This week was extremely busy again. I am down here for work and there has been no shortage of that for sure. Each day we leave Casa De La Condesa at 6:00am and usually don't return till around 6:00pm. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays after work I have Spanish class with my man Jorge from 7-830. Trying to find time to chill and reflect a little is tough. However, I am learning a lot and have enjoyed my experience so far.
I spent my week with one of the Marinela Supervisors, Jamie. He took me around and showed me what a supervisors job entails. It is very similar to what our TSM/ASM do; whatever it takes to facilitate smooth operations and the increase of sales.
Jamie is the secretary of a team for vehicle safety so on Monday we attended "Taller Para Comisionados de Seguridad Vial". Basically, it is this groups job to ensure the safety of our vendors and try to prevent accidents when they are driving. I would be lieing to you if I said this meeting wasn't boring. It was an 82 slide presentation and each slide just had paragraph after paragraph of Spanish. The presenter literally just read directly off the slides. I really hate it when presenters do that....... not to mention I can only understand about half of what they are talking about. I drank about 5 cups of coffee that day. But anyways......
The rest of the week we were on routes with his guys. Jamie is responsible for 14 routes and about 20 people. They are currently working on a project to "separate the lines" for our Marinela brand. This is part of their "best practices" for increasing sales. Where possible, the vendors should sell in additional displays to separate the cookies, cakes and Lara brand. There is a contest to see who can sell in the most displays and the vendors can win prizes. Jamie is highly involved in this process.
In between managing his routes and selling in new displays, Jamie was also training a new Vendor and working on a developing route. Tuesday, we packed 5 of us into a truck to run a route and help train Omar, a 21 year old new vendor. There really wasn't much for me to do since there were 5 of us so I spent the day just observing. We did sell in a couple of additional display so I got to see that process. Trying to find extra space in these tiny stores is a task in its self.
Wednesday Jamie and I went with Gustavo on a route that is not fully developed. Before hitting the market we had breakfast at this little restaurant. It was a very good breakfast and I FINALLY got a good cup of coffee. I was pumped to say the least. Most of the coffee I have drank in Mexico has been the instant stuff. I am not the biggest fan.
We ended up selling to two new clients which were good wins. One Tienda we delivered to was literally a hole in the wall at someones house. There were no signs; just a window in the wall that this old couple sold product out of. How do people find these places is all I want to know?? At another stop, there was a little kid, no older than 11 or 12 running things. He checked in our product and paid us. They start the hustle at a young age. We also stopped at a traditional market and a small super market. The traditional market is kind of like an open market that has specialized stores. There is a place you can get chicken, another to get beef, a place to get electronics fixed, a place to buy shoes, etc. I guess these used to be more popular about 15 years ago before supermarkets popped up. At the super market we went to, they have a security guy in the back. I had to get patted down before entering and exiting the building. It was the first time I have seen this. They even pat down their own employees. Not much trust.
Thursday was pretty much the same but with a different route guy. We delivered product as usually and sold in a couple of new displays to 2 stores. I have found that some of the Mexican woman really take a liking to Americans. I am pretty sure I made a couple women blush. At our first stop I was standing near the entrance and the woman behind the counter asked who I was. Jamie explained that I was an associate from the USA. She got a little embarrassed, told them I was hansom and wanted to get my number (I didn't give it to her). Later on in the day, one of the store owners, Carmen, also fancied me. She was a good looking older woman, so I threw the charm on. I asked her if she was married and she so no, so I shook her hand and gave it a kiss. I told her where I was staying and what room I was in so she could come by (joking). She was definitely blushing. It gave us all a good laugh and was a joke for the rest of the day.
Friday, we were with Gustavo again trying to build his route. We stopped at that same restaurant for breakfast and the guys decided to play a little trick on me. The waitress brought over some sauce that had onions and peppers in it. The guys were eating it like it was nothing. When my food came out, I put some salsa verde on it but Ignacio, a vendor, pushed the other stuff over and told me to try it. "Es para los hombres" he told me. It looked pretty harmless and the way they were eating it I thought "why not?". Not thinking twice, I put it on my meat and took a huge bite. I immediately started sweating, my nose was running, my eyes were watering, and I got the hiccups. The whole table burst out laughing. It was habanero chile sauce and..... holy hotness. For the rest of breakfast I couldn't taste a thing or drink my coffee. I am just glad I can keep everyone entertained..... a**holes (it was pretty funny though).
Later on that day we sold in three displays to a new customer. This was probably the most product I have brought into a store. It was 8 tray fulls, more than $1,700 pesos (which in reality is only a little over $100). Jamie was extremely happy about this. Our Bimbo vendor was there as well and sold in about $800 pesos of product. It was a big win for us.
Saturday was a pretty easy day. Jamie had us back to the depot by 2:30. Earlier in the week, Mario, one of the Bimbo vendors, invited Joe and I to his house for dinner after work with him and his family. It was a very nice gesture and it seemed like it was very important for him so we happily obliged. It was another great experience here in Mexico. His family was awesome. He has two daughters; 18 and 6, and one son; 11. His wife made us carne asada with potatoes, onions, and nopal (which is cactus, a traditional Mexican food). It was very good. After dinner, we all sat around and chatted. It was a good indication of where my Spanish is at because I was talking with his kids while Joe (who speaks much better Spanish than I do) and Mario were chatting. We really had a great evening. Mario and his family were so happy to have us over and break bread with us. His kids were so outgoing too. They were showing me all their stuff and sharing what they like to do. They were telling me jokes and singing Michael Jackson (his son loves Michael Jackson). I even helps his son with some English. It was very humbling. Definitely an experience I will not soon forget.
No comments:
Post a Comment