Clear night Sky

Tonight is a very clear night. Going out to Olaya Street to shop after last prayer. Looking forward to seeing the city a bit outside the malls.

And back in the airport

So after a short 1 1/2 days in Dubai I am back in the airport heading Riyadh again. I spent almost the entire day yesterday with the US team that was in town visitng the malls, lunch, took them over to see our new offices, and as something different invited them down to my place. They had never seen the JBR and JLT sides of town so had them over to see my place and then we drove over and had dinner at a great italian restuarant on the beach overlooking the sea. They all said they had a great time and were glad to see "the other side of town". By the time I had gotten back to my place it was 1am, so that put the pressure on me to get alot done today. I had to do all my luandry, repack, arrainge my car transports to the airports and hotels, go to the office and print out my next week of training materials, and then the US team sent me a file asking if i could print it out and drop it by the hotel for them :-). So a very busy day. But I managed to get it all done (although my polo shirts were a bit damp going into the suitcase)- just hope i didn't forget anything as i will be gone till next sunday.
Tonight I will meet up with the new store manager who is in Riyadh to help from the US. He is staying at my same hotel. Tomorrow I will give him an overview of what we do in franchise business versus the US brand and take him to see a few of the malls. It will be a world of change for him. Never been outside the US, lived in Louisiana, has a very thick southern accent which I am sure will be the first time anyone in our stores in Riyadh has heard that.
It was strange in the airport this afternoon as there ws hardly anyone in the Emirates terminal. That is, untill i got to my terminal :-). Oh well I know the drill, and know what to do if the hotel transport doesnt show up again. But here's to hoping they are there.

Part 1 Compelete!

I can not believe I am sitting in the Riyadh airport going back to Dubai already! This week..... so many great experiences and learning's! The best part is by far and away that the training program went AMAZING and I just can not even tell you how relieved and excited and accomplished I am feeling. We had 100% retention the entire week, not even anyone "sick" during the week- and this may be a no brain thing in the US, but here it is the first time in the partners' history of Riyadh that they have had this happen! Usually they come in for a day and then say "ehh- no" and quit. It is very very common in KSA, however we managed to dazzle and wow and excite our employees so much that we had 100% retention!!! AHHH! So exciting!

But that did not come with out some challenges. Here are some of the things I was up against:
-All men working in our stores (because that is how it is here) to sell our products to women. A huge thing right! Imagine having to do that or see that in the US?
-I didn't speak the language, they didn't speak mine.
-90% of them had never had a job before. Saudi is just now having "nationalization quotoas" whereby brands must hire only Arab Nationals, whereas in Dubai we can hire every nationality. This is why many did not speak english. But seriously- had never had jobs before. So we had to teach "be on time" "this is what a boss does" "you must groom your hair before you come to work" "no baseball caps on the salesfloor" "can't talk on your phone on the sales floor".. The list is endless what we had to cover this week- and then we also had to teach the 1,100 products we have in our store!!!
-They live in a reserved country- but our brand is "fun" "engaging" and "exciting!" so had to figure out how to convey this- again in Arabic. My biggest win was games. They were knocked out by all my training games. I did "Who want's to be a millionare" on PowerPoint. Created 5 different files (in arabic thanks to Google translator- then copied and pasted into power point) so I could get through all the products(with the music and everything). Then we did Jeopardy style game in two teams each day in the morning to recap the previous day and night recap the day.
-Many of them had never used any of our products, so each day they got to take home products to try out and then the next morning they talked about what they had, how it worked, smelled like, and how they would sell. They loved this and even their families got to try out the products.
-Arabic language is a completely different alphabet, so seeing the name of the product was like seeing الجلبان العطر
can't read it can you?? Well that is how it looked to them- foreign and hard to say. So we had to teach speaking/enunciating the names for 1 hour each day. I can totally relate to their pain as I am learning arabic and feel like a 2 year old learning my alphabet, and numbers 1-10 and just that much was harder then hell!! :-)

Overall though, they started on Monday knowing nothing about my brand or our products or our selling, and today when we did the last module of "putting it all together" they were demoing, knew all the products and how to say them, using our selling terms, and REALLY acting like a team! I am tingly all over right now as I write that because it is amazing. Really, only 4 days, and it was life changing. I have never been so challenged to think on my feet and lead, and "make it work" as Tim Gun always said.

