Sometimes people forget that there’s a rather large market down below the United States; of course there’s Europe, Asia and others that make for good markets too, but you’d be doing yourself a huge disadvantage to overlook such a big hunk of mass as Latin America.

I’m not saying you should forget about the other markets, but there are a few good reasons why you shouldn’t go giving them a higher importance, I’m going to give you some tips for breaking into the giant market and how to take advantage of all it has to offer.

For starters, Latin America is made up of 21 countries, nearly 600 trillion people, and a GDP of 5.16 trillion US dollars. I’ve convinced you already haven’t I? Well hold on there tiger, it’s important to remember that these are all different countries, and as such they each have unique features that you need to watch out for — Different languages, different styles of business and many contrasting economies. Despite this, they do share some common themes:

They like to be personable, you shouldn’t go with the idea that all you’ll be talking about is business. You’re going to need to talk about yourself, most people like to get to know each other on a personal basis, to become friends and build an element of trust before going into business together. This could be anything from going out to lunch, a party, or simply talking for an hour or so before hand.

It’s important to get that first meeting off on a good note; we all know how influential first appearance are, and you’ll be under the microscope due to being an ‘outsider.’ They’ll be sensitive to your approach so make sure to take your manners with you and make that first impression resonate.

Take your time, life in Latin America will probably be a lot slower than you’re used to, they don’t live life in the fast lane. That means deadlines are not as often met, projects take longer to close et cetera; on a positive note this means you can take advantage of some extra downtime, to relax and take in the cultural aspects around you, meet people and have fun.

It’s important to research the ins and outs of the individual countries, they’re all a little different and depending on the particular industry you’re involved in, there will be slightly differing ways to conduct your business in regards to legal requirements and laws — The last thing you want to do is to get yourself in trouble here.

Another important factor in your business conducting will be the language, hopefully you can speak some Spanish, it’ll go a long way here. You can’t go there with the expectation that everybody will speak English, it’s not going to happen, so if your Spanish isn’t up to scratch, take some classes, or send an inquiry to learn more, then all that’ll be left to do is go!