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This entry was posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:00 PM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

In the last post I wrote mostly about the politics.  In this post, I want to address the people and the culture.

Haitians Appreciate Persistence:  Doing business in Haiti IS a marathon. It’s frustrating and can be exhausting. It often feels like two steps forward is followed by one step back.  Haitians live this reality on a daily basis. They appreciate foreigners who accept this and continually inch forward.  Once Haitians see you are willing to stay the course they commitment themselves to helping you succeed.    

It’s all about Commerce.  Haiti is a very entrepreneurial culture.  Everyone understands the concept of commerce and the free market! The good news is a society that embraces the profit motive.  The challenge is that you must always demonstrate how your project can profit each Haitian stakeholder group.

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This entry was posted on June 25, 2012 at 1:51 PM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

It's often said that doing business in Haiti is a marathon. It takes creativity, tenacity and endurance. I've pointed out in past posts, there are many correlations between doing business in Haiti and selling large strategic projects. There are also many aspects of doing business in Haiti that are unique.

Most companies hoping to build a business in Haiti arrive not understanding what they know and what they don’t know. This post and the next will discuss a few realities not readily grasped, even by the most astute and experienced individual,  in the hopes of helping you navigate the challenging Haitian environment:

• Everything is Multilateral. The Martelly-Lamothe government is in overdrive working to change the paradigms in Haiti. Their stated intent is for Haiti to become self-sustaining. For now though, every major project must be evaluated through a multilateral prism. The top 8 donors are major investors in Haiti. They are each heavily vested in its success. They also have competing political objectives that must be clearly understood. Success requires aligning the rationale and benefits of your project with the entire political spectrum. Even if you aren’t looking for donor financial support, you must secure their political support.

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This entry was posted on June 14, 2012 at 10:49 AM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

We've all lived the sales cycle that, seemingly without reason or warning, goes to $hit. In Haiti, it happens often. But Haiti isn't the only place it happens.  Most high-stakes business development opportunities hit a major snag along the way that leaves the entire sales team feeling discouraged and hopeless. How do you get back on track? Here are four important steps:

1. Check your attitude - it sounds silly, but when things start to go wrong, it's critical to stay positive. We attract what we focus on. If all we're thinking is this deal is %$#!ed up, it's almost impossible to get it back on track. This applies to everyone who touches the deal. Good sales leaders recognize this and are particularly adept at keeping the team positive and focused on moving forward and getting back on track.
2. Assess the chemistry – I've said it before, people buy from people they like. When things seem to be falling apart, check to make sure the chemistry is still good between the buyer and the sales team. In long sales cycles the buyer and seller are going to have ups and downs. Or the seller may not click with a new decision maker. Or maybe the seller's frustration is starting to taint the relationship. Here again, a good sale leader can pinch hit or provide some relief to help the seller and buyer get back on track.

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   This entry was posted on June 6, 2012 at 3:15 PM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

In large, complex sales environments it's easy to forget the old adage "people buy from people they like." In this age of Facebook and Twitter it seems that many of the sales executives I encounter believe 140 character updates and Skype calls is enough to manage their relationships with prospects, influencers and customers. It's certainly a lot less expensive way to do business, but something important is lost.

I was reminded of this on a recent project. I was asked to assess the performance of senior sales executives working on opportunities ranging in value from $50-100M. Each opportunity involved a complex network of decision makers, influencers and partners. These executives were charged with developing new opportunities. The executives were vice presidents with at least 15 years sales experience.

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This entry was posted on May 25, 2012 at 2:38 PM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Laurent Lamothe was ratified by the House of the Deputies this evening. There are two more steps before he a government is officially in place, but this vote was critical.

I expect it will take a couple more weeks to finish the process. The PM-ratified will want to put his own touches on the government by replacing some of the current ministers.

Let's all pray for the success of the Martelly-Lamothe government.

This entry was posted on May 4, 2012 at 9:00 PM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Large strategic deals have long sales cycles. In government sales this often means you'll deal with at least one change in decision makers.

In Haiti, I'm on my 3rd Minister of Justice. Each new Minister has been a political appointee. Each has seemingly come out of left field. I'll admit, my initial reaction to each announcement included an abundance of expletives, but once the venting was finished, it's time to figure out how to regroup.

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This entry was posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:45 PM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

The inauguration President Martelly was a day filled with pomp, circumstance and hope. I was invited to attend the ceremony and subsequent events. It was a great day.

The ceremony and Mass were held on the grounds of the palace. The streets and trees in front of the palace were filled with cheering people. The ceremony itself was attended by dignitaries from around the world.

If Haiti can harness all the positive energy from today it is finally on it's way to refounding itself!

This entry was posted on May 14, 2011 at 11:44 PM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

It's not official yet, but my sources say Michel Martelly has been informed he is President-elect. I hope it's true so true so the uncertainty and accompanying instability can begin to abate.

This entry was posted on March 28, 2011 at 5:34 PM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

If you caught the news this week, you probably heard about the riots in Haiti. To read the reports, you'd think the country was at war with itself. I don't want to down play the genuine frustration of the people. They have much to protest. But for those who are thinking of doing business in Haiti, it's important to understand a great deal of what you see on TV is politics as usual.

If the situation weren't so dire it would almost be comical. One "protest" this week looked quite serious on TV. The reality was they set the tires up the night before. Assembled at the appointed time. Made a lot of noise, stunk up the palace area and departed in time to catch the football game. At this stage of the electoral calendar, much of what you see is designed to influence the vote.

I traveled around Haiti this week with few problems in spite of the protests and cholera. Meetings ran on time. Everyone showed at the appointed hour. Restaurants were filled to the brim with humanitarians and election observers. Our project even made huge leaps forward.

There is no denying that much must change in Haiti. The one year anniversary of the earthquake will be upon us in just over 50 days and little progress has been made toward rebuilding. There are many many reasons for that. It's easy to blame it all on the government. The hard truth is the donor community is as much, if not more to blame, than the government.

Rather than get up on my soap box and bloviate about good intentions gone very wrong, I offer a challenge to private enterprise. Shrug off your "Haiti fatigue" and invest in a population with tremendous potential. Drive the streets of Haiti and it's clear this is a culture of entrepreneurs. There is an abundance of desire and talent waiting to be harnessed. Yes, the government makes it very difficult and the IHRC approval process is confusing. But it's not all that much easier to do business with the US government. There is also corruption, but have you looked at our headlines lately?

Haiti isn't for every business, but for are those who raced to Haiti to help immediately after the earthquake, hoping too that there would be opportunity, know that there is! Pursuing those opportunities feels like a long hard slog sometimes, but the Haitians are full of pleasant surprises. Give them a chance.

This entry was posted on November 20, 2010 at 7:03 PM. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.