I am Mike, I have been studying and working in North America for more than 10 years. When I was working in US, part of my job was to initiate the international business between the Chinese vendors and our company, which was a traditional local company that had no direct trading experience with China before.
Nowadays, more and more companies want to source their products directly from China, for better price and more reliable quality. Per Cindy(owner of interpretersky)’s request, I would like to share my two pennies about this.
Communication is the key.
When I started the project, all I got was an unlimited cellphone plan. For every product, I would use my network to check out all of the information about this industry first. Generally the insiders’ information is very valuable. By doing so, you can find out the leading suppliers and screen those who have credit problems.
Unfortunately sometimes you cannot find the insiders to help you. Then the only thing you can do is to communicate with them and check out everything by yourself. Making all kinds of strategical conversations with all levels of person you can find from the targeted company: whether they are interested in the business with you; whether they care about their international credit; whether they keep their promises and whether they have the capability to follow up the orders in the future…
Considering the language and culture barrier, to build a long-term serious partnership with the reliable suppliers has never been easy. If you do not have a native Chinese in your team, get a reliable interpreter will always be critical. Some people like to look for interpreters from their suppliers or traders, but an interpreter from a third party such as interpretersky might be more objective.
Focus on the reputation and product quality first.
Especially for the first cooperation, focusing on the reputation and product quality will be very important. NO FURTHER EXPLANATION.:)
I hereby share my story in US with you. Once we got a container of product with serious quality issue from our Chinese supplier. After thorough investigation I found out the exact reason: in order to meet our unexpected increasing demand of the volume, they sent the product from a new plant that they had just merged, for which the quality was not very stable. Fortunately the mother company itself has a very good reputation. After the negotiation, although we have prepaid them by T/T, still they apologized and sent another container of good product to us.
Another case was from my friend, he sourced equipment with very low price online, and finally he got what he wanted. But when they started the trial in the plant, they found that the inner parts started to get rusty, which was supposed to be stainless steel(304).
My suggestion: never go for products just because of their low prices, ppl can make products cheaply also.
Ways of cooperation with the interpreters.
My previous client recommended by Cindy was very satisfied with my service and asked me whether I can do the audit for them independently in the future. My answer was that we could make the decision after several further visits together. Procurement is a complicated and serious professional work. You need to build the multi-trust relationship among all parties. Before you are sure that the interpreter is fully aligned with you for all of your criteria and can 100% represent your interest, several onsite visits together are worth taking. It is a learning curve for both sides.
I appreciate that Cindy gives me the chance to share my experience with you. I am based in Shanghai, if you are interested in any procurement or just need an interