By: Emilio Aragón Sánchez García
President
ASOCIACIÓN DE EMPRESARIOS MEXICANOS CAPÍTULO THE WOODLANDS
“In my opinion, trust is one of the most valuable things in the world.
It takes years to create and only an instant to lose. According to
the dictionary, trust is the assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. Muinín (Irish), Confianza (Spanish), Fiducia (Italian), (Chinese), Tillid (Danish). No matter the language, trust has the same meaning. However, people don’t seem to recognize the enormous weight and value of trust. Mostly, it is simply taken for granted.“
Start by trusting yourself
Mexico, Early-February 2011 – It had been months since I had an income. The balance on my bank account was $0. I was trying to keep my head above the water. Problems seemed to be popping up left and right. I had been sending out resumes to everyone I knew and a bunch of people I didn’t know that well either and barely had any response, to the point where I didn’t know who to write to anymore. Everything looked grim. I felt that I was going from one failure to the next.
Mid-February 2011 – I received a call. Finally, someone had actually read my CV, and I was finally being invited to an actual job interview! I only got 2 hours’ notice to meet an Entrepreneur, who, for the purpose of this article, we will call Mr. X. He had found something in my resume that caught his attention; not sure what it was, but I trusted that it was something good.
I still remember walking into his fancy office. I was already daydreaming about Mr. X offering me an amazing position, a solid salary, maybe even a company car to go along with, at the very least regional manager, or perhaps even a VicePresidency of something or other.
After a short introduction, he explained his business to me and told me what he needed from me. He said, “I need a translator.” that is where reality hit me right in the face.
Swallowing my pride and being out of options, I gratefully accepted the position. I had nothing to lose, and I trusted myself to do everything I could to show my capabilities and someday be offered a more senior role.
Finding Trust through Death
After a few months of working for him, we went on a 5-day trip to Houston. The idea was to scout the area and evaluate if it would be an excellent area to open a new division. This was to become the trip that would end up opening incredible doors for me.
We arrived on a Friday at about 11:00 pm. The moment we landed, Mr. X’s phone rang, and someone told him that they needed his help. An influential Mexican businessman had died at the hospital in Houston, and the family was having a challenging time getting all the paperwork together to get their father released and transported to Mexico for his funeral on Sunday.
If you think it’s difficult to get a healthy person out of a hospital, try getting a deceased person out, especially if you want them flown out of the country. It is a nightmare! My challenge was to help the family members make all the arrangements and have the gentleman’s body reach Mexico in time.
At that moment, I didn’t know who the grieving family was; they certainly didn’t know me either. My first challenge was, therefore, to earn their trust in something so emotionally charged as organizing the transportation of the remains of their loved one.
Saturday morning, I woke up early to meet with Mr. X., who already had a hectic agenda. He gave me a computer and a cell phone and asked me to solve this issue, and so my journey began. Call after call, trying to find a way to help the family and feeling that doors kept closing on me. After a large part of the morning had flown by, making what felt like hundreds of calls, I started to think that it might be impossible to help this family in the timeframe they were hoping for. Just then, one of the people I had talked to called me back and suggested that I speak to a specialist who handles VIP funerals for international clients. I didn’t think that someone like that existed, but I felt that if there was anyone in Houston that could help me, it would surely be him.
You cannot imagine my excitement. I immediately arranged to meet him and reached his office in record time. Together we cleared all the paperwork, and 12 hours later, the family was on their private plane flying to Mexico for the funeral. After that experience, I know that 90 percent of the things we think are impossible are actually possible.
This difficult and fantastic experience turned into a job, and I was soon after living in Houston.
Selling Trust
We are all in the business of selling trust. Everyone all the time!
Every product has its own beauty and performance, but the buyers need to trust that they are getting what they are expecting. There is a direct relationship between a client’s excitement and the trust they have in what they are going to receive in return. It can be anything, from a 1-dollar toothbrush to a multi-million-dollar item. It is all about trust and not so much the product.
In personal relationships and even within our families, I have experienced that it is much the same. We all seek the trust of our sons and daughters, wives and husbands, fathers and mothers, and friends and neighbors.
Living in Houston, I met the owner of a magazine directed to the very rich and famous and especially to the Hispanic market. Through him, knowing of my racing background, I got the chance to meet the owners of the Rolls Royce / Bentley Houston dealership.
We got to talking, and that’s where trust again plays an important role in my life. I met the Director of both brands, who had identified a great potential market in The Woodlands, TX, but they had difficulty reaching it without building a fullblown dealership here. After much thought and creative discussion of the different options, we agreed that I would become their Brand Ambassador for the area.
I was so excited! Imagine that, a Brand Ambassador. What a cool title for a job. My mind was going at a million miles an hour, but after a while, there was a question that was begging to be asked: What is a Brand Ambassador? Is it the valet who brings the car around, is it the one who explains the features to the customers, or is it something more? Well, I discovered that the Brand Ambassador is all that and much more. As a professional racecar driver, I can not only explain the features but show the sometimes extreme capabilities of a top-of-the-line car. Through that, I gain their trust.
So yes, I became a car salesman, but through the understanding of trust, both the interaction with the people I met and the results became completely different. When Rolls Royce / Bentley introduced me to a possible client, three out of four times, what I was sending back to the dealership was a check instead of the car.
There was also a fun factor in the Brand Ambassador job; I started taking the cars to local events, galas, etc., and got to keep the car for a few days. It also led to a lot of interest from my dear neighbors. Imagine this, at that time, I was renting a lovely little house worth much less than the cars I had delivered to my home on a very regular basis. Physically I fit the Mexican stereotype much better than that of a Swiss banker. So I think that more than one started to think that I was a mobster, definite cartel material, and maybe even a Drug Lord who was horrible at hiding his mountains of cash. Needless to say that my landlord got more than a few calls.
I had a blast for three years and then slowly started my consulting business supporting various other brands such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Mercedes. I now offer the complete organization of VIP experiences on different tracks.
My business grew through trust, and so did I. I can now say that I have come full circle and am happy doing something I love.
Go for a, Yes!
There is a history behind that phrase. In Latin countries, there is a saying that goes something like this: You already have the “no,” so you might as well go for the “Yes.”
Having “no” as your starting point, every effort, every action that takes you closer to getting a “yes.” So at a young age, I decided to trust myself; I decided to “Go for the, Yes!” and honestly, although I have had a few setbacks in my life, I feel that I more often than not make the impossible possible through trust.
