There is quite a significant difference between the business culture in China and that in the west.  To do business successfully with foreign customers there are some simple tips that you should follow; although very few suppliers in China do.  From time to time we will update this list with Supplier tips that we feel are essential to improving your business and customer relationships.

Supplier Tip #1 - Email Addresses

For some reason most Chinese suppliers sales staff contact their customers with free email accounts.  The most popular of these is the 163.com account.  I cannot understand the purpose for this and whenever I receive an email from a free account the supplier instantly looses credability.  If you have a company website than you must also have a mail server.  You can contact local customers using any account that you prefer, but when contacting foreign customers please use a company email account.  More precisley use an account like this: sales(at)yourcompany.com.  This will give you much more credability and give the customer more confidence to deal with you.

Supplier Tip #2 - Improve your Customer Service

Foreign companies dealing in foreign countries are used to a certain level of customer service. If you ask most companies who deal with Chinese suppliers they will tell you that the level of customer service is much lower in China. It is quite regular for a customer to wait ten days to two weeks for a price quotation. If this is your level of service than do not be surprised when foreign customers do not give you their orders. The monetary cost to improve customer service is negligable, but the benefits are unlimited. Do you want more orders? Than start improving your customer service today. It will take some time to train staff and practice, but it is definitely a good investment in the future of your company.