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Business is personal. Although this is changing with the influx of big multi-nationals and a more corporate culture in some of the larger companies, many businesses are still family owned and run. Turks will want to do business with those they like, trust, feel comfortable with and with those that can provide a long term relationship. If they feel you are hiding something or there is an element of suspicion about your motives, you may not get very far. Building a relationship with your Turkish counterpart(s) is therefore critical. The first meeting at least should be solely focused on getting to know each other. Once a relationship has been established you can safely move on to business matters. As well as looking to the person, Turks are also astute business people. Ensure your proposal clearly demonstrates the mutual benefit and profitability of any agreement or partnership. Turks are primarily oral and visual communicators, so in addition to written statistics, projections and the like try to present information vocally or with maps, graphs and charts. Decision making can be slow. It is most likely, that you will meet and negotiate with less senior members of a family first. Once you are seen as trustworthy and your proposal financially viable, you will then move on to meet more senior members. A decision is ultimately made by the head of the family /company. When negotiating, the Turks will start at extremes in order to gage your response. Prior to negotiations know your target figure and work slowly towards it through meaningful concessions. When conceding, ensure you present this as a favour and a decision made out of respect and liking for your counterpart(s). Try and concede only once you have gained agreement on a reciprocal concession on a separate or related issue.
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