China Sourcing: Just Showing Up
- December 14, 2011
- Posted by: Gary Young
- Categories: China Sourcing, China Sourcing - Blog
There is so much advise on the internet on China Sourcing and how to interact with China: how to dress, how to greet, how to eat, what to say, and what to do. Everything you can imagine on your behavior, especially when having face-to-face meetings with Chinese manufacturers. Should I bring a gift or is that inappropriate? Should I wear a suite or go business casual? What if I am served something I do not want to eat? How do I handle personal space issues? What subjects are taboo? The list goes on and on. All these things can be important to one degree or another, but the most important thing is just to show up.
Chinese manufacturers want the same things you do. They want to develop a relationship that is mutually beneficial and long lasting. They want to understand you and your needs as much as you want to understand their processes and procedure, quality and price of course. But building that relationship requires that you show up at some point. And that means a trip to China.
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Any kind long distance relationship is difficult to grow without direct contact. We encourage our China sourcing customers to visit their particular manufacturers once a year so that each can learn more about their perspective progress and renew or refresh the relationship. I am personally leaving with one of my best customers, Aztec Tent and Events, on a Chinese manufacturer junket in January. We will visit with about 15 manufacturers in 10 days; crisscrossing China, building and maintaining those relationships. And it is a huge advantage to have a China-based, China sourcing partner like Avela Corporation who can maintain these relationships on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis.
In fact, as I write this blog, one of our fastest growing clients, Little Products Co., is doing factory tours in China, assisted by our Avela staff. I just got an email today about his progress and adventures in general. He is supercharged and will come back from China with more ideas, confidence and energy due to this trip.
So if you are considering sourcing in China, the relationship is everything. And nothing builds a better long distance China Sourcing relationship than just showing up.
