Connections and Maintaining Business Relationships - Key to Succeed in Business in China!

Hi everyone, hope you are having a wonderful day today, welcome back to my channel!

I'm Yuri Ou, as in “Oh you want the deal done? You must need a connection!”

We’re talking today about doing business in China and some of the main facets of building, cultivating and maintaining business relationships that will in turn ensure you succeed in business too.

There are many who might say that business anywhere shares many key factors, whether that is for example, providing solid customer service, being attentive to customers’ needs and enquiries and so on, or simply being on time to meetings.

These are all somewhat ‘rule of thumb’ factors that are important around the world, however there are many different ways Chinese people do or prefer to do business in China.

Firstly, and perhaps most easy to remember, is that once in China, don’t dilly dally with email threads. Download WeChat and make sure that you are in contact regularly as Chinese people typically prefer using WeChat than long drawn-out emails that don’t always get speedy responses.

Using WeChat is also your way of showing that you care about your Chinese (or Chinese-based) client or partner.

With that said, another important point for Chinese people when it comes to doing business, particularly for small or medium-sized companies, is that you make an attempt to get to know them first before moving straight into business.

With such fierce competition in a country as populous as China, it’s important that you attempt to show that you are interested in more than the red of their money.

You can do this by ‘liking’ things or leaving comments on things that they post on WeChat Moments, a function of the APP that allows users to share their daily activities, articles they have read and more.

Through this engagement with them, you are demonstrating an interest in their interests and therefore showing that you are willing to give your time to get to know them.

While the communication via social media is important, socialising in person is just as crucial to doing business in China.

Traditionally, this would mean things like butchering your favourite song at a KTV after a lush Chinese dinner somewhere, and this is still true in many cases, however it is more and more common these days to do coffee meetings, lunches, quick after work drinks, or even inviting clients to events or exhibitions.

Yes, you may have to eat something not typically on your plate from time to time, but just trying demonstrates a willingness to cultivate a relationship.

Everything mentioned just now, done correctly, should lead to the one thing that is considered perhaps most key to conducting business in China which is so-called ‘guanxi’, your network or connections if you will, where it’s not only about what a person can do for you, but also what you can do for them.

To have ‘guanxi’ to be in a kind of reciprocal friendship. While this is similar to other countries, your ‘guanxi’ is highly important in China, and should you choose to utilize someone’s services or skills within your network, it is vital in China that the person be treated with the utmost respect.

Equally, should someone in your network refer a different person to you, the giver of the referral is expected to bear some responsibility for that person.

So, for example, should something not go exactly to plan, or the person referred has upset you in any way, you can contact the referral giver and they typically take some responsibility and aim to fix things as soon as possible.

Your guanxi in China is extremely valuable and should be treasured and maintained if you wish to keep your network strong, while also remaining present in someone else’s!

That’s it for me, hopefully I’ve shed some light on doing business in China and how to excel at it! Who knows, maybe I’ll be a part of your network or ‘guanxi’ in the future!

Let us know what cultural differences you have found doing business in China in the comments.

I appreciate you, if you haven't subscribed yet, take a moment, click the subscribe button, because this channel is all about China, genuine insights from me and my team, who have all spent time living in both UK and China.

Take care my friends, have a wonderful day, and I will see you soon!

Yuri O x