1. Language is a breakthrough
Many Latin American companies’ websites are in Spanish. There are very few people who can speak English in Latin American countries such as Mexico, Chile, and Brazil. So if you want to develop the Latin American market, Spanish is a required subject. Spanish is the third most common language in the world, one of the working languages of the United Nations, and the official language of most Latin American countries. The time difference between Latin American countries and China is about 12 hours. It is best to contact Latin American customers at 10 pm China time.
2. The most important service is patience
Most people in Latin American countries are inefficient and often “stand up”. In their view, being late for a date or breaking an appointment is not a big deal. So if you want to do business with them, patience is very important. Don’t think that they have no follow-up if they don’t reply to emails for a few days. It may just be a holiday. In Latin America, once it is a holiday or it is almost the weekend, people will enter the holiday state in advance. The working state is relatively casual from two or three days before the holiday to two or three days after the holiday. For example, Chilean law stipulates that overtime cannot be forced on holidays, and even if overtime is worked, four times the salary must be paid. Therefore, when negotiating with Latin Americans, you should leave enough time for the long negotiation process, and leave enough room when making the initial offer, because Latin Americans are generally good at bargaining, so you should be patient.
Third, pay attention to demand diversity
As an important member of the “Southern Common Market” (the Southern Common Market, the majority of goods between the member states of the “Southern Common Market” are free trade without tariffs, and the common external tariff is 23%), many industrial products flow from Brazil to the entire Latin American region. Compared with other countries, Brazil has a complete industrial system and a strong industrial foundation. There are many overlaps with China’s industries, so the industry complementarity between China and Brazil is not very large. In short, many products made in China can also be made in Brazil. Although most of China’s products have absolute cost advantages, due to their geographical location far away from Latin American countries, high freight costs increase the cost of products. Therefore, when entering the Latin American market, you should pay special attention to whether your products are also produced in Brazil, as well as the situation of your competitors, accurately position your product advantages, and do a good job of differentiation.
Although entering the Latin American market will inevitably face some problems, it is a good time for us to enter because this market is not yet perfect and needs to be developed. As long as we are willing to overcome these small difficulties and persevere, the “big seller” is likely to be the next product.