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Merchants hear how to attract Hispanics
(Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 7--As the number of Hispanics in the Richmond area and across the state continues to grow, the need for businesses to reach out to them expands.
To help business owners, the Retail Merchants Association invited Lisa Zajur, director of the Spanish Academy & Cultural Institute in Midlothian, to speak at its monthly breakfast meeting.
Her company teaches several courses on how employees and employers in different industries can work together despite language and cultural differences.
Zajur talked to the merchants about the steps they could take to gain Hispanic customers, with the main focus on building trust with Hispanic clients.
"Hispanics are very relationship-driven. Family is first," she said. To earn their business, companies must make an effort to reach them at that level.
She pointed to Western Union as an example.
The company's slogan in English is: "The smarter way to send money."
In Spanish, the company capitalizes on the population's close ties with family and the knowledge that many working in the U.S. send money home. The slogan is: "We are here to help you keep your promise."
The U.S. Census Bureau released numbers in May showing that the nation's Hispanic population grew by an estimated 1.4 million in 2007 to reach 45.5 million people. That would be 15.1 percent of the total population.
In Virginia, the Hispanic population grew by more than 100,000 from 2000 to 2006 to about 470,000, more than 6 percent of the state's population. Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or LLLovio@timesdispatch.com.
To see more of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesdispatch.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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