Liliana Villavicencio, IM student and founder of the Convida project, Mexico.

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Liliana Villavicencio is an entrepreneur with a fighting and nonconformist spirit. Her interest in new cultures, environments, and continuous learning has led her to step out of her comfort zone. For her, learning about market behavior is essential for professional growth. Her goal is to continue training and apply her knowledge to create life-enhancing campaigns. Read on to discover how she started her own project.

You started your career at Mapfre as an insurance agent in its Gijón offices. You also completed training as an insurance broker at the same company. What motivated you to enter this sector?
The truth is, it was a bit of a coincidence. I was 21 years old and before that, I had started my commercial career in direct sales companies. That's where I somehow discovered my passion for sales and also my commercial skills.

Once I started at Mapfre, I fell in love with the sector. Despite the intangibles, you sell a promise, so you tell the client... "When something happens to you, we'll be here!" In short, we play the odds for the benefit of everyone.

In 2013, you were promoted to delegate and head of the agency in Quito, Ecuador. What were the biggest changes in the work dynamics in the brazil mobile database different countries? What differences do you find in terms of the use of technology?
The biggest change was the cultural shift, as it was somewhat of a surprise that, despite being a country with a high risk of theft, natural events, and other eventualities that can be supported by insurance, the percentage of policyholders is very low, as the culture regarding preventing these types of eventualities is very low, much less the ability to hire a tool with which you can support your family's assets.

So while in Spain, when presenting a proposal to a client, the negotiation is based more on price and differentiation from the competition, in Latin America, you have to do some awareness-raising beforehand, explain why it's important to have insurance, and somehow convince them that it's the best option to protect their family's finances.

As for technology back then—I'm talking about 2013—we were working with the basics. The company's challenge in Ecuador was positioning itself, as the company is recognized in Spain for its high service standards.

Another important aspect of technology was moving from a comprehensive CRM system for individualizing each client and prospect, which we used with cross-selling and upselling strategies, to managing my prospects and clients using Excel spreadsheets in Ecuador.

Regarding social media, there was no clear strategy, as there was no understanding of how to properly manage social media. The company focused primarily on media advertising, telemarketing, and the company website.