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The "C-H-I-N-A" formula for selling services or products to China

Written by: James Chan

Article Overview: If you want to succeed in promoting and exporting American-made products or professional services in the China market, think "C.H.I.N.A." -- an acronym I created to help Westerners understand the Chinese mind and their business conduct.

The "C-H-I-N-A" formula for selling services or products to China

  There are five elements of the Chinese mind that you need to address if you want to succeed in promoting and exporting any American-made products or services to China. I'd like to call the interplay of these five elements in one word, namely, C.H.I.N.A. to make it easy for you to remember this "formula." This "C.H.I.N.A. formula" for export success is based on my experience selling and exporting a wide range of American-made products and services to China since 1981. The first letter of the C.H.I.N.A. is C, which stands for Confidence. You can sell anything to the Chinese. But you must have confidence that your products or services can sell in the Chinese business environment. We know when we walk into the China market, that there are "pirates," there are people who want to duplicate our products. To combat piracy, it helps that you are the inventor or creator of your products or services. And no matter how hard people are trying to "pirate" your things, your procedures, know-how or technology, they (the "pirates") just don't do it very well. This is confidence. So, if you don't have that confidence, you are not China-ready. There is another thing about confidence that you need to know. When you sell in China, you need to find distributors, agents or salespeople there who work for you. But it's not enough just to find people to work for you. Because you can always throw money at people but what if they don't have confidence that your products or services can sell? You must find the right people and train them and help them gain confidence that helping you sell your products is the road to prosperity and career advancement. It's not enough to have confidence. The next word is H, Hunger. H stands for hunger. The best companies and individuals who succeed in China are people who feel "hungry." They are motivated to sell to the Chinese. When companies "feel" fat and happy, they don't go to China. So, if you don't have the hunger, you're not China-ready. The word hunger also refers to customers in China. You don't sell to anyone in China. You only sell to people who are "hungry" for your products. When I say "hungry," I mean people who really desire what we can do. Even though Chinese customers complain that our prices are high - they'll say it like they're breathing - price is not a barrier if they really want what you have to offer. Let's go to the third one for the 'I.' 'I' stands for "Insiders." Any company that succeeds in selling to the Chinese has to have one or more "insiders." An insider can be a customer, your agent, a friend, or an ally. An "insider" in China is somebody who trusts you, who feels comfortable with you, and who is willing to tip you off. Without such insiders in that marketplace, you will remain clueless. The next word in the formula for N is 'No!' To succeed selling to the Chinese, you must have the courage to say "no!" to your customer at the right time. If you keep saying yes no matter what demands that they are making, you will be viewed just as a street vendor selling a commodity. Your Chinese customers will not feel that what you offer is special or valuable. You'll turn yourself into just another street hawker selling the same product or service that is being sold by dozens of other hawkers "next door." You won't be able to establish your brand recognition. Finally, 'A' for Acceptance. 'A' stands for acceptance. There is one thing many Westerners don't think about when they walk into China. What the Chinese people really want from Westerners is "acceptance." If you want to sell anything to the Chinese or, for that matter, build relationships with the Chinese, you must make your customers, contacts, associates, and partners feel you are not behaving that a "barbarian" or "marauder." This is a key perception that is deeply-rooted in the Chinese psyche based on thousands of years of mistrust and distrust of the "outsiders." There is one thing about "acceptance" that only you can do: you have to be able to accept the Chinese as they are. You want to do business with the Chinese; you don't want to change the Chinese. The moment you make people feel that you're going to China to make the Chinese look and act and adopt the same values that you fine "superior," you'll be perceived as the age-old "barbarian" and "marauder" whom they've learned and taught to distrust. You cannot make all 1.32 billion Chinese to trust you. But you can find and groom the one or two persons, the "insiders" who feel that you respect them and that you listen to their advice. If you can do this, you will make money for as long as you desire in China. This is my C.H.I.N.A. formula. A video of my actual speech on "the C.H.I.N.A. formula" is available on YouTube.com.

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Article Tags: career advancement, china market, chinese business environment, chinese mind, confidence, export success, five elements, hunger, interplay, inventor, money, piracy, pirate, pirates, prosperity, salespeople



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