BLOG

Start Here

Get to know “People Not Like You”

Apr 30, 2013

In February, we sponsored the webinar, “Crafting the Customer Experience for People Not Like You,” with multicultural marketing expert Kelly McDonald, based on her book of the same title. In this webinar, Kelly McDonald dug in to discuss the difficult topic of how to service diverse groups. Here are a few of our takeaways from the webinar:

Don’t limit your definition of diversity

Often times, people generalize diversity down to racial and ethnic differences. A truly comprehensive definition looks beyond ethnicity to include:

  • Gender
  • Religion
  • Political views
  • Age/Generation
  • Sexual orientation
  • Rural/Metro
  • Military/Civilian

Basically, “people not like you,” can include anyone who differs from you in any aspect. Factors like life stages, core values, or whether they are foreign or US-born can influence the way your customers respond to messages and services.

Understand how customer segments differ

Kelly covered key values and insights of several different customer segments. Here is a breakdown of a few of her examples we felt had interesting differentiators:


Understand and catering to clients based on their values will increase market share, customer loyalty, and set you apart from your competition. What steps will you take to show your customers that you really “get” them?

To read more about Kelly McDonald’s approach to a multicultural market or to purchase her book, visit her website here.

-Gina

______________

Voiance Language Services provides multilingual support in over 200 languages to business and government. Organizations use Voiance’s telephone interpretation to facilitate communication with customers. Voiance is a subsidiary of CyraCom International, Inc., the 2nd largest provider of Over-the-Phone Interpretation in the United States.