Xin Chao, Vietnam!

Feb. 7 (Wednesday) HOME SWEET HOME

I woke up at 6 am, heard the 7am mass as thanksgiving for my 19 days stay. At around 9:30, I delivered the stocks to SATO's office and got some documents. At 10:30, I was on my way to the airport. I checked-in at exactly 12:00pm for my 1:30 flight to Singapore. As I see people moving around, I can only reminisce my experiences in this "unfamiliar territory" -- good or bad, they are worthwhile experiences.

And to my host country...."XIN CHAO!!!",,,''til we meet again!

Deal Or No Deal?! :)

Feb. 6 THE MOMENT

I was already on line as early as 8am. I have a 2pm meeting with Ms. My Thanh. I was talking to mamu for some details of the MOA before I discuss it with Ms. Thanh. The objective of my meeting with her is to "close the deal" as distributor or if not, "start things with her, on the positive note". Deal or No Deal? And this is the moment! Seems easy huh? That's was my feeling too after our first meeting 2 weeks ago,but in a sudden twist, we're back to square-one. A disappointing feat?

But my efforts were not put into waste, though. Everything is still positive. I am positive, management is positive. SATO is positive. As we always say, "konting hilot na lang..." My personal thought and feeling about SATO is very positive. She's so easy to deal with and knows her business, like anybody else. I, myself do not want all these things to be "a thing in the past" but rather "something to look forward to". It was not a defeat after all, as my boss puts it... "uwi ka na...I'd rather sit down with you and the team and let's discuss our next move. Anyway, the ball is in our hands na naman, let's not rush things muna....good job, pahinga ka na!" Thank you.

After taking dinner at around 7pm, I hurried back to my room and started to pack my things. This is my last night here in Vietnam. Despite the excitement of going home, I can still feel the "frustration", that I was not able to seal the contract with SATO. But more than the frustration, I'm happy that I became part of the "adventures"..and fond memories here in Vietnam. At around 9pm, I was all set...and a sound sleep.

Vira Channel Marketing

Feb. 5 (Monday) VIRA....cious!!!

With two (2) more days to go and "balik-Pinas" na ko, I am finishing a few more assignments here which I hope will have positive results. At 10 am today, I had a meeting with another distributor in VIRA CHANNEL MARKETING. This is part of my itinerary here in Vietnam, to look for another distributor (fall-back ba). VCM is Vietnam's one of the most credible Marketing Services and Channel Marketing provider. It has a wide array of clients -- from local products (Vinamilk, Vedan, Mobifone) to multinational companies (Nestle, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Nokia,Castrol, Unilever, etc.)

The meeting was attended by Messrs. Le Minh Hieu (Operations Manager), Nguyen Duc Huan (Business Dev't Manager) and Ms. La Kim Thanh (Project Manager) and myself. VCM started the meeting with a powerpoint presentation of their companies by Mr. Nguyen. It was brief but complete, I would say. My preentation was also brief but I made sure that they captured each product's identity and "marketability".

In the evening, I was treated to a sumptuous dinner and drinks by my hosts in one of HCM's busiest "restaurant-inuman" daw (pero parang Grand Inihaw sa Welcome ang dating...hehehe). True enough, it was full (as in WAIT TO BE SEATED when we arrived there at 7: 30p.m, and it was a Monday...whew! Luckily we were able to get a seat in just about 5mins. A little chit-chat with them...again, with matching sign-language, I was able to pull that one through...hehehe. The rest is history.