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 you employ
✓	Other relevant details of your business

If you have experience in China or other parts of Asia, your presentation should say so. Tell your Chinese business partners if you already have experience in buying or selling products in Asia — for example, if you export products from California to Tianjin.

If your company does business with a well-known or particularly large or successful company, such as one of the Big Three automotive companies, be sure to tell the Chinese about that relationship. They’d like to know about your high-profile clients or suppliers.

If you have an impressive building as your headquarters, show it off with an appropriate picture in your presentation. You don’t necessarily have to own the place — the fact that you occupy a significant business building is good enough. An impressive headquarters indicates that your company is highly successful and may be worth doing business with.

Mode of delivery

You can share information about your company by using handouts. Distribute the handouts as you start your presentation. Bringing along some company brochures or your annual report in English may help, too. The senior leadership may not be able to read English, but some of the junior people can give them the highlights of your handouts at a later time.

Consider sending your presentation to your hotel in China by express mail service before your visit. Some foreign visitors like to bring copies of the presentations with them on the flight. That way, there’s no chance of losing them. Depending on where you’re staying, you can get copies made at the business center at your hotel; however, you should first ask the business center whether they can print color documents. China’s more developed cities have some copy centers, but they’re not that widespread yet.

In more formal meetings, don’t expect to break out a flashy PowerPoint presentation to kick things off. For less formal meetings in the private sector, making a PowerPoint presentation may be appropriate. Some of China’s more sophisticated companies may make PowerPoint presentations, too. Check with your Chinese contacts before considering this option because you may have to make special arrangements well in advance.

Preparing to speak the local business language

China boasts many regional dialects, which are more like different languages than the differences you’d notice between the speech of an American and a Briton. English and Cantonese are the official languages of Hong Kong, although many people there speak some level of Mandarin these days. Cantonese is one of the most common dialects in the south.

In the mainland, apart from Hong Kong and Macao, most business meetings are conducted in Mandarin, the official language of China. In Chinese, this dialect is called Putonghua (pronounced poo-tong-wha; ordinary speech). For you, it’s anything but ordinary! The good news is that you’ll likely be doing business in English with translation into Mandarin. If you normally speak a language other than English, you generally need to find a specialized interpreter or speak in English.

Even if you have no Chinese skills at all, try to say a few words in Chinese. The Chinese will appreciate even a feeble attempt, so put aside your ego or self-consciousness. Just saying hello in Chinese (ni hao; pronounced nee how) is a step in the right direction. For some more Chinese phrases, see the Cheat Sheet in the front of this book. And for more information on Mandarin, check out Chinese For Dummies, by Wendy Abraham (Wiley).

Making an appointment

Setting up business meetings in China requires some advance planning. This section tells you a bit about scheduling the meeting and making sure your Chinese partners are prepared.

Setting a date and time

Your first step in planning a meeting is choosing the date. First of all, don’t make any appointment when Chinese New Year is coming up. This holiday can fall in January or February. No business is conducted during the Chinese New Year week-long holiday (though Hong Kong and Macau celebrate the Chinese New Year over three days only). Also, business is usually very slow the week before Chinese New Year and a couple of weeks after. (For information on how you can celebrate the holiday in China, see the nearby sidebar).

Besides Chinese New Year, avoid two other major Chinese holiday periods. Labor Day starts a week-long holiday beginning May 1. The other big holiday period is the week-long National Day celebration from October 1 to 7. Business gets done right up to and just after these two holidays, unlike Chinese New Year.

Celebrating Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday in China. Often called the Spring Festival, Chinese New Year is considered the start of the spring season. The date is based on the Chinese lunar calendar, so the holiday takes place at a different time each year. Chinese New Year is a great time for business partners, friends, and families to celebrate together. Many people share food, drink, and gifts during this special Chinese holiday. You and your business can join in the festivities of Chinese New Year in several ways: ✓ Treat your Chinese friends to a celebratory meal a couple of weeks before the official holiday. ✓ Send Chinese New Year cards to your Chinese contacts. ✓ Select an appropriate gift for your Chinese friends (see Chapter 16 for info on giving gifts). But don’t plan on traveling to China to do business during this time. It would be like trying to make business deals on Christmas or New Year’s Day!