--Oh- and I had to edit this one in at the end: Funniest part of the week:
I was on my blackberry while we were showing a slideshow of the Dubai stores and all of a sudden the entire room erupted in a chatter and gasps, and I looked up expecting to see some kind of graphic nudity or horribly grotesque image and what do I see- our "I (heart) brand" poster we had on our cashwrap last month. I was like "STOP THE SHOW!" and had to ask what was going on.
Because it had a "heart" the shape- and red lettering it was essentially like say the F word across the cashwrap to them :-) You are not allowed to use "heart" imagery because it references love which is basically seen as promiscuity, and then the lettering was Red- again- referencing sex. So this pretty floral cashwrap banner we had was like a flashing red XXX "live girls" neon sign in the back of our store. LOL Oh.... can't wait to tell the U.S. guys about this tomorrow.

Got Sand?

I had lunch with the Regional and Recruiting guys today and when we walked out this was the scene. A sand storm had blown into town blocking out most of the sunlight, and making everything very dusty. Something I didn't pick up before coming here was one of those dr's mask- apparently that is a "must have" here. Luckily the partners had an extra one for me at the office.

Sunday morning

So I think the most stressful part of yesterday was just the fear of the unknown of traveling by myself into KSA. But like before, I got through passport control with little problems, and because I am in the system didn't have to be fingerprinted again or photographed. So a simple swipe of my passport and stamp on the visa and I was through. The hotel said they "never knew" I had arraigned a car, so had to take a taxi. This I knew was going to be a problem.
Then moment you walk out the door there are five guys asking you if you need a taxi. And they don't leave you alone- the entire walk over to the taxi corral. Then I get to the first taxi, they are all loading my luggage into the car, and expecting a tip for "helping me" get a taxi. It is a mess. Then I get into the car, and there is no meter. So the taxi driver asks how much money. I was told 50Riyal would get me to the hotel. The guy says 200, I say no, but he starts to pull away! So he asks me again how much, I said 100 is all I pulled out of the ATM, and he will not budge- 200. This is about 65 dollars, so I'm thinking- it's still under my per deim for taxi- so I'm fine, but don't feel good about being screwed out of money! So after two more tries of heckling- he says "I'll take you as many kilometers as 100 riyals will get you." Which I knew would be about the middle of the desert, so I gave in and said ok- 200 riyals. Then he says "pay now" and so I did, and then the bastard says "what- no tip?"!!!!!!!!!!!! I was livid. Both at him and at the hotel, but tried to make the best of it "oh the adventure" and make small talk with him to make sure I get to the hotel. He thinks I'm from Germany- I am assuming it is because I do not have a British accent. I go with it due to various things going on in the gulf at the moment.

I did get to the hotel with no other problems. Check in was fast, I am on the "club" floor which means it has a nice lounge for guests with free food and juices and sodas- mind you I'm in a dry country. The room is very nice and newer than the other ME hotels I've been. The bed is super comfortable, and the bathroom is also well appointed.

I met the Regional director last night. We went to Kingdom Center for dinner. It was great to meet him, it made me feel much more confident of the situation. I even got to peak into the store construction site- but that made me less confident. That store is not going to open on time. That's an email I'm not looking forward to sending Monday.

Overall, I went to bed last night feeling better, but my mind still spinning about all the things the regional director told me, and thinking about how the weeks ahead will play out. Oh the adventure :-)

The time has come

So i have been working the past three weeks leading up to today. I am finally leaving for Riyadh to start the new market launch. Officially on the ground. Tomorrow will be the first time I get to see the stores construction progress since last month, and I start training the store managers and staff on Monday morning. I meet with the Saudi Regional director tonight when I get in, we have never actually met in person yet so am anxious for us to have dinner tonight.
The US teams are flying into Dubai Thursday evening, and so I will be flying back to Dubai to meet them and take them to their hotel. Then flying back to Riyadh where they will join me for the store opening days.
This week was a challenge on many levels as I tried to prepare everything before I leave Dubai. I have to bring so much with me because it is not as though I can just go to my office to pick it up. My excess baggage fees were 930 dirhams which was outrageous so I talked the guy down to 800. But that was still 240 American! But i had no choice as I had to make sure they make it with me for the week long trainings. Had I of been on Kuwait Air, this wouldn't have happened :-)

As I was sitting at having a coffee at the airport I saw a flight boarding for Vienna. All these Europeans with their fabulous wardrobes and wealthy Arabs getting on the flight and I thought how great it would be to be going there. The cooler weather, green landscapes, cafe society.

