Brazilian business relationships expect personal warmth, not just professional courtesy. The supplier representative who remembers your name, asks about your family, takes genuine interest in your situation—this is normal, not exceptional. The customer who treats service providers as real people, who brings human warmth to interactions—this is expected behavior. Cold efficiency might technically accomplish the transaction, but it feels wrong.
Brazilians want to do business with people they like, people who engage with them as humans. This affects everything from sales approaches to customer service to how meetings are conducted. Don’t skip the personal conversation to “get down to business”—the personal conversation is part of the business. Take interest in people.
Remember what they tell you. Be warm. In Brazil, warmth isn’t a soft skill layered on top of competence; it’s part of what competence means.
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