DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA: Opportunities are Everywhere. Just Make Sure They are the Right Ones.

Doing Business In China with Dan Paulson

Many companies are looking to expand globally. While this could create new sources of revenue, it is important to understand what you are getting into first.

Over the past few years I have met with several business leaders who either have expanded internationally or are seeking to. Some have been very successful in making the move and others struggled spending valuable time and money with no results.

A few months ago a colleague of mine contacted me about formulating business in China. As it turns out, they were actually contacted by a Chinese company and asked to collaborate on several projects coming up in the near future. This Chinese “partner” even paid to fly a delegation from the US company to meet and discuss these plans.

The company I am talking about has a very unique set of talents in their industry. In some cases they were pioneers for what they did and opened up a whole new market for their service in the US. Now they got the attention of a company in China and it seemed like a match made in heaven. The Chinese told them how great they were and how they needed their expertise. They conducted several meetings where a lot of questions were asked ideas were discussed and concepts were shared. After a few months, my American colleagues made their way over to China for the signing ceremony and the deal was inked making for a storybook ending… Or so they thought.

The executives returned from the signing ceremony excited to start on this new venture, which looked to be profitable. Their initial investment of time was going to pay off. After all, this Chinese company sought them. Days went by. Then a few weeks after not hearing anything, the US company reached out. The response they got was shocking. They were told that the Chinese company chose a different direction and they would not need the Americans’ service. What?!? Just a few weeks ago everything was a go. Now all their efforts were wasted.

We often hear about stories of deals in China going bad. Many times this happens because of a failed understanding of how to do business in China. The good news is there are ways to prevent you from getting burned. What it takes is a better understanding of the culture and how you approach business there. After all, we only seem to hear about the times where the venture doesn’t work. We fail to find out all the times that the deal does close without issue.

First let’s look at our scenario above. There are some critical things to watch for here. First off, why the sudden change? One reason is being over-zealous to share information. In this situation, an outsider reaching out to do business flattered the American company. In the US, we wouldn’t think much of it. If we are perceived as the experts, we can often readily share information and it actually helps close the deal. In China, until a trusting relationship is established, you may just be a source of information. That’s what this US company was. They were wined and dined to get information. The Americans had no skin in the game and once they shared their knowledge, they were left out of the picture. Knowing who you're doing business with is very important, and it is often necessary to move slower than you may want to in order to be successful.

Here are some tips to be aware of if you wish to have success in China:

· Have a very clear plan – Strategy is key anytime you expand internationally. China is no exception. Know your moves and what relationships you will have to build before getting started.

· Begin building relationships – Get to know the business climate. Do more than just research online; actually visit the country you are looking to do business in. China is very much a relationship culture. Build those relationships early. Find people who can help connect you.

· Know your investment and milestones – Have a budget and timeline (back to strategy). Have steps along the way where you can stop and re-evaluate each investment point.

· Seek out resources – Companies like mine are structured to help you increase your chances of success in China. Meet with other trade groups and organizations as well to learn about their experiences.

· Keep the interest – When working in China, you need to bring value. Avoid sharing too much. Peak their interest. Let them know what you bring to the table but maintain your value position. If you share too much, your connection may try to copy your work and remove you from the deal.

· Understand Intellectual Property – If it is an issue, know what you need to do to protect yourself. IP is a challenge, but not impossible to overcome. Work with an experienced legal team to protect your rights.

· Be willing to travel – If you are going to have an international operation, make sure you are willing to spend some time on a plane. Remote management is possible, but travel will be necessary periodically to keep up on the operations. Having talented people in China (and the right people) will also avoid some headaches.

· Be willing to walk away – If the deal doesn’t seem right, be willing to walk away. Especially if you do not have an advocate working on your behalf and assisting you. The costs of going through with a bad deal could be much greater than if you get out when you can.

· Get good talent – Besides lawyers, you should have a good accountant, logistics, or other third party advocates that will work on your behalf.

· Learn all sides – What I mean here is get all the information. Popular media will share all the horror stories. Those things do happen, but there are still many companies that can tell you about the successes. Seek to learn and seek to understand.

Remember, growing internationally can be a wonderful experience. It is just a matter of you taking the right steps. Now go out, grow and prosper!

http://www.growinchina.com/

For more information, please visit Dan's TNNWC Bio.

