Tips for Working with Australian Clients (Webinar Recap)

As part of our commitment to helping small and medium-sized businesses to grow globally and connect with cross-border clients, Payoneer brings you insights into working with Australian clients. Nathan Archie, Payoneer’s General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, and Fiona Kesby, Founder and CEO of GO-VA.com.au, share their tips for finding and succeeding at working with clients in Australia.

What you Need to Know About the Business Landscape in Australia

Australian businesses are highly growth-focused and very interested in expanding into new regions and markets, especially global markets. The government in Australia encourages business to expand, and it invests a lot in terms of innovation, health, and technology.

It’s very easy to set up a business in Australia. You can do it in just a few clicks online, and the government offers attractive grants and tax benefits for small businesses, so a lot of Australians have taken advantage of the opportunity.

Australian Small Business Facts:

• There are about 2.2 million small-to-medium sized businesses in Australia
• 90% of SMBs in Australia have fewer than 20 employees
• Most SMBs have a turnover of under AU$2 million per year
• Australian small businesses cover a very wide range of industries, particularly in the construction, real estate, professional services, and healthcare spaces

This opens up a significant opportunity for service-based businesses to work with Australian companies in industries that you might not have considered before. Don’t limit yourself just to retail or professional services companies; look at the whole range of industries that could benefit from your services. Nathan advises to “cast your net wide and start looking for other areas of industry that might be suitable for your types of services.” 

The sentiment in the Australian market has shifted a bit in the last few years, with many businesses feeling that there’s less growth potential than there used to be. But there’s still plenty of opportunity if you know where to look. You just need to make it clear how your business can help drive growth in theirs.

How can you Help Australian Businesses?

50% of businesses delivered growth in the last couple of years. Those that succeeded reported that they:

• Invested in technology, especially payment tech
• Focused on customer satisfaction
• Pursued innovation through new products and processes
• Sought new markets
• Used social media to improve relationships with customers
• Prioritized online sales

If you’re going to attract and keep Australian clients, you need to emphasize ways that you can help with these six tactics. That means sharing your experience in helping businesses expand into new markets, offering advice about new tech and innovative processes, suggesting new software, finding ways to improve customer satisfaction, etc.

How to Write a Profile That Attracts Australian Clients

No matter what you’re using to connect with clients – LinkedIn, Upwork, or sending a resume – it’s important to create an attractive profile. Research shows that when someone checks your profile on their mobile, they spend an average of 1.7 seconds looking at it before they move on. If they’re using a desktop computer, they’ll spend 2.5 seconds. So you don’t have much time to make a good impression.

Here are four quick tips for writing a successful profile:

• List which software you’re familiar with and know how to use
• As well as writing the name of your previous clients, write their industry, like ph (online financial support). This way, potential clients will be able to see immediately if you’ve got experience in their vertical
• If you worked in VPO, include the name of the account, like VPO (American Express account)
• Note at least four tasks that you completed per position held, and add any achievements, certifications, or awards

5 Secrets to Working Successfully with Australian Clients

Working with Australian clients is great, because: 

• You can work a day shift for better work-life balance
• Australian businesses pay higher wages than those in other countries like the US
• Australians are laid-back and friendly by nature

Here are five tips for success at working with Australian clients.

1.   Be Early

In Fiona’s words, “To be on time is to be late, and to be late is unacceptable.”

In Australia, arriving late for work is seen as disrespectful and rude. It’s also important to remember that Australia is two or more hours ahead of Southeast Asia. That means that if you’re late beginning work at 9am local time, your Australian client has already been working for two or more hours, and so they feel like you are 2+ hours late.

2.   Ask Questions

Australia has a very flat society, where people aren’t expected to just follow orders without question. Your Australian client wants virtual assistants to help improve their businesses, systems, customer service, and processes. They are happy for you to ask questions, because that helps you to understand the business better and make better suggestions.

Australian businesses are very interested in global best practices and trends, so they want to hear your thoughts and ideas, and especially your experience from working with other businesses around the world.

3.   Use Closed Loop Communication

Clients can feel frustrated, and maybe even seem angry, if they feel that you didn’t fully understand what they want. You can reduce that by using closed loop communication. That means that after they’ve told you something, you repeat back their instructions to check that you got it right. It makes the client feel confident that you understood.

If you don’t understand something that the client says, stop the conversation and ask. This is true for all clients, but especially for Australian clients. Australians use a lot of slang that doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense to anyone who isn’t Australian, even if you both speak English.

4.   Share Tech Tips

Your clients will always appreciate it when you share advice about a new tech tool, something that you used in the past, or something that you read about in an article somewhere.

5.   Avoid Phrases That Confuse Your Client

Due to cultural differences, there are some responses that are perfectly reasonable in the Philippines, for example, but that are either confusing or offensive to Australians. Here are some examples:

• “Noted” – To Australians, this is extremely confusing to read in a message or email. They don’t understand whether you mean that you read their email, or that you understood their email, or that you are going to do what they said in the email. Always be specific about what you did and what you are doing, like “I read your email and will respond soon.”
• “For a while” – To Australians, this sounds like it will take a very long time for you to do the task or get back to them about an issue.
• “With all due respect” – Australian clients will hear that as an insult and a lack of respect.

Also, remember that Australians find it uncomfortable, and possibly insulting, if you ask about their religion, politics, or anything to do with money.

How to Ask for a Pay Raise from Your Australian Client

Before you ask for a pay raise, stop and think about how much you’re already earning. Australians like to pay a fair and above-industry rate from the beginning, but then don’t like to give a raise for at least the first 12 months. In contrast, businesses in other countries pay a low rate for the first few months, and then raise the rate a little later.

Research the going rate for your role and your industry and calculate how much you end up spending in expenses. When you talk to your client about a pay rise, ask them what they think would need to change or what you would need to do in order to earn AU$X more per month, which is the going rate for your role.

Always make it clear that you don’t need an answer right now. Give them time to think about it.

How Payoneer can Help you to Help Your Clients

Payoneer can help you to help your Australian clients by offering a global payments platform that’s optimized for growth. It has a global perspective on business, helping companies to cross borders. Payoneer accounts payable helps you to get paid quickly, easily, and at a low cost. Payoneer accounts receivable opens up a way to pay suppliers and tax services, use your funds however you like, and access your money whenever you need it.

With background support from Payoneer, you can expand to help clients in Australia and across the world to grow and improve their own products and services.