Sell ice to the Eskimos
There are 5 basic ingredients of effective and sustainable business in China
The million dollar question is: how to take advantage of the gigantic potential of the Chinese domestic market? Whether you are an SME or a multinational, offer products or services, an industrial or consumer brand, someone who buys or someone who sells who asks this question, in China the conditions of sale are never going to be optimal. Everything is viable and negotiable, but it takes time. Starting from this premise is very useful because it will help us better manage our expectations and save us many unnecessary annoyances and anger. We Spaniards in China often sin as daring and impatient. "Before going around the world, go around your own house a couple of times," says a Chinese proverb, and you're right.
It is worth asking, when thinking of China as an export market, a question: if China is the world's factory and these people make everything, "what can I sell them that might interest them and they don't already have?" In reality, this question is valid for practically any product that we offer to any customer in any market in any country in the world: except for newly established companies, a priori, any potential customer "has already been served." That is to say: we always compete. In the case of China, however, it is true that there is an added difficulty: Western brands often sell semi-manufactured products in China to the Chinese, at prices much higher than those of local products of equivalent performance. Our competitive advantage must therefore be exclusive design, excellent quality, differentiated service and a shopping experience that cannot be "copied" by the Chinese. In China, I have sold 100% made-in-china fashion to the Chinese, Mediterranean pizzas, European mattresses, shoes made from components made in China and a long list of articles that, a priori, the Chinese already had or could buy from local suppliers. But the Chinese bought them. And they buy them. The trick is very simple: there is no trick. There are 5 basic ingredients of effective and sustainable business in China:
First of all, you need to have a solvent product or service: China is the most competitive market on the planet in practically all segments. There is already everyone - locals and foreigners - competing to slaughter and using their best equipment and strategies. The cake is big enough that everyone can do business, but there is no room for mediocre (not at least among international brands: mediocrity already abounds among local operators, but offering a value for money that allows them to compete sacrificing your margins). Second, build a powerful, consistent and differentiated brand image. For many years, the Chinese have not "bought anything" for the simple fact of marketing themselves under a foreign emblem. Today, what has no visibility in the Chinese digital ecosystem, does not exist. What does not exist, they do not buy.
Third, proper planning of how to offer that product and to whom, when, through what channel and at what price. The market development strategy is increasingly important due to the size of the country, its contrasts - a true market of markets - and the degree of sophistication that the Chinese market is beginning to acquire. In addition, it is essential to have enough time and means to understand the market and execute that strategy: sow, irrigate and reap results in the medium term. You cannot go to China with the water up to your neck - needing to get a very fast return - or to "hit a ball" because the chances of it happening, one or the other, are remote. In China, where everything happens very quickly but where obtaining results requires building networks of trust and solid contacts with those who will make us earn money, patience, tenacity and persistence are crucial.
Finally: tell stories. Said like this, it sounds like “selling smoke” or employing the sales style of the charlatans at the carnival. What I am referring to, on the other hand, is “storytelling”, the importance of the enthusiastic story that values a product and differentiates it from the rest. The Chinese love the extraordinary stories, the trajectory of the founding family, the account of how their products are made, the narrative - epic or lyrical - of how the brand has expanded into other international markets and how it has become preferred. of rich, famous and powerful. In short, put a lot of desire, time and enthusiasm to the sale. Reluctantly, in China only time is wasted.
We can talk about the purchases in China another day, but many lessons for the exporter also serve for the importer. A buyer is still a seller sitting on the opposite side of the negotiating table (and vice versa).
