pain blanc maison

deuxième essaie

Sales letter: Partnership proposition on Wi-Fi Internet Access Point and VOIP solution for hotels

Buenos dìas Jose!

I know that you deal with IT solutions in Cuba, and so do I in Canada. This is why I believe my value proposition of partnership might be of your interest.

My name is Alex. For five years I have been leading a small family company in Montreal, Canada, that develops and implements an IT solution for hotels – “HotSpot”. Briefly, it is a comprehensive hardware/software solution, which allows hotels to provide their guests with Wi Fi Internet access on all their premises and a cheap VOIP telephony for international calls.

The system is very easy in installation: it requires only one working day for the hardware part (one central Wi-Fi router and one additional extender per each 100 square meters) and one day for the software installation and testing.

This solution is in high demand in Canada; consequently, our business goes very well. In 2011 we sold more than one hundred of new installations and achieved our sales goal of one million CAD. As to Cuba, we have already implemented one “HotSpot” at “Freyer Blau Costa” in Holguin and can use this hotel as a good reference. Given that the hospitality industry in Cuba is one of the most developed, I estimate the local market potential very high; for the first year, the target revenue might be set as much as $200,000.

So, as you can see, the opportunity is really interesting. However, it may be working only in a form of partnership. First of all, due to the Cuban government regulations that restrict the local market from foreign businesses. Also, from the marketing perspective, it would be much more efficient to collaborate with a Cuban partner. So, I need such a service provider, who knows the language, customs, traditions, and cultural norms, and who could build trust and establish strong relationship with the hotel chains’ management by representing “HotSpot”.

I am ready to make initial investments in the marketing activities and guarantee you a technical support including training. We will be signing a partner agreement each year by setting the annual quota together with an aggressive commission plan. Basically, it means that if you exceed your target, you get an agreed percent of commission plus an exponentially growing bonus. More detail about the prices, commission rate, and the product you can find attached.

I am planning to be in Havana in the beginning of this April. So, please let me know before the March 15th if we could meet there to discuss our eventual partnership, of course, if you will find this proposition interesting to you.

I would be really happy, too, if you could come to Montreal to visit the company’s office and my home.

Please feel free to ask me any questions.

With respect,

Alex

Non-verbal communication

The significance of non-verbal communications is really high; certain researchers estimate the meaning of a message transmitted non-verbally up to 90%. However, there is no need to be a scientist to make the same conclusion, especially, when it comes to intercultural communications where we deal with different behavioral patterns.

All the three videos are full of non-verbal patterns that can be divided into the following categories (in fact, there are more than that but just to name a few): touch, eye contact, volume, posture, gestures, paralanguage, proximity. Some of them, like closing the lips with the index finger to call for silence or moisture in eyes, are universal and common for people regardless of nationality, gender, and age. The others are very peculiar and, I believe, specific to particular cultures, like raising the little finger with back of hand.

Two Greek men stay very close to each other: one, amused, with his hands in his pockets, constantly looking at his friend’s eyes; the other obviously persuading his friend with expressive gestures, speaking very fast, a bit rocking and finally even sticking out his tongue!

In the Brazilian adventure we see a timid lad who clears his throat just to be brave in face of a celebrity. But he was not so reserved in the car before, when the laughing girl touched his head: he spoke with raising inflection, surprised and amused. Later, in the room, they shook hands twice in an interesting manner. He lowered his tone when he started speaking Portuguese to the girl next to him, evidently, to clarify the situation with his inadequate English. Another interesting moment was then that girl pointed him with her index finger. I think this gest is not appropriated in other cultures, but I understood very easily what she wanted to say when she ‘touched’ her heart with the hand – to excuse her.

In the Arab movie, on the contrary, we see a much bigger distance between people and more formal way of communication. What I can highlight is that the M.C.’ behavior, in particular, his respectful posture with the angled torso inclined towards the singer and his manner of reading a poem – he did it like a mullah singing his prayers. From my point of view, the guests seem being treated more than just with respect, but as it should be in a high society.

All in all, I reckon that this theme is interesting enough to be learned more because language itself is not sufficient to communicate efficiently in international environments. I understood the context and the main ideas of all these three videos, even though I neither speak Greek, Arab, nor Portuguese.

Report on a Bulgarian community member’s reflection about Hofstede’s dimensions

This report is based on the Montreal community member interview conducted in terms of English course CEEN-402-781 January 27th, 2012. Its goal is to discover the interviewee’s opinion on Hofstede’s four dimensions describing intercultural differences attributed to each country: Power distance, Individualism, Uncertainty avoidance, and Masculinity.

I selected to interview a friend of mine, which belongs to the Bulgarian Montreal community, because this culture – having the same Greek Orthodox and Eastern European cultural roots – is very similar to Russian one. On the other hand, we speak different languages and have many other differences in historical background, economic and political situations, etc. So, it is interesting to find out subtle differences in regards to the four mentioned-above criteria.

Stanislav, 28, lived in Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria; he is married to a Bulgarian woman; he is a programmer; he has been living in Montreal almost two year by the moment.

The interview was conducted at the Stanislav’s apartment in a relaxing atmosphere where two friends can drink a bit of wine and share their opinions in a free form. Some important results of this one hour dialogue are summarized below.

Being provided with my short introduction, Stanislav was very interested and excited about the Hofstede’s approach to discovering intercultural differences. He believes that the modern Bulgarian society belongs to the low power distance class. Although the Bulgarian king (tsar) came from the emigration back to the country and gained some popularity and power via democratic elections, the equality is seen as a common value. Laid aside the corruption aspect, we can say that the upward mobility is not limited due to some power or wealth factors.

The degree of individualism depends on the place where people live. Say, in the countryside people are more collectivists than in the cities. In general, Stanislav estimates this score as 50/50 saying with a smile ‘there are troubles between three Bulgarians.’

I asked him a few of very tricky questions to evaluate their society’s uncertainty avoidance: what a person would choose between calling the police and staying away if he or she were a witness of a crime; between giving a bribe and staying within the law to save a friend from prison, etc. Based on his answers, the Bulgarians tend to count on themselves more than on the police and the legal system.

It is very rare to see women among bus drivers in Bulgaria; nevertheless, women are dominant among trolleybus drivers! Little by little women become more numerous at manager positions. For example, two last Sophia’s mayors are women: Maria Boyadzhiyska, Yordanka Fandakova, the second term.

Imagining the situation when he should choose between two candidates for his own IT business, he would hire a woman because of the female way of thought that can make more profit nowadays.

Among other interesting information Stanislav explained how difficult it was to him to change his head movement when he moved to Canada: in Bulgaria nodding means shaking one’s head no.

Unfortunately, I had no time to interview his wife, Bella; otherwise, the results would have been more accurate. However, based on the Stanislav’s answers, we may consider Bulgaria as a culture with low scores in Power distance and Uncertainty avoidance, average degree of Individualism, and still high score in Masculinity.

All in all, it was an outstanding experience that enriched my interpersonal skills and gave me a reason to introspect my own Russian culture.