Here's one linguist's No. 1 tip for doing business with people in the UK

As technology continues to connect workers across the seven continents, being aware of cultural differences becomes increasingly important.

To help companies like Sony, Deloitte, Unilever, and BMW understand and do business with different cultures, British linguist Richard D. Lewis founded CrossCulture, a coaching and consulting firm, and wrote "When Cultures Collide," which has sold over one million copies.

"If you don't understand the other culture, you can make mistakes," Lewis says, "like mistaking UK 'slowness' as a negative."

That's why Lewis's No. 1 tip for doing business with Brits is to keep in mind that they are less direct and tend to take longer to make decisions. "They're not going to come out and say what they're thinking," he says. "They're going to talk around it."

Here are three other things you should know about negotiating with people in Britain, according to Lewis: