Having been involved in over 2,000 venture capital projects during my role at Microsoft Accelerator Beijing, and now in charge of global market development as a co-founder of a fast-growing IoT startup based in Seattle, I had the chance to develop my skills in the field of IoT. on the front lines in two very different corporate cultures.
Anyone who doubts the value of navigating different business cultures need only look to Arianna Huffington (Greek), Dietrich Mateschitz (Austrian), Elon Musk (South African) and Sergey Brin (Russian) and the successful global businesses they created. have embedded corporate cultures different from their own. Although I’m not yet big enough to place myself in the same ranks as these icons, cross-cultural experience is a common attribute among some of the world’s most innovative and successful business leaders.
Although I’m not yet big enough to place myself in the same ranks as these icons, cross-cultural experience is a common attribute among some of the world’s most innovative and successful business leaders.
Immigrants represent 27.5 percent of entrepreneurs in the country but only around 13 percent of the population. For what? Because knowledge of “how things are done elsewhere”can give a new perspective on how things are done in the new country we now call home.
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Here are three tips I’ve learned after succeeding in American and Chinese business cultures:
Making Connections
A big part of doing business is making a potential partner, investor, or client feel comfortable with you. Business etiquette is very different in the United States and China and knowing how to communicate and negotiate is extremely important, especially when it comes to raising capital or selling. What may appear as confidence in the United States may also appear as arrogance or lack of respect in the same situations in China.
In the United States, gaining confidence is about being polite, but also about demonstrating, from the second you walk in the door or pick up the phone, that you are the real deal and that you know your stuff. It’s normal for professionals in the United States to jump right in from the start; the technology or product they are trying to sell.
Meetings often take place via communication tools such as WebEx, Skype or GoToMeeting or via Confere.nce calls after exchange of necessary preliminary information by email. The person you meet with will most often be authorized to make a decision and, as such, you can often expect to hear a definitive answer during the same meeting.
In Asia, the meeting culture is very different. The emphasis is on developing personal relationships before a deal is reached, and jumping into business negotiations too quickly is considered rude. Chinese entrepreneurs prefer face-to-face meetings and conduct preliminary exchanges through the popular messaging app Wechat, which is unusual in the United States.
Being comfortable managing a range of different communication channels is extremely important when doing business in the United States and Asia. Although coordinating meetings via Whatsapp seems strange in the United States, it would be completely normal in China. Likewise, while a conference call to finalize a big deal with a U.S. company would be the norm, when dealing with a client in China, you’ll need to send a representative in person.
Market your products
A well-planned marketing strategy is essential for success in all markets, but particularly in China. Many companies make the mistake of believing that the same marketing campaigns used elsewhere will also translate to the Chinese market, but this is often not the case. In a recent investigation63% of international companies operating in China recognized that they needed to modify their products specifically for the Chinese market.
For marketing campaigns in the United States, many companies focus on the level of customer service they provide, but in China, a high level of service is expected from the start. Marketing campaigns tend to focus on other factors, namely the personal aspect. relationship with the customer, then with the product.
In the United States, the emphasis is on expressing the value of products and services and marketing them as affordable. However, in China, where social status is extremely important, consumers are less interested in price than in the image that purchasing a brand can give as a user. In China, consumers are willing to pay more for products, allowing companies to invest more in production costs.
Whether they’re startups, online retailers, or large global corporations, Western companies that want to break into the Chinese market are learning that it’s best done by people with real, direct experience of both cultures. Apple recently appointed Isabel Ge Mahe as their new leader in China. Ge Mahé was born in Shenyang, Liaoning. She is fluent in Mandarin and has had a long and successful career in business and commercial negotiation in the United States and China.
Choose your sales channels
Over the past decades, China has undergone massive cultural, social and economic transformation and the difference between city and countryside, west versus east, and coastal versus inland areas is enormous. Those who live in inland cities and rural areas live in seemingly different worlds from those who live in cosmopolitan, booming coastal cities. This factor is extremely important when choosing sales channels.
In the United States, companies tend to target specific audiences and consumers (B2B, B2C, etc.). Whereas in China, the business ecosystem is so competitive that companies will approach any interested customer whether the product was designed for them or not.
Businesses aiming to target Chinese consumers, especially B2B customers, must also be willing to go the extra mile to personalize their experience in order to win the sale.
From a product perspective, in the United States, what you see is what you get. Customers are expected to install programs or products themselves. In China, however, due to the high competition that exists, companies are expected to take care of everything, be it installation, customization, additional features, etc. In the United States, businesses are controlled by strict rules and regulations and would not. I don’t dream of customizing a product, in China companies will add copy features and bend the rules to get new business.
In summary, it is extremely important to be open-minded and willing to adapt to local customs if you want to try your luck in the Chinese market. Businesses need to understand what motivates Chinese consumers and what turns them off. The market is so competitive that businesses must be willing to go the extra mile to satisfy local buyers or they will never hear from them again.
More importantly, while the US market is strictly regulated, many of these rules are neglected in China. Time is money everywhere in the world, but if you stop to think for one second too long in China, the opportunity will be gone.
