I came across this article recently and was impressed by the common-sense tips on how to approach and engage other businesses in China as part of your Asian B2B selling strategy.
Tips that stand out include :
- Ensuring that you have a strategy in mind. Are you in China for the long-haul or is this a tread-softly approach where you want to understand the viability of setting up business in China or are you just in this for the short-term? Each objective requires a different approach.- Ensuring that your product has a strong fit with the demographic you’re targeting in China. It’s quite simple. Developing economies like China and India which are on strong growth trajectories are appealing, but remember that about 80% of the populations in both countries are at or below the poverty level. That means that your market size suddenly shrank (though 200 million middle class consumers are nothing to be sneezed at). It’s also means that the market’s very price-sensitive, so businesses in turn are price-sensitive.
- Relationship building is key. I would like to posit that this is a global aspect of all B2B selling, but even more so in Asian countries where trust is an integral part of the business relationship. Trust, of course, is developed by being patient and by plugging on.
In any case, without further ado, here the article :
