Vietnameses Engrish Tourisme
I mentioned just a few posts ago how I have not ventured far from my days as an English teacher. Well, today made for another classic. I received a call from a Mr. Duc yesterday (passed on to me by my staff who encouraged me to talk to him because his offer sounded “exciting”). Mr. Duc explained that his firm does direct mail marketing. I explained that we have no budget nor do we desire for such service. He begged for a meeting with me. I said no. He was confused and wanted an explanation why we don’t need his service. I explained I was busy and that we do all direct marketing ourselves.
This morning, one of his staff members came to my office (entered from my side door through the Emeraude office – staff was still excited for me to speak to these folks) to drop off their proposal and insisted that she leave with one of my business cards. I reminded her that I will not enlist their services. She did not seem to understand the concept of “zero percent chance” and told me that Mr. Duc will contact me and “really requests” and appointment.
Within an hour of her visit, I received this e-mail:
Good morning Shanna,
As per our short talk of yesterday on phone, I would like to send you here attached our general presentation & our main products & services for your info. In the current contexte of crisis & strong competition, I think enterprise like yours probally need to do some direct advetising mail to promote your businesses. I understand that today 70% of your clients come directly from oversea & only 30% are vietnameses. Why do not make bigger this part of vietnamese people since more & more vietnameses want to enjoy better services than the normal & low standard boat in Halong. I think many “high incomes” local individuals still do not know about Emeurade & they are still hesitating come to see you due to the lack of information. Among your other means of media such as Heritage magazine, forum, name card collecting, incentive, email which are very efficient also , I think Media Post can help you to do some interesting advertising campaign by direct mail. We can provide you some database of potential vietnameses with high income, tourisme oriented( full name, postal addresse, company, postion, car name owner, consumption habit….) which are regularly updated then we are in charge of sending your advertising piece to these people in the best way( Media Post is using postmen of Vnpost to distribue mail) . In the same way , Media Post has our own checking system to control the quality of distribution( phone call, random check, POD…) The percentage of replying people depend of course in the attractiveness of your products & the potential interest of the recipient but in all cases we can be sure about the accuracy of database, good quality of mail distribution( by minimising loss)…ect.
For your information, we started our company last july & we already work for Big C Casino, Nestle, Societe General Viet Finance, Ruby Plaza, Prevoir insurance company, CCIFV, ISIVIC…If you are interested, I can come at any time as I base in Hanoi to have further talk with you & Mr Nam.
Meanwhile, please do not hesitate to let me know any information you need & hope to see you soon.
Best regards
Dang Minh Duc
Deputy General Director(Marketing & Sales)
MEDIA POST JSC
The fact that they used postmen of Vietnam Post almost had me hooked!!!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
More Responsibility, Happy Me
June has been a month with many meetings and travel. I’ve been to Saigon twice already, a third time next week and spent this last week in Laos looking after our properties there.
The meeting I attended today, gave me a huge boost in confidence and really helped me fall in love with my job, all over again.
I was called into headquarters in Saigon to discuss our online marketing efforts for our hospitality group. To say that we are ‘average at best’ is an exaggeration, even. We have outdated websites and no strategic plan in place to drive traffic to our hotels. This is a project I am excited about and eager to be successful.
Since my office is at the Press Club, where two of my sales and marketing teams sit, I spend A LOT of my day on managerial issues and frankly, correcting English. On site, I am the only native English speaker, and so I am constantly being asked to proof documents. Heck, even one of our business partners, who should be providing us perfect copy, asked me to proof their marketing materials (that’s an entirely different issue for another day). The press release sent out at the time of my arrival completely glossed over my five years as a teacher in Japan. Yet I find that that entire experience comes into play more often than my years in marketing, alumni relations and hospitality. In many ways, I am a teacher and mentor to our Vietnamese and Laos staff members.
In addition to this unwritten bullet point in the job description, I love the variety of challenges my job presents, such as balancing the day-to-day stuff versus the big picture projects. I’m learning new things every day, I am kept well on my toes, and I see a great and long future with this company and in this type of position with other hotel groups in my far-away future. I have a very long TO DO list, I still need to find the time to get organized, still need to balance out the personal life, but it’s all good.
In a nutshell, I think I’ve found my gig and I’m digging it.
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
This is a brain map!
If all goes well and all gets approved, these scribbles will turn into a new online sales & marketing department with me as a team leader!
Just another day at the office…
I’ve already said it. I’m a lucky girl. This is a photo I took at Kamu Lodge, Apple Tree’s eco-lodge in the heart of the Laos forrest, just a couple hours from the UNESCO heritage city, Luang Prabang.
I love the lodge for the chance to get a way from modern civilization. There are no phones, no internet connections, no cell signals. It’s a complete chance to reconnect with nature and rejuvenate your soul.
