Doing Business in China For Dummies®

Making Face-to-Face Business Meetings Work for You

Communicating face-to-face is best because it helps build trust. By formally meeting with your new Chinese friends, you can hopefully create guan xi (right relations — see Chapter 15). You can later arrange one-on-one meetings with your business partners, and over time, you can bypass a lot of the formal meetings and do more business directly with your counterpart at the Chinese company.

Because formal business meetings in China can open up communication, they take on a new meaning for foreign visitors. Conducting business at formal meetings involves a lot of protocol, as the following sections explain.

Getting your basic presentation ready

Having your presentation ready before you arrive in China is the best way to get organized. Your presentation must be in English and Chinese (usually Mandarin) and be easy to understand. Make sure that the Chinese version of the presentation is correct and clearly explains your company’s point of view. (See the info on translators in Chapter 2.)

The following sections explain what to cover in your first presentation and what format to use. We explain delivery in “Making a presentation,” later in this chapter.

Content

Make the presentation short and sweet and you’ll likely deliver the message. Within 10 to 15 pages, your first presentation should explain the following:

✓	The history of your firm
✓	The market you serve
✓	Your products and/or service
✓	Your main channels of distribution
✓	How many people ...