Business hours in China are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday. You may be able to arrange for a Saturday morning meeting, but you should do so only if you can’t get a weekday appointment. Government offices generally have internal meetings on Friday afternoons, so don’t schedule any meetings involving government officials at that time.

Meetings tend to be about as long as you’d expect elsewhere. They can be as long or short as necessary. Keep these points in mind when scheduling your meeting:

✓	You want to avoid canceling any appointment you make with the Chinese, so make sure you can honor the plans before you set up the meeting.
✓	Stagger the timing of your appointments while visiting your Chinese contacts. That way, you build in a time buffer in case an earlier meeting goes into overtime.
✓	As congested as most Chinese cities are, you need to build plenty of travel time into your schedule. (Please see Chapter 5 for info on traveling in China.)

Your business partners may invite you to a Chinese lunch after a morning meeting. That lunch may end up being a midday Chinese banquet (see Chapter 16). If you’re not going to lunch with the Chinese, be sure to conclude your meeting before the lunch hour, around noon. Working lunches — in which everybody sits around the table and continues the meeting — don’t exist in China. Also, people are often unavailable to speak by telephone during their lunch hours.

Always set up and confirm the meeting place and time by fax, e-mail, or telephone. As you get closer to the meeting date, follow up and double-check on things.

Choosing a location

Making appointments in China generally means meeting the Chinese at their offices. The Chinese pay a lot of attention to their surroundings. They believe that a location’s feng shui (fung-shway) may have a direct bearing on the success or failure of their business. Feng shui translates to wind and water; it’s a Chinese way to seek harmony, balance, and energy through the arrangements of objects, buildings, plantings and more. (For more info on feng shui, check out Feng Shui For Dummies, by David Kennedy, and Feng Shui Your Workspace For Dummies, by Holly Ziegler and Jennifer Lawler.)

If you have to arrange the location to meet the Chinese during your visit, keep in mind that surroundings are important. For an appropriate meeting place, you should be fine at any upscale meeting room in an upscale Western hotel. Just make the reservation for a room that meets your needs as you would at any hotel. Or if you happen to have your own office or shared business office in China, you can invite the Chinese to meet with you at your office, but do so only if your office location is highly desirable and can give your company lots of face. Don’t meet in the hotel lobby, your room, or any bar.

Communicating your objectives

To prepare everyone for the business discussions, clearly communicate your objectives for the meeting to the Chinese well before you walk in. You can include your goals in a fax or do it verbally when you make the appointment. You don’t, however, need to go into the specifics of the meeting. Meetings in China generally don’t follow a formal agenda.

Making a respectful entrance

The Chinese place a lot of emphasis on protocol, and it extends to how your group enters a meeting. The following sections can help you communicate certain important signals to the Chinese party.

Getting there

Being late is disrespectful, so plan to arrive early. Your entire group should arrive together. If you’re early, you can just wait outside if weather allows until it’s time for the meeting. Being late — or even worse, not showing up for the meeting at all — can damage your relationship.

Finding the office location can be a bit of a challenge. Getting directions in advance can go a long way toward making your life easier. Allow yourself plenty of time to get there, and be sure to have a mobile phone so you can call or send text messages to your Chinese contacts if you’re running late (see the upcoming section “Communicating Effectively Outside the Meeting Room” for details).

In major cities, street signs are in Chinese and English, but the English translations aren’t always correct. Make sure that you have clear directions and/or an address before you get in a taxi, and don’t let the taxi go until you’re certain that you’ve arrived at the right address. (See Chapter 5 for info on getting around China.)

Asking your Chinese host for directions to your next appointment may not be a good idea. You don’t want to share this type of information if you’re meeting with one of their competitors! But if you’re going to see your lawyer, for example, seeking some help is perfectly all right.

Entering the room and introducing yourself

The Chinese you’ll be meeting with may already be waiting in the meeting room. As soon as you and your company representatives arrive, a representative of the company guides you to the meeting room. The senior person for your company should be the first to enter. The senior Chinese leader then welcomes your company leader.

