Before doing business in Iran appreciate this: Your success is defined by your aptitude to build effective personal relationships combined with a clearly outlined and well presented proposal.

Business is personal in Iran. Many businesses are family owned and run. Even within government, officials usually work within networks of friends and associates. If you have influential friends in Iran, do not be afraid to call in favours. Just be prepared to re-pay them in the future. This is all part of doing business in Iran.

Building a relationship with your Iranian counterpart(s) is critical. The first meeting should be solely focused on getting to know each other. Once a relationship has been established you can safely move on to business matters.

Iranians are astute business people. They enjoy haggling and getting concessions so be prepared for long negotiations.

Decision making can be slow. It is most likely that you will meet and negotiate with less senior members of a family or state department first. Once you are seen as trustworthy you will then move on to meet more senior members.

Implementing decisions are just as slow. Iran's red tape and layered bureaucracy means a lot of waiting. Applying pressure in a non-confrontational way can help speed matters up although the most effective way to do so is to use people of influence to help you.