In this video, Zach Selch shares his three‑decade experience doing business in Jordan and the broader Levant (Jordanians, Syrians, Palestinians). He explains that Arabic business culture is fundamentally high‑relationship and high‑context: relationships must be cultivated over time and communication relies heavily on shared background rather than explicit statements. Selch highlights a key distinction for Jordanians: a markedly higher level of collectivism and lower individualism compared with Lebanese or Saudi counterparts. This cultural profile influences how Jordanian salespeople and decision‑makers prioritize the good of the group, long‑term impact, and collective benefit over personal ambition. He advises international sellers to adapt their approach—focusing on building enduring relationships, understanding implicit cues, and framing proposals in terms of collective advantage—to succeed in the Jordanian market.
Chapters
And I want to talk a little bit about the business culture of Levant Arabs— Jordanians, Syrians, Palestinians— and they're very similar. And if you're doing business in the Gulf, there's a good chance you're going to be doing business with Jordanians, Palestinians, and so on, because a lot of the people doing business in the Gulf, a lot of people running companies, a lot of people As sales managers are Jordanians, or Palestinians, or Syrians, and that kind of thing. You're gonna find also Lebanese and Egyptians, but I've addressed those separately because there is a difference in the business culture. So I'm in Jordan now. I've been coming here for about 30 years. It's one of my favorite cities in the world. So what are some of the things that characterize generally Arabic business culture across the board? Well, first of all, a very high relationship situation. Okay? Relationships are not task-oriented. You can't come in and say, "I'm the vice president of my company. You should have a relationship with me." You have to form a relationship. It takes time, and those relationships sometimes last. Shukran. Those relationships sometimes last decades. I have relationships that are 30 years old with people I've been doing business with in the area, and they're difficult to form, but once you form them, they're very strong and they last. All Arabic business cultures are very high context, which means they're not necessarily going to say things directly And clearly they expect that you're going to understand the context because everybody they know understands the context. That's a big part of their culture. So there's a very high context, very high relationship issue with all Arabic cultures. What differentiates Jordanians from, say, Lebanese or Saudis is a much higher level of collectivism, a lower level of individualism. Okay, and that's going to impact you in business. In some cases, you're going to have Jordanian salespeople, right? And the things that drive them are going to be different from what might drive a Lebanese salesperson or certainly a Saudi businessman. Okay, with that high level of collectivism that you're going to find in Jordan as opposed to individualism, Jordanians have about half the level of individualism on the scale on average, and again, we're lumping people together and talking about them culturally as opposed to individuals, but this is how I do things. We have to do the— we have to think about this when we're looking at cultures. But the level of individualism in Jordanians is going to be about half as much as Saudis, okay? And that's going to impact what they want out of a job, what they're looking for, in terms of purchasing. If you're selling to a Jordanian customer, they might be thinking more about what's going to be good for the company, for the project, for the country, okay? They're going to be thinking about the long-term impact and how it's going to work for other people. They might not want to take decisions individually as much as, say, a Saudi would, okay? They're— what they're looking for from a career might be very different, okay? They might be looking more be part of a family and part of a group, a team, than perhaps a Lebanese sales manager might. So these are things you have to take into consideration. They don't necessarily mean one group is going to be easier to deal with than another group, but you have to take into consideration all the differences between the different groups of Arabic business cultures you might be working with in the Middle East. Remember, when you're ready to grow your international sales, Reach out to us. We can help. When you decide it's time to grow your international sales, call us.