When I did get to my terminal I was brought back to my reality. The terminal was already full and i mean F U L L. This most be a worker flight as they call it. When the Indonesian, Filipino, and Indian workers come over they have to connect in Dubai as it is the main international airport in the Gulf. This means going through passport control will be a nightmare in Riyadh as the will be hundreds of people who will need to be fingerprinted, photos, and do not even get me started on the luggage nightmare we will be facing!
Ahhh, its such an experience.

Well i have to go get in line as it is now spiraling down the hallway past three other terminals.
I will try to post in Riyadh but like i said before it is sometimes hard to connect to the internet, or rather access certain sites when I'm there.

Into the busy month!

Pictures: Kuwait Air Terminal in Kuwait Airport- notice how many pieces of luggage everyone has. Pictures of the view from my balcony this afternoon- when it gets so humid we get this fog along the seaside.

Back from Kuwait yesterday afternoon. Was training and visiting the stores teams up there since Sunday. I am trying to catch everything up before I start the Saudi Arabian franchise launch this month because I won't be able to spend time in any other markets till that is complete. Kuwait was very hot- in the 40's C every day, so coming back to Dubai where it is only 36-38 C is a welcome surprise.
Booking travel out of Kuwait was difficult because most people leave for vacation this week and then come back before Ramadan at the end of July. When I finally did get airfare out of Kuwait I had to fly Kuwait Airlines. It was an adventure. And that's what we will call it.

First off there is no baggage restrictions so ever person had at least 6 bags! Seriously- look at the pictures. So that made the lines crawl because everyone had to check in 6 bags or more- everyone that is except for me and the 1 other Westerner in the line. Then, as I said it was very busy, so I go to the gate and there are hundreds of Arabian Men and Women in traditional clothes in the terminal, and it just didn't feel like they would all be going to Dubai which is seen as the Las Vegas of the Middle East. There were also many men wearing the traditional "Ihram" which is two white sheets that are unhemmed that they just wrap around themselves (leaving alot of gapping mind you) when they are doing their pilgrimage to Mecca. I looked around to see if anyone else was concerned and found the one other white guy looking at me mouthing "going to dubai?" with a raised eyebrow. I nodded, and we waited. The other part of this; I wasn't thinking that because it is a local carrier, they are locals working in it- means no English. So the gate attendants start talking to the crowd and I can gather "Jeddha" and that's it. Come to find out the terminal was booked for three flights- one Dubai, one Jeddha, and Amman, all within 30 minutes of each other.

So the called Jeddha first, and after that, the flight looked more Dubian, and then sure enough they called for Dubai. But it was chaos that only continued. As we got to the end of the walkway, there were steps down. We were then loaded on buses and driven to the far end of the tarmac where a 777-300 was sitting. This airplane carry's 550 passengers (a fact I've learned as I have traveled) and we were loading this HUGE airplane by bus! Not big buses either- like 40 people a bus! And we're in the desert, so the have the doors open to the 114 degree heat. As you can imagine the inside the airplane was hot hot hot. 45 minutes later and countless buses dropping off passengers later, we finally we ready to take off. Over an hour late, luckily I didn't have any immediate plans when I got back to Dubai. The last of the experience was getting luggage. I had to check a suitcase because I had training manuals for the teams, but normally I do carry on only. With everyone having 6+ bags it took another 45 minutes to wait for my luggage to finally appear.
So lesson learned, stick to Emirates Airlines whenever possible.

An interesting thing that I keep noticing is the language and phrases the British people use versus the US english speakers. For instance here was what the regional manager said to her team last week "Make sure to have enough fill in your kits for the weekend" translation: make sure you have enough change in your cash registers for the weekend". Another one was "service proposition" is "customer service" and finally the one that I didn't understand until a week ago was when they answer the phone they say "are you ok?" and when you meet them they say it as well. It is just their way of saying "how are you doing" but it's so panic sounding that I just assumed they thought I was always in a state of peril.
But it goes the other way too- as we were walking into Avenues mall I said "it is hotter than hell here!" and I thought they were going to piss their pants they were laughing so hard- they said they had never heard that before. And then I had mentioned that I had a new Swimsuit- they again died laughing saying they were imagining me in a "swimsuit" which they only know as a 1 piece ladies swimsuit. They told me I need to call it swim trunks. :-)