Business & Culture with Hispanic Americans
Business & Culture with Hispanic Americans was co-hosted by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Lauri Jordana, Principal of Conexion Marketing began with demographics. Washington ranks 13th for Hispanics, and (contrary to the popular misconception that most Hispanics are in Eastern Washington), approximately 400,000 live in the Puget Sound area. With an anticipated population increase of 15%, the region’s non-Hispanic small business owners might find these markets are worth pursuing.
Lourdes Sampera-Tsukada, Principal of Opening Latino Doors, led a group discussion on correct terminology. All agreed this was an important step to building relationships. The terms Latino/a, Hispanic, Chicano, Mexican and U.S. Latinos, exist because “they” represent a wide variety of cultures, countries and languages. Other factors that influence terminology are context, assimilation, regions and politics. As is so often the case in cross-cultural business relationships, putting people into buckets may be helpful initially but offensive thereafter. These are diverse and constantly changing cultures.
In general, the term Hispanic applies when a person’s family comes from a Spanish-speaking country, Latino means their family is from Latin America. However, labels and cultural mores (such as formality) are shifting with each generation. Rather than oversimplify and offend, it’s important for businesses to segment their potential markets, target their marketing accordingly and get to know prospective customers. Here are some suggestions:
- Latinos/Hispanics take great pride in their culture, customs, family and country of origin
- Acknowledgement and respect around cultural influences is key to doing business
- Trust, respect and achieving the American dream are very important values
- One major difference is time management: establishing trust and a certain level of comfort before doing business is more important than ‘watching the clock’ like mainstream American culture
- Leave more time for social talk and expect to chat about your own family and culture
- Offer food and drink
- Use formal language initially or if unsure- informality can ruin relationships
- Proper business attire is also a sign of respect
- Once trusted, Latinos/Hispanics tend to be warm, even in business
- Make them feel truly welcomed
Ms. Sempera-Tsukada discussed proper greeting and details on grammar: never assume it’s okay to speak Spanish but if you do, use the formal “usted,” (akin to “sir/madam”), not “tú”, which is informal and might offend.
Other behavioral differences between doing business “American style” versus Latino/Hispanic included:
- Interrupting conversations is a positive and is not seen as disrespectful.
- Latinos/Hispanics tend to speak with their hands, are comfortable with less personal space and like more personal contact.
The final guest was Mr. David Spencer, a private attorney who specializes in business law with Mexico. He is also the founder and former President of the N.W. Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce. Based on years of experience doing business in Mexican and Mexican-American culture, he advised making sure to greet everyone in the room upon entering and say “goodbye” to everyone when leaving. He also noted that generally, Mexicans aren’t as comfortable with personal contact. Greeting them with a simple handshake goes a long way and a hug means they fully trust you.
To make business connections into Latino or Hispanic markets remember:
- Word of mouth is key to gaining exposure and trust.
- Become involved within the community you target to create relationships.
- Hire bilingual Latinos to create credibility and increase sales opportunities.
For information about upcoming Herman L. McKinney Diversity Forum events, click here.
Questions? Contact Herman L. McKinney Diversity Committee Chair Lee Mozena, 206.368.9608
