Tarun Aarya
If you are planning to do business in Saudi Arabia, then you have to know certain things. These cultural, legal, and different ways of doing business may pose some obstacles at the start. To overcome them, you need to have better knowledge of market, and laws which you need to study. Let’s see the things that you may need to know.
In Saudi, you should know how to convey a message with the help of body language. It means that you must know how to maintain body contact, make gestures with hand and use correct body posture. If you continuously avoid direct eye contact during a meeting, then you might not look trustworthy. Other contexts that are used here are the tone of voice and pauses of silence in speech. In Saudi you will find that most of the communication is indirect, if you want to think of something just make a pause. Rarely will you find direct “No” being used. For any legal documentation you may need to go for Arabic translation services from a reliable firm.
People in Saudi prefer to do business with those whom they know and have good relationships. So you have to get them involved with small talk and build a healthy relationship. If you want to establish a business in Saudi Arabia, understanding this minor difference help you crack many deals. Before you do business there some personal knowledge matters. It means that you should be ready for the slower pace of business. It is very common to know the Saudi counterpart, ask questions about family, and personal interests.
When Saudi’s are in a relaxed attitude, your meetings might be less formal, and most of your time may go into building relationships and discussing personal things. If you are planning for formal meetings, then make sure that they are not around prayer times as Saudis will take their time to pause their business matters to pray. So with little attention, you may make sure that your business dealings bear results as you wanted them to.
When you are in Saudi, don’t expect a shorter timeline for getting visas, business licenses and other legal activities which usually take more time in Western countries. If you are a foreign multinational entering Saudi, then you might have to keep the timelines very well in mind to complete all the processes that you have to follow to expand. You might have to face delays if you haven’t paid attention to timelines and you might have to face costly delays. But you may avoid all these risks by making the use of government relations officer. This officer provides all the help you need to set your business in Kingdom. They may attest all the documents, process visas and complete all other formalities that are related to government and various ministries.
Once you have got all the approvals in place, you have to be prepared for localization. It is where Arabic translation services may of great help to you, as you might to have to hire certain percentage of Saudi’s in your work-force. Knowing them and hiring them becomes easy once you have good knowledge about them.
There may be obstacles when you try to enter Saudi for business. But with right approach and proper communication (go for Arabic translation services) you may make sure that you find your foothold there.
Tarun is a Digital Marketing enthusiast who loves to write about all things digital, tech, and marketing.
