In Mongolia, business greetings are likely to be the formal.
- Common greeting is handshakes. Ensure to shake hands with everyone who you are meeting with a group of people and do the same when you are leaving.
- Mongolians are adequately relaxed about using their first name. In general, using surnames and titles would be cautious for them. You should assume to be invited to use first name when your Mongolian partner calls you.
- Business cards are essential for the partners, so make certain that you have enough suitably cards ready to exchange. It would be good with translations into English or Mongolian. Also receive your colleague’s card with both hands.
- After the democratic revolution, only 30 years passed and almost all decisions will be made by senior management in a ‘top-down’ term. So you should keep away from trying to put pressure on commitment. Or it may be different if you are arranging with business owner or superior of the company.
- Mongolians can be very open with negotiating, so feel free to stand your ground as passionately as they do. But be prepared for the meetings to go well beyond business hours.
- Avoid denying other’s case and arguing with seniors, as this will be seen as disrespectful.
- Clothing : Mongolians nowadays tend to wear a lot of western clothing, traditional forms of Deel are still in use as well, particularly on holidays and national celebrations. But You should dress more conservatively in formal business attire. Dressing too inadvertently would be misunderstood by your host as you are not taking the arrangement seriously.
At business meeting
Compared to Western culture, there are many strict conventional rules on introduction to others through most of the Asian countries, as well as Mongolia:
- The junior should be introduced to the senior first;
- The male should be introduced to the female first;
- The inferior should be introduced to the superior first;
These ways of introduction are to show high respect to the senior, the female, the superior and the guest. However, if you are in a generally more informal occasion, the introduction to others can be less tortious.
