are very conservative and proud people.



Good Business etiquette is a must. Germans dress very conservatively men wear pressed dark suits and white shirts. To make a fashion statement you may see a man wearing white socks with his suit. Women are highly respected and like the men dress very conservatively wearing dark business suits or dresses. A women should never remove her jacket where as a man should only remove jacket or loosen/remove his tie if his German counter part does so. Women wear very little make up and large jewelry and accessories is a no no. Keep all jewelry and accessories very simple and to a minimum.

 

In greeting Germans are also formal addressing someone with their title such as Herr McAdams or for female Faur McAdams and shaking hands with males. Only extent your hand to a female if she extents hers to you first. While most Germans know English they use it very little and do expect you to know their language if you are coming to their country to do business. Don't be surprised to see most Germans shaking hands with other employees upon starting their day this is common practice. Neighbors will even shake hands and address each other by Herr or Faur when meeting on the street. If you see someone on the street do not shout out to them or wave the German people especially older Germans view this as being disrespectful. When entering a business meeting always allow the Boss to go in first followed by any older members at the meeting you will enter anytime after this or after your German counterpart.

 

Meetings are also formal however expect your first meeting to be some kind of party or dinner. Germans like to get to know who they are doing business with. This is the time they decide how trust worthy they believe you to be. Also Germans drink a lot of beer and have a grim view of drunkard- ness SO KNOW YOUR LIMITS.

Beer is a part of any meal or get together you may even see it on the table at a business meeting so pace yourself. Remember German beer isn't the same as what we have here in the states even though you may see some of our brands of beer over there in select stores (mostly in tourist areas) this is not the beer that you will be served at a meeting or dinner. During dinners no business will be discussed this is a time to get to know each other. Germans keep business and private lives separate while one may mention having children or wife they won't go into any details. While many consider Germans uptight stuff shirts they are really good people once you get to know them they are just very serious about their business. They work to live unlike Americans who live to work they don't want to and won't worry about business once they leave the office. Germans also have frequent holidays and what they call a holiday is different from Americans. What we as Americans call a weekend trip or vacation is a Holiday along with all their regular national holidays.

Now that we are discussing holidays be sure to make all plans for business meeting well in advance to make sure they don't clash with a holiday and try to not schedule any meetings from June through August as this is a major time for holidays in Germany.

While Germans are very prompt on returning any correspondences (e-mail, phone calls letters ect.)and expect you to do the same; they are very slow to make decisions checking out all aspects. So don't expect a response to a proposal anytime soon and the ultimate decision always comes from the highest authority in the company even though you may be dealing with a lower member of the company and never try to go above someone if you don't like the decision you got. You can try to redo the proposal and re-pitch it but never try to go above someone as all above already know about proposal. They are the ones you made the decision on it. When making a business proposal be sure to have all the facts with examples. Germans love graphs and fact and respect them more than feelings and puff.

While conflicts are always going to happen they are just a part of life. It is best to try to avoid them as there can always be back lash. A receptionist that won't put a call through and just little irritating things they will get you back. This being said don't be afraid to let your view point be known this is highly respected in the German culture. As children they learn to voice their point of view. If there is an objection to your point of view don't get offended this is really a sign of respect. They think enough of you and trust you enough to let you know how they think of things of feel about something. A person who always agrees is one to not be trusted in their point of view. A employee will never contradict the boss and Germans respect age as well and will very seldom contradict an older person.

Much of my information came from Allen Howard by way of family members. Mr Howard is a distant relative but information though him is very useful as he has been dealing with foreign affairs for many years. His first job after college was with Schlumberger and dealt with many European countries. All resources are listed in image above