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Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
Resources for Business Planning, Development, Capital and Growth

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DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA: Opportunities are Everywhere. Just Make Sure They are the Right Ones.

INTERNET MARKETING: THE SCIENCE OF SUCCESS: How to Take Your Website Off Life Support and Still Get More Business!

Internet Marketing: The Science of Success with Joyanne Sloan

Despite the countless success-in-a-box systems that riddle the Internet, you may still feel perplexed about marketing and effective prospecting in the digital age. Let's advance your learning curve with a pretty radical concept... ditching your website once and for all!

A good many of you might be thinking "What the (&*#!) is she talking about?" Am I honestly suggesting that you let your website die a long-overdue and merciful death? Actually, I am.

For those of you wondering if I'm either:

A. a few fries short of a happy meal

B. living under a moss-covered rock

C. both...

let me offer you the following bite of a reality sandwich.

Denial is an effective coping mechanism but it changes NOTHING

So, if you don't want to change anything about your life or your business, then stop reading now!

Most of you have a very worn-out and unhealthy relationship with your website but, like most bad relationships, you're probably afraid to end it despite the fact that it provides little or no revenue or leads.

Are you wondering:

• "How will I survive alone?"
• "What if, one day in the future, my website starts giving more than it takes?"
• "How could I possibly get sales leads without a website? It would be professional suicide!"

Or would it? There are more than five BILLION web sites in existence and the number keep on going up. I know of small business folks who have twenty or more sites and still get no business from them. Okay, I admit it's un-American but... more is NOT always better. The statistics are these: at least 95% of people will fail at their Internet-based business.

Gulp.... Now what? What do you do with a 5% probability of success? You could see those numbers as a reason to give up before you even get started or you could see it as an absolutely HUGE opportunity to step in and take advantage of the consumers who clearly aren't being served by the other 95% of those trying.

You might begin by recognizing that perhaps YOU might do things differently than the status quo and that doing so might lead to DIFFERENT results. But what is it that you should be doing?

Hint: Yes, I am 2000% aware that 85% of web traffic is generated by the search engines and that getting traffic is an ever-escalating fight to the top of the search engine results. Still you do NOT have to have your own individual web site to have a web PRESENCE.

How to have a web presence without a website

I'm writing this article via a website called The National Networker which is a considerable online community of emergent and growing business people. It's not unlike many other sites like Facebook, Ebay or Craigslist where absolutely huge numbers of visitors congregate each day.

What do those top-ranking sites have in common that should matter to you? An aggregated audience. What these sites offer to publishers of content, or sellers of products and services is a huge pool of potential customers in the form of web traffic.

In other words, by publishing this article via The National Networker, I'm finding you where YOU ARE rather than attempting you to come back to my own website to read this article. That's called going WITH the flow.

By including your products and services on web sites where large audiences aggregate allows you to has accomplish something you and I are highly unlikely to accomplish on our own: MOMENTUM, SCALE, SCOPE and last but not least, TRAFFIC. And getting access to that is what you call LEVERAGE!

A site's volume of visitors is a function of its rank with the search engines. The appeal to you is the fact that it has AGGREGATED content which makes for great Google Juice (the yummy stuff that puts a site higher and higher in search results thereby exposing you to far more prospective customers).

When you have a presence on high-ranking sites (or another online community relating to your business sector), you're significantly more likely to generate business as a result. There's power in numbers, and there's safety in numbers too.

Take Away: to leverage the power of the Internet to your own advantage, use someone else's site! Benefit from other's rank, rate of growth and upward momentum instead of struggling to do it yourself.

Action Step: To locate useful sites whose traffic rank you would like to benefit from, you can go to www.Alexa.com and discover tons of useful information about other sites including audience demographics, important keywords and so forth. With that information in mind, you can decide which sites are appropriate for you to partner with in your Internet Marketing strategy.

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Joyanne Sloan is a strategic marketing expert sharing insights on effective Internet marketing for low-tech entrepreneurs. Her articles and information products provide practical, plain-English marketing solutions that get real results. For private consulting, you may reach her at 206.388.3882 or by e-mail at synergyseattle@gmail.com

For more information, please visit Joyanne's TNNWC Bio.

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Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
“Empowering Emerging Enterprises”

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

INTERNET MARKETING: THE SCIENCE OF SUCCESS: How to Take Your Website Off Life Support and Still Get More Business!