In business, diversity in language brings benefits

VIRGINIA BEACH

As the owner of DW's Grill on Laskin Road, Daniel Zhang speaks English daily with suppliers, customers and workers.

But when he shopped for home, auto and business insurance two years ago, the Chinese-born Zhang gravitated to Petula Moy, a Farmers Insurance Group agent who also is fluent in Chinese.

"That is my first language, and there are some details she can explain to me easier," Zhang said of Moy, who was born in Hong Kong. "For me, it's better."

For Farmers Insurance, as well as companies including BB&T, Liberty Tax and Nancy Chandler Associates, reaching customers in their first language is smart business in a metropolitan area as diverse as Hampton Roads.

"People tend sometimes to work better with someone who understands their cultures and have similarities," said Zack Mansell, a Farmers Insurance district manager based in Virginia Beach.

Unlike mass marketing, "affinity marketing" assumes that consumers will be more comfortable and do more business with companies that recognize their cultural background or use their native language.

At BB&T, "sound business reasons" drive the bank's niche marketing, said Jorge Moller, senior vice president for multicultural markets.

Its efforts are evident on the Eastern Shore, which is home to a large Hispanic population. The BB&T branch in Mappsville is designated a multicultural banking center, featuring bilingual employees and merchandising.

Moller said Hispanics' need for bank accounts and financial services is a growing market BB&T wants to tap. Hispanics are expected to account for 32 percent of the Mappsville area's population by 2013, he said.

"Without having those services in Spanish, we're limited in what we can provide them," and a competitor would surely step in to meet Hispanics' needs, Moller said.

In real estate, Hispanics account for 3 to 4 percent of all home sales in Hampton Roads, double the amount 15 years ago, said John Chandler of the real estate firm Nancy Chandler Associates.

To respond, the firm's Web site has an icon touting "Mi Casa su Casa" - "my house your house" - that directs viewers to a Spanish-language page and bilingual agents who specialize in Hispanic clients.

"Frankly, it makes good business sense for us to provide the widest range of services possible to all our clients," Chandler said.

Liberty Tax Service vigorously markets to Spanish-speakers, said Yeidy Cor-dero, a Puerto Rico-born owner of a Liberty Tax franchise in Virginia Beach. Liberty Tax hosts seminars for Spanish-speakers about tax requirements for immigrants, families and entrepreneurs starting businesses.

Immigrants, for example, learn they should get a taxpayer number from the Internal Revenue Service and file a return even if they don't have a Social Security number.

"We're not selling a tax product at that moment as much as creating a relationship with our neighborhoods," she said.

That relationship often generates future business for Liberty from Hispanics.

"Once they find someone who speaks their language and helps them, there's a lot of referrals," Cordero said. "It's definitely good for my business."

To recruit new independent agents, Farmers Insurance is offering to reimburse bilingual candidates up to $5,000 for business startup costs after they complete company training, Mansell said.

He started looking for bilingual agents via ads this summer in Tidewater Hispanic and El Eco de Virginia, local Spanish-language newspapers. Farmers Insurance also ran commercials on Tele-mundo, a Spanish-language TV network.

South Hampton Roads' Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, Chinese, Filipino and Hispanic populations all are prospective sources of recruits and customers, he said.

Ruby Paguiligan-Putnam, a Filipino agent with Farmer s in Virginia Beach, said her fluency in Tagalog - spoken in the Philippines - helps in sales and in servicing claims for Filipino customers. Virginia Beach is home to a large Filipino population.

"When you have a loss, especially from fire, explaining in their own language what the policy does cover and doesn't is very important," Paguiligan-Putnam said.

Moy, the Hong Kong native, has been working for Farmers Insurance since 2004. When she works with a Chinese-speaking client, she speaks Chinese and provides Chinese-language pamphlets from Farmers describing insurance options. She advertises via direct mail printed in both Chinese and English.

Her background is a plus with first-generation Chinese immigrants, she said, and with Vietnamese clients whose culture is similar to China's.

Zhang said he switched to Farmers after 15 years of being insured by Allstate, which offered him service only in English.

Since then, he's steered Chinese friends toward Moy and Farmers Insurance.

"A lot of Chinese people, they don't speak English well, so it helps them a lot, too," Zhang said.

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com