Introduce yourself to as many people as possible before the meeting starts, and shake hands with both men and women. Usually, the higher ranking leaders are busy meeting each other, so not everyone meets at once. You may not meet everyone, and that’s okay. The introductions can sometimes be a bit awkward because many Chinese people are shy and won’t necessarily introduce themselves to you while you’re milling around.

Exchanging business cards at the beginning of the first meeting is customary for the leaders and the rank and file (see the info on greeting and meeting the Chinese in Chapter 16). Often, exchanging cards with everybody in the room is impossible. Formally introducing yourself to somebody at the end of the meeting is okay, too, but do so quickly because meetings can sometimes end before you know it.

Keep the business cards you’ve exchanged on the table in order to keep track of who’s who.

Finding your seat

In more formal business meetings, you use a large, well-appointed meeting room. The room is set up in a U-shape, with many comfortable armchairs and tables for setting down your tea. Leaders sit at the end, with Westerners on one side of the room and the Chinese on the other.

The Chinese leader guides the senior person from your company to his or her proper seat. The leaders sit across from each other, with a small table between them. Then the second-highest-ranking leader from your company sits on the other side of your senior leader. This process continues until you’re all seated based on your rank in the firm. The Chinese side does the same so that equally ranked people end up across from each other on opposite sides of the room. (Note: Your interpreter should sit just to the right of your leader.)

Instead of being in a reception-type meeting room, you may be in a typical meeting room where everyone lines up in rank order opposite one another (Chapter 2 can tell you more about rank). Thus, the group leader from the Chinese side sits across from your company’s leader and so on down the line.

Meetings with privately owned companies put less focus on formalities of who sits where, especially when you’re dealing with younger management or managers who’ve been educated or worked overseas. Just let the Chinese guide you to where they want you and your team to sit.

Taking time for tea

Tea is a part of doing business (and enjoying life) in China. When you arrive at a business meeting, you nearly always receive hot tea, usually green tea in a small cup with a lid. The Chinese don’t add anything to their tea, so don’t ask for cream or sugar.

You can certainly wait until the tea cools off before taking a sip. That way, the tea leaves sink to the bottom of the cup and don’t get in your way. Of course, accidentally swallowing the tea leaves is okay. You don’t need to finish the tea, but be polite and take at least a few sips during your business meeting.

If you finish your cup, someone may come by and refill it with fresh hot water. Unlike lower-quality tea bags, loose tea leaves can be used several times and still remain fresh. Be aware that the longer you let the leaves steep before you drink, the stronger the flavor will be, so if you aren’t a tea fan, drink early so you don’t look rude.

Making small talk

After the introductions are made and tea is served, some small talk is common. Any small talk should be between only the two leaders. Small talk can be about the weather, the wonderful hotel where you’re staying, what day you arrived in China, and so on. In the meantime, the rest of the team should just wait until the leaders are ready to get the meeting going.

Takin’ care of business

The first meeting with your Chinese contacts is more about getting to know each other. You probably won’t get a lot of business done. Gradually, your meetings become more productive. This change happens when the Chinese side feels that they’ve gotten to know you better, can trust you and your company, and want to do business with you. This section explains a bit about how business meetings generally progress.

All the tea in China Tea drinking in China goes back thousands of years. Tea was one of China’s first major exports, and it remains popular in China to this day. The Chinese love sharing this part of their culture with others. Drinking tea is common in all business dealings with the Chinese. Eight different types of tea are harvested in China: green, oolong, black, red, white, yellow, flower/scented, and compressed. Within those types are thousands of variations. Green tea, the most common tea offered to foreign visitors, is the most natural class of tea. It’s dried by heat only and doesn’t undergo a fermentation process. Green tea’s taste tends to be light, slightly bitter, and possibly grassy. It has very little caffeine. Westerners are usually more accustomed to black tea, which is fully fermented, making it full-flavored and dark. Tea is valued not only for its taste but also for its supposed medical benefits. Green tea is loaded with antioxidants and is said to lower total cholesterol levels, improve your ratio of HDL (good) to LDL (bad) cholesterol, and aid your body in fighting cancer, cardiovascular disease, and infection. Some have found that black tea also lowers LDL production and stroke risk in men.