I went to sleep in my tent to the sounds of crickets, birds, frogs and all sorts of other creatures who sung me to sleep and woke me up, all at the same time.
I was here to evaluate our property, to see how we can improve, how to best market this wonderful place, but damn, I’m lucky to “have” to do this job! What a refreshing environment from which to work!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
I’m Still Liking It
I’m such a goof! That’s me with Thomas and Kurt on the Emeraude, just taking a bunch of silly photos.
Without a doubt, this past week was the worst week I’ve experienced in Vietnam. The house leak situation, my foot, a bank transfer fiasco and the tailor screwing up 3 suit jackets really tested my patience.
There is no question Vietnam, and Hanoi in particular is a challenging place to live. It is a far cry from the orderly and beautiful life I lived in Japan. I’ve missed the simplicity of my life there very much recently.
While I am sure that as I get adjusted to my job, to my new surroundings, to my new life, that I will have a bad day or two sprinkled among all the great ones. My teaching background comes in handy here. I’m as much a teacher as i am a Director, Sales & Marketing. I provide lots of opportunities for professional growth for the sales staff I work with. And it is satisfying when they learn a lesson and do something well on their own.
I also love what I’m doing. My job, as I’ve mentioned, is a big one, and there are so many projects for me to tackle. I like that. I am energized by having a challenging job and a division of the company which has sooo much potential for greatness. In most of my jobs, I have created or built-up departments, and it is no different here.
I am loving being back in hospitality, and being in a much more expansive segment than the private club industry (although Kurt and I reminisce how easy it is to just take care of one club versus an entire group of properties!).
I’m still working on my personal life, as I need a serious boost of attention there. But I’m taking steps to fulfill this aspect of my life…it’s not going to happen overnight. I’m meeting new people all the time and trying to get out more so that I can continue to meet new people.
The thing is – I love the adventure of living life abroad. The challenges which are presented to me only make me a stronger and better person, more patient, and lend experiences which I would never have in the US. And I like that.
So while it seems, like this week, that the odds are not in my favor, I know that I will come out on the bright side of all this a much better person.
So when Kurt asks me every once in awhile, “Are you still liking it?” I have to say, without a doubt, “Yes.” And I am. I’m still liking it.
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
Never Ever
How tempting is this button? How many e-mails do you have in your in-box. I’m still trying to catch up and organize my files, so I still have more than 1500. Surely, there are some I can delete?
In the midst of a skype chat, I received this stream from my IT Manager today:
shanna
don’t delete emails
never
ever
He had asked my source for information and I recollected but said that I had deleted the e-mail, since the project was completed. That was the response. Never ever.
All I can say is – WHY?
More than ten years ago (wow) I worked for the American Film Institute. While I hated working for a dictator who never washed her hands in the bathroom, I truly loved most all my other colleagues. I have made some of the most solid friendships of my life via the AFI. What was great in the day, was our hallway chats. You’d walk down the hall to the restroom or to someone’s office to check-in and say hello and you would bump into someone and begin a conversation. It may have lasted just 10 minutes, but usually some good idea was sparked and a meeting would follow and something new would be implemented. Lots and lots of projects and programs we born from those hallway chats. Sometimes we even call each other up and ask to meet in the hall; our springboard for creativity. The only thing I miss about e-mails at the AFI was that for a time, we had an “unsend” button. Now THAT is a feature I’d love to have! Especially when I forget to attach the attachment!
At the City Club, I hosted numerous committee meetings. Who dreads these? Not me. You learn a lot about people from group communication. When a committee pulls itself together and starts cooperating, it’s magic. So many great things can come of it. Imagine trying to host a committee meeting via group chat. Yikes. A nightmare! My former GM, Larry also had his management team meet twice a week. We met first thing Monday morning to discuss our goals and at the end of the day on Friday to review financials and give status reports on our projects. We also all ate lunch together as a group, our dysfunctional little family as we liked to say. This helped us solidify our realtions. We groaned sometimes that we were always in meetings. But we never had an excuse that we didn’t know something or weren’t aware. A simple, “I mentioned it in the meeting” would suffice.
Having stepped away from the hard-core business world for a short time, I must say that I am a little disappointed with the lack of talking people do. Others around me may say that it’s an American thing, but I think this is very much a human thing. We are communicative beings. We have been blessed with the skill of language. And while we have had amazing technological developments (who doesn’t love their Mac? ;p ) I’m afraid we are trading one skill set for the other.
To give you another example, our chef came by my office to have a chat. We talked, we discussed, we agreed. For me, end of story. I’m a smart girl, I have a memory, I understood every word he said. But ONE DAY LATER, I received and e-mail which cc’d our GM telling me the same thing. It’s as though there is a need to document every bloody word which leaves our mouths. Why do I need an e-mail to confirm that a conversation happened? And why do I need to keep that e-mail? I simply cannot get my head around this.
