How to persuade Germans? Principle first!
March 5th, 2020 by Claudia Müller
How can you persuade Germans? Well, some deeply rooted principles explain why Germans don’t like to show off slogans but arguments and facts. So if you plan to sell your product in Germany, you should consider a deductive approach and a principle first strategy.
How to persuade Germans
What do philosophers as Emmanuel Kant, Hegel, and J. G. Fichte have to do with persuasion and selling products in Germany? You might think this is far-fetched, but the big thinkers still have their influence on how to catch Germans’ attention. The philosophers left their heritage as Germans like deductive approaches, meaning, to go from theory or a system to a plan. The way of thinking is reflected in the way they gain trust. So if you want to make your product appealing, think of a convincing argumentation for why somebody should buy it first.
The art of persuasion
The art of persuasion (rhetoric) makes somebody believe the truth. In the end, also buyers are looking for truth. If they perceive the idea behind a product or a service as being true, they are more likely to buy them. But how can you make somebody believe that what they see is true? All ideas and thoughts have a history and are connected to us as a person as well as to the culture we were born in. So persuading buyers and making them perceive your magic product as good and trustworthy works best with solid arguments. Why? Because the vast majority of all beliefs is based on “second-hand experience” (the Lines of Argument): people are persuaded to believe ideas based on what they are told about those ideas through their exposure to culture.
Persuasion is an argumentation line
What do people believe to be valid, logic, and evidence? What are their values? Which values appeal to them? If you understand the person and the culture, you will know how to construct your argumentation line. As every one of us is different and perceives the world in their own way, there is no one objective truth we all believe in. And therefore, there is not one argumentation line that will fit everybody. That sounds like we cannot reach the entire audience, right? And yes, in that sense, we have to disappoint you. That is undoubtedly a truth. But on a happier note, this means: the more you know, the more people you can reach. So if you invest in not only quantitative but also qualitative data, you are more likely to get your argumentation line straight. Practice what you preach? Check out our assessment and target group research.
Persuasion in a nutshell
To persuade, in general, we have to understand why an audience believes something is true. And to do so, we must understand what the audience understands about a product, and if they believe that it can do what it promises to do. How did an audience come to believe what they believe? What do they value? What do they trust, and whom do they trust? To get back to the very first beginning and round it up: When it comes to Germans, the idea of ‘truth’ is still rooted in German idealism. The principle, the idea behind something is essential to believe the result. If you start with the result, how can you believe it’s true? If you think about this perspective, you will get into German culture, where the how is as important as the why. Believe it or not.
Claudia Müller
Claudia is the co-founder of Mango Kollektiv. If you want to know more about her, click here.
If you want to find out how Mango Kollektiv’s culture-specific approach to consulting businesses can help you, click here.