Because of the fear of losing face, the Chinese rarely make significant decisions during meetings. In most cases, you get the answer you’re looking for at the next meeting.

Giving opening remarks

Here’s how meetings usually start:

Relying on an interpreter provided by the Chinese side isn’t a good idea. Often the interpreters are recent students or young professionals who probably don’t know your business and its terminology. You want to make sure that your presentation makes the impact you planned. Therefore, having your own interpreter — someone you can work with fairly — is better for you and your company. See Chapter 2 for details on interpreters.

Making a presentation

Hand out your presentation just before you want to start so the Chinese side can read the Chinese version of your handout while they simultaneously listen to the Chinese interpretation. The ultimate goal is to improve communication with the Chinese and yourselves as much as possible. Bring plenty of extra copies with you, because sometimes more people than you expect show up.

From here, the person representing your company needs to kick off the discussion. The Chinese side expects the foreigner to lead the presentation, and they expect to follow you when you’re finished. In most first meetings with the Chinese, your presentation is really about introducing your company, explaining your business and the company’s history. Then you can begin to launch into the reason why you’re there today to meet with the Chinese firm.

Be sure not to dominate the conversation with the Chinese when you first meet them. Give them equal time to give you their company story, too.

The Chinese place a lot of emphasis on rank, so the two leaders do most of the speaking and direct the discussion. Your company’s leader needs to speak directly to the senior Chinese representative, so your leader should turn to face the senior Chinese leader, not the rest of the group or the interpreter.

Your leader sets the stage for discussion by introducing general concepts first. As he or she gets into the specifics, the leader can hand off a portion of the presentation to a technical expert. Use your team wisely to make the maximum positive impact on the Chinese — show off your company’s expertise! Asking other team members to speak also allows each side to get to know who the subject matter experts are. However, remember that speaking up at a business meeting without being asked to do so by the company leader is disrespectful.

As the leaders converse, the others from your company can use the time wisely by taking notes about what the Chinese are saying and doing. Chinese businesspeople take careful notes at meetings with foreign visitors so they can recall what you’ve said for their benefit later.

Using interpreters wisely

A lot of business communication depends on using your interpreter well. We discuss finding interpreters in Chapter 2, but here’s some advice on speaking through an interpreter during meetings:

✓	Stay away from difficult words, slang, and industry jargon. Avoiding difficult English words or phrases gives your interpreter more time to fully understand and translate what needs to be said. You’re better off by speaking slowly and clearly in a Chinese meeting.
✓	Say only about two sentences at a time and then pause for a short while. Your interpreter then has a better chance of getting the words and concepts right.
✓	Make eye contact with your Chinese counterparts rather than with your interpreter. Some people say that the Chinese can be distrustful of people who don’t make eye contact.
✓	Don’t rush the Chinese response. Don’t be surprised if the Chinese side chooses to pause and reflect on what’s been said during the meeting. The Chinese often collect their thoughts before giving a reply to make sure they’re giving an appropriate response.
✓	When in social situations or during meeting breaks, make sure your interpreter doesn’t upstage you with the Chinese party. Your translator should translate even idle chit-chat between you and the Chinese. The translators should not be trying to impress themselves upon your Chinese contacts. Keep them in line!

Never assume that the Chinese don’t understand English. Whether during the meeting or a bathroom break, be very careful about what you say.

Wrapping up the meeting

When the meeting is over, say thank you to your Chinese contacts. (You know when the meeting’s over because one of the leaders says so.) You can thank the Chinese for their hospitality, the opportunity to get together, and the positive business discussions. Shake hands with all the Chinese on your way out, and send a final message about working together to the senior Chinese who’s in charge.

You and your company representatives leave the room first. You don’t leave the meeting room with the Chinese. They often send one representative to make sure you find your way out of the building or to the elevator.