Mind you, e-mail and skype is terrific for keeping up with friends and colleagues who are overseas or in another office. Skype has allowed my colleagues and I to transfer large files too big for e-mail and my parents and I to chat for free over the computer. Phone calls are expensive, and computer technology is a blessing in this regard. But C’MON! If you sit across from someone or within walking distance of desks – do we actually NEED an e-mail? An e-mail will never convey your exact tone of voice, your facial expressions, or even your intentions. These are all things which we can only gather in eye contact, body language and intonation. How many of you have read an e-mail and “heard” the tone of the sender. Strongly or even well-written e-mails can come across possibly as angry or upset when the intention is really just to be thorough or clear. As much as body language can be picked up in person-to-person discussions, an e-mail recipient has a near, default-mode of reading between the lines. Let’s not even begin discussion on the decline of our language skills in e-mails. Just to throw it out there – when’s the last time you hand-wrote something longer than one page?
I am very perplexed by this everything by e-mail trend. Is it a lack of trust? A need for evidence? An innocent back-up for a bad memory? An inability to use a pen and paper to take a note? Are we really operating so much in a CYA mode that we cut conversations short and say, “Can you send me an e-mail on that?” ??? Do people really see e-mail as an effective means of communication? Does anyone realize it actually takes a person a greater chunk of time to write all that nonsense out versus walking over to a desk and telling someone?
Am I alone in this thought or are some of you out there just as tired of all these e-mails and crave face-to-face conversations? Of course I realize that you will most likely e-mail me your thoughts….
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
ITB Berlin
Aside from meeting Paul for a weekend, I was pretty excited to attend ITB Berlin (International Travel Bourse). It’s the largest travel trade event in the world. Within the context of my new job, ths is the biggest learning curve for me – the intricacies of the travel industry.
I was lucky to share a booth with our sister company, Exotissimo. What an eclectic mix of people. Edwin from Holland now lives in Bangkok. Pantanida is from Thailand, but runs our Berlin office. Wah Wah is from Myanmar. And Dominik is German but wrks in our Saigon office. And then little ol’ me from San Diego, California. This is one of the joys of being an expat is that you are always meeting super interesting people.
The exhibition itself, verges on ridiculous. I don’t think we have a convention hall in the US that could compare to the massive layout which is Berlin Messe. The site covers 160,000 square meters. Our booth was located in Hall 26b. We were one of over 11,098 exhibitors. On one day, I had a chunk of time available – 3 hours, and so I decided I would walk around the convention and take pictures of nice booths, as well as shop for brochure designs. I also just wanted to see as much as I could see.
I was already well familiar with the Asian countries. Thailand was at ITB in full force with a huge booth down the center of our hall. It contained a second story, as did many, with a VIP lounge. The Princess of Thailand was present at one of their daily cocktail parties, greeting guests and singing karaoke. She should really stick to her day job – but a lovely woman! Even some of the major islands, such as Phuket, Koh Samui, Krabi and others had a huge booth. Thailand was doing it’s best to recover from the recent bad press they’ve been receiving.
The Philippines were also musically entertaining with a full band firing up at cocktail hour each evening. Our booth was across from Indonesia, which occupied an entire back wall. The stage in the middle hosted a variety of dancers throughout the day. Anytime you passed by India or Cambodia, you could see traditional dances.
And then there was Vietnam. Very little money was poured into the Vietnam booth. It was dimly lit and not warm or inviting at all. No entertainment. No cocktail parties. It really looked like the bastard child of SE Asia. Neglected and crying for attention. They did give out a mini-version of the traditional straw hats. That only served the purpose of making me giggle several times in a day as some non-industry person would walk by actually wearing one of these things. At one point I saw two huge men with what looked like safari gear on. Bellies protruding, cameras slung around their necks and backpacks full of brochures, with their tiny Vietnam hats on their heads, they looked like they were on some other-worldly travel adventure.
I’m glad I wasn’t posted in the Vietnam booth. The overall look was uninspiring, to say the least. And you know, Vietnam really needs to step up the pep. In the Asian market, all of the other countries have these cool slogans. Incredible India. Amazing Thailand. Philippines Wow. Fiji Me. Malaysia, Truly Asia. Indonesia, The Ultimate in Diversity. Uniquely Singapore. You get the idea.
And Vietnam’s slogan? Vietnam, The Hidden Charm. This country isn’t even interested in showing you it’s beauty. In the least, you have to hunt for it – because it’s hidden! What the hell? How about a bit more proactive like: Vietnam, Discover the Charm. Vietnam, Be Charmed. Charming Vietnam. I could go on and on. So there’s a little side project I hope to work on…help the government better represent itself and polish it up a bit! Me vs. the Vietnamese Government. Yeah – let’s see how that one goes!
