Drinking tea in the Desert or Wuxi in my case…
I had read recently that one of the reasons that the US is despised in the world is that their business acumen sucks. The evidence of this assertion is when US oil companies would go over to the middle east to negotiate oil pipeline deals, they would zip in for a few hours, long enough to get their legal documents signed and then quickly exit the country without bothering to stay awhile and sip tea and get to know their new partners.
In my time here in China, I have made an effort to spend as much time as possible to build relationships that will hopefully bear fruit in the near future. To illustrate this point I spent 6 hours in a meeting with 2 designers from Nanjing yesterday, talking about design, business, economics, consumer tastes and ways in which to grow business and derive profit from the design industry. We were in a very unique setting selected by the local Chinese designer who is native to Najing. It was a private lounge with comfy sofas and pretty girls coming in every 10 minutes to pour more tea and make sure we men were happy.
There were a few lessons learned about the Chinese style of hospitality. They will always try to get you to stay longer. The more you delay after saying it is time to go is a qualitative measurement of your interest in doing business long term with whom ever you are meeting with. Smoking! Smoking goes a long way to lubricate conversation and provide the necessary male bonding needed to feel comfortable about spending more RMBs on your new potential partner. The three of us polished off 2 packs of Korean and Chinese brand cigarettes in our time together meeting. I suppose we could have been more efficient in the use of our time, but the mechanical engineer in the group spoke very little English and I know next to no Chinese, so we had to have much of his ideas and inputs interpreted by his partner.
Getting up to use the restroom is an opportunity to create a little drama when you are asked a fresh and introspective question. I used the opportunity to say, “may I answer that after I use the restroom?” It was a tactic utilized well to create a little tension when I was asked some intimate financial questions.
So you see….drinking tea with the natives has many advantages to both business and ones relationship to those providing the tea.
In my time here in China, I have made an effort to spend as much time as possible to build relationships that will hopefully bear fruit in the near future. To illustrate this point I spent 6 hours in a meeting with 2 designers from Nanjing yesterday, talking about design, business, economics, consumer tastes and ways in which to grow business and derive profit from the design industry. We were in a very unique setting selected by the local Chinese designer who is native to Najing. It was a private lounge with comfy sofas and pretty girls coming in every 10 minutes to pour more tea and make sure we men were happy.
There were a few lessons learned about the Chinese style of hospitality. They will always try to get you to stay longer. The more you delay after saying it is time to go is a qualitative measurement of your interest in doing business long term with whom ever you are meeting with. Smoking! Smoking goes a long way to lubricate conversation and provide the necessary male bonding needed to feel comfortable about spending more RMBs on your new potential partner. The three of us polished off 2 packs of Korean and Chinese brand cigarettes in our time together meeting. I suppose we could have been more efficient in the use of our time, but the mechanical engineer in the group spoke very little English and I know next to no Chinese, so we had to have much of his ideas and inputs interpreted by his partner.
Getting up to use the restroom is an opportunity to create a little drama when you are asked a fresh and introspective question. I used the opportunity to say, “may I answer that after I use the restroom?” It was a tactic utilized well to create a little tension when I was asked some intimate financial questions.
So you see….drinking tea with the natives has many advantages to both business and ones relationship to those providing the tea.
posted by savvysymbiont @ 10:51 PM
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