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Saturday, February 18, 2012

Our Mindset in business

Rodel J. Ramos

We were told in marketing that business begins and ends with the consumer. There is the saying “Customers are always right”. Yet, many of our business people ignore this rule and so a lot of them fail.

You should feel the pulse of your customers. In fact you should always ask them if your services or goods are okay or simply ask their opinions, how you can improve your services and products. But most don’t. We are a sensitive people and some get offended when customers complain or suggest something. They just want to be flattered.

A lot of Filipinos won’t tell you what is wrong because of “hiya” (shame) they don’t want to offend you. But they would tell all their friends and acquaintances about it. You would be the last to know. You will only notice when your clients are decreasing and they don’t come back. Some call this practice sugar coating, when people are nice in front of you but stub you at the back. Word of mouth is the most effective way to built or destroy a business.

It is important that we know the mindset of our people so we can cater to their needs or perception. We must create the incentives and services that cater to their character. Some people say that we should change this mindset. But it will take a lifetime or centuries for them to change. We have been brainwashed to think the way we do, and we have traditions and habits that we are dealing with everyday that are impossible to change.

This mindset which discriminates against our own people and therefore us included are one of the major reasons why many of our businesses fail without the support of our people. And our business people have not yet learned on taking advantage of them by both destroying those negative beliefs and using them to get more sales.

What then are the mindsets of most Filipinos which business people must know?

We have the colonial mentality. We do not easily cater to Filipino businesses and would rather buy from Chinese, Indian, Korean and Canadian owned stores except for doctors and dentist because some of us can’t explain what is wrong with us in English.

We do not go to our lawyers because “nakakahiya” when we have committed a crime or are victims of a crime. We say, “Baka itsismis pa kami sa community.” Even if they know that lawyers have a vow to protect the privacy of their clients. They seldom go to Filipino convenience stores because “Mahal diyan, kasi gusto nilang yumaman kaagad” or “Bakit ko susuportahan ang mga iyan, pag yumaman sila, pagyayabangan pa ako.” But in real estate deals, they are more comfortable with the Filipino brokers.

One reason they don’t cater to Filipino business people is they always have at the back of their minds the suspicion that “Basta Filipino manloloko lalo na ang mga negotiante.”

They easily trust Caucasian business people and they treat them special with respect and hospitality. As someone said, we are the worst racists in the world. While whites discriminate against other races, we discriminate against ourselves.

It is common perception that Filipino businesses wants to get rich quick and their goods are expensive or “mandaraya” to reduce cost. It is our experience in many Filipino restaurants that in the beginning, the food are delicious and services are good. But as time goes by the taste changes and the services are no longer as before. In short, they are unreliable. They should be consistent with their products and services.

When Filipino businesses are already successful, they become arrogant and their public relations change.

Many of our business people went into business without experience in the business or study them before going into it. Many think that having a business brings them prestige, so even if they don’t make much money in it, they continue because nakakahiya dahil nandiyan na sila.

Some just went into it because they are jealous of others or think some stores are doing well because the owner owns a luxury car or is showing it off.. They never ask or study the ins and outs of the business. They think that it is the easy what to make money. And you are your own boss. They do not know that business people have to work more hours and they are the slaves of their businesses. Employees forget their work after 8 hours, businessmen think of their business even whey they are sleeping. And you have to have a business acumen and charisma to attract and maintain customers.

People wonder how we were able to gather more than 35,000 Filipinos at the Skydome (Rogers). Most people said it was impossible because they were used to having only 3,000 in their affairs. Well, we used the mindset of our people. They have a colonial mentality and so we asked Ed Mirvish of Honest Ed and Princess Theater to be our Honorary Chairman. And when they saw it, they knew this was a big event and they have to be a part of it. We used the SkyDome which to them was class and we promoted the event on the mainstream media to make them proud and feel good.

They are also amazed at how we were able to put up a Filipino Centre Toronto in 17 months when in fact for 30 years many attempted and failed to build one. In both cases we used the mindset of our people to bring in trust and rally towards these projects. We asked the Philippine Embassy to get involved because Filipinos love to please people with authority and they trust them better.

Other mindsets are: “And itim at communista masasama. Ang pari mabuti. Ang puti, maganda na mabuti pa.” Try to change these mindsets and you will get all the resistance in the world. Such is the narrow minds of many of our people that you can take advantage of or try to change.

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