My feet took me as far as a few of the European halls. I walked through Germany, a stark contrast to the colorful and mix of cultures in the Asian halls. Deutschland was designed very clean and simply. And Spain. OMG. Class, elegance, sophistication, power. I could have stayed in that hall all day. Very chic design and all of the people working were just beautiful. Impeccably dressed and stylish. The Spanish men are just gorgeous. There are no proper words to describe. Even though I was wearing a tailor-made suit, I fear I looked like a little ragamuffin in comparison. Oh those Spaniards! As much as I have always loved Italy, I think it is Spain which calls for me to live there someday.
The convention center at ITB Berlin is so huge that I couldn’t make it to some of the halls I really wanted to see, like Africa and South America. I would have loved to have seen Italy, too. Of course, I was curious about my home country – USA!
On the fourth day of the convention, the public is welcomed, and MY GOD was the stage is set for people watching. Our booth received great foot traffic on the business days. so the public days were nuts. And how weird are we humans? I put our CDs out and people would just come by and take one without having any clue what was on the CD. I also had two sets of picture books, which I use in my sales pitch. Gone. Why anyone would think that the heavy material was a brochure is beyond me.
While most of our tables were set with brochures for people to take, there were still a few appointments scheduled. And being the hospitable people we are, we had coffee ready and a bowl of tea cookies and snacks for our special guests. Yet members of the public would see the small bowl of treats on the table out of the corner of their eye and bee-line it for the cookies, take two or three and return to the traffic flow around the hall. BIZARRE.
Totally indescribable behavior aside, I realize that for some of these folks, they may never be able to afford to travel to Indonesia or Thailand or even Vietnam, or any host of other countries represented at the exhibition. And for them, this event served as a bit of a dream catcher. Bob and Betty, hand in hand, spending an entire day collecting brochures and CDs and give-aways from all over the world. They may even hang a few of the posters they received and sit at the dinner table saying, “Let go to Cambodia sometime, darling.” And if that makes Bob and Betty happy, to have a dream like that, or if it inspires any of the children present to backpack through South America one day…well then, what’s the harm? I just wish people wouldn’t get caught up in the frenzy of getting free ‘stuff’ and act like morons! Shameful!
Post-exhibition hours, I went along with the my colleagues for cocktail parties and dinners, even stayed out late a couple of nights. I learned a lot, saw much, observed every moment. With each person I met and each meeting I conducted, I realized more and more how happy and lucky I am to have this job. This is a very cool position to be in and I am very much looking forward to all that is to come. This big huge trade event is just the tip of the iceberg!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
Yup! That’s me!
I am posting this photo and this entry merely as evidence that I am still alive and well in Hanoi. What you see here is me “assuming the position”. As of late, that is in my office, at my desk, slaving away at the computer, either writing articles for newsletters, reading e-mails, reading reports, writing reports, writing e-mails (way too many!), managing my team or coming up with some *brilliant* idea of how to market and sell our six properties! I’m also likely to be setting myself up for a slipped disc in my neck again with my horrible posture, hunched over my laptop – but that’s a story for another day!
I really want you to know much I love you, I miss you, I am thinking about you and wishing I had the time to take a huge breath and break and touch base with each of you personally. I’m in my third week of “OH MY GOD I HAVE SOOOOoooo MUCH TO DO” mode. But I think all of us have been in this situation where a new job, a new adventure, a new chapter in life is nothing short of all-consuming. And so it is for me. I’m lucky if I remember to brush my teeth before I go to sleep (OK. That was totally an exaggeration! I only forgot to brush them on Monday night.).
As you can see I haven’t lost my sense of humor. Nor my enthusiasm for what I am doing. I am so proud to be the Director of Sales & Marketing for Apple Tree and I am thoroughly enjoying living in Hanoi (what I experience of it when I’m not in the room you see in the picture!).
My favorite 15 minutes of the day is my motorbike ride to work. The “Tang Man” (real name: Anh Tanh) picks me up at 8am most mornings. I hop on the back of his bike with my brief case between us and purse clutched over my left shoulder. I watch with wide eyes as mornings in Hanoi unfold. Sights of ladies selling produce, men setting up their barber shops against tree trunks, families of four on a motorbike, random people trying to cross insanely busy streets, buses full of middle-aged tourists, and young “cool” guys without helmets all whiz by in a blur. But the wind in my face and the sights and sounds (even the smells sometimes) are all so exciting. It’s a thrill. I can’t wait to get my own motorbike and learn the city streets.
I hope you can lend me your patience and understanding. I miss my routine of writing, of updating my blog, of chatting with you. Love and miss you oodles and will write again soon.
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
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