Let me share the summary of a conversation from last week: A scale-up company executive says to me, “We need our employees in office 3-4 days a week to build culture and trust.”
Same executive: “Travel budget for meeting prospects? No.”
This perfectly encapsulates the sales paradox that drives me crazy.
The Trust Equation
Here’s what you need to understand about selling to German enterprises:
Decision makers don’t buy from slides. They buy from people they trust.
And trust isn’t built over Teams/Zoom/GMeet calls where your backdrop is a fake bookshelf and your cat occasionally walks across the keyboard.
Trust is built in person. With eye contact. With a firm handshake. With time.
The Culture Factor
Germans approach business relationships like engineering projects:
- Thorough
- Methodical
- Built to last
- Resistant to quick changes
This isn’t “slow” to them. It’s “proper.” It’s “gründlich” (thorough).
And if you try to rush it? You might as well wear socks with sandals to the meeting.
The Real Problem (and Opportunity)
The disconnect happens when enterprise prospects want digital transformation but refuse to transform how they buy.
They want AI, automation, and cutting-edge tech…
…but they want to buy it like it’s 2005.
How to Actually Win (When Everyone Else Is Failing)
- Budget for face time: If your company won’t pay for trips to prospects, you’re not serious about winning enterprise customers. Full stop.
- Lean into thoroughness: Don’t fight the detailed questions and process. Your German prospects aren’t trying to be difficult, they’re trying to be responsible.
- Build relationships at multiple levels: The admin who seems “low level” today might be your champion tomorrow. Germans value institutional knowledge and often promote from within.
- Speak their language (literally): No, you don’t need to be fluent in German. But learn enough to show respect. “Guten Tag” and “Danke schön” go surprisingly far.
The Counter-Intuitive Truth
Here’s the part that will save you months of frustration:
The “slower” German sales process actually closes MORE reliably when done right.
Why? Because by the time you get to contract, everyone is aligned. Implementation happens faster. Renewal is almost guaranteed.
The American “close fast, fix later” approach often leads to:
- Implementation hell
- Scope creep
- Non-renewals
The Bottom Line
If you want to win in Germany, stop treating in-person meetings as a cost center and start seeing them as your competitive advantage.
Because while your competitors are sending their 27th follow-up email, you could be sitting in their office, drinking surprisingly good machine coffee, and building the trust that actually closes deals.
Cut the digital transformation BS. In Germany, transformation starts with a handshake.