Cultural Communication

Hello John this Memo is in reference to our business trip to Monterrey, Monterrey is the second biggest city in Mexico and the financial capital of Latin American some of the wealthiest people in Latin America live there, 3 of 10 most richest people in the world live there. But there is a way to do business in this city. Take a look at this and study it thoroughly.

The Mexicans are very affectionate people, in our meeting we should present ourselves first and then later talk about business. For this type of people good personal relations are very important if we want to have a successful business. So I think it will be a good idea to meet in a restaurant for a preliminary meeting and confirm this meeting by phone or fax once we are at the hotel. Regarding their verbal communication they usually do not say no directly they tend to use an indirect form to say no to an issue. Usually the Mexican people like when foreigners have an idea about their customs and traditions, so make sure we do a little research about this before we meet with our clients, this will help us to gain their confidence and respect. There is a huge difference between the way we do business and the way they do it, some times we tend to rush into the business part, for them this is totally disrespectful, lets try to learn about them in our meetings this people are very relaxed and do not want to be rushed.

As you see before I encourage conversations aside to our business but make sure you do not touch the following topics: Illegal immigration, religion (since many of them 89 % are catholic) or something that could sound offensive towards their country.

Even tough these people are very warm and friendly they do take a lo of pride in their schooling and work history, if we meet with some one that holds a Bachelor Degree we addressed them as "Licenciado" before their last name, or if they are Medical Doctors or have a PhD we need to addressed them as "Doctor", in case you forget their title addressed them as "Senor" or "Don" or "Senorita" if is a woman (Do not use Senora because this implies that they are married or old).

In the English language we have the pronoun "you" in Mexico we have a formal "you" and an informal "you" and that is: formal = usted, informal = tu. Never use tu unless they have asked you to do so.

I have talked to you a little about verbal communication I want to focus on non verbal communication at this moment.

The most usual way to say hello is a handshake, but be aware that some girls especially in the