China Sales Dog Blog

Hidden obstacles to you biz success in China

A successful international consultant we know was recently talking to a board member for a Los Angeles area industrial products manufacturer. The board member expressed concern about the rate of the company's sales growth in China. Specifically, he felt they may need professional advice, possibly support, to put their China business on a faster track. China sales being our company's forte, the consultant suggested to the board member that "China Sage Consultants" might be able to help.

The board member directed their international sales manager to contact us and he did. I met him in CA and listened intently to his story about their business in China. He said "We have our guy in Hong Kong who supports our few Chinese distributors as

Just can't find the right person to fill that position in China

You've been pushing your China team for over a year now to hire that new salesperson (or production manager, or purchasing employee, or ...) to help grow your China operation but they just keep coming up empty. The reasons they provide run the gamut from "too good", "too expensive" and "not good enough" to "nobody is interested". Not only is it beginning to drive you crazy but it's holding back your business in China. What gives?

Remember, China is not America or the country you might happen to be reading this in. China - and the Chinese will tell you this every time - is different. So to understand what's happening, you need to both understand and think like the Chinese. Yeah, it's not so easy to do if you haven't been hanging out in China, let's say for ... years! Fortunately, we have been and herein provide you a few possible reasons for your lack of recruiting success, reasons you should keep in mind as you continue your personnel search in China.

The "Special Chinese Situation", Reality or Myth

In nearly 14 years of doing business in China, I've often heard Chinese refer to the "special Chinese situation." It usually comes up when discussing options for a given business situation. In essence, "special Chinese situation" means “you Mr. Foreigner (老外) do not understand the situation here in China or how to deal with it. Your ideas will not work here.” But is it for real, does the elusive special Chinese situation exist; if so how much weight should it be given when western businesspeople make decisions?

China Business Diary

I thought she was the perfect Biz Dev manager for our company, I was sure she could help grow our sales. Acting on gut instinct, I moved quickly to hire her. As it turned, my gut wasn't completely correct this time and we should have stuck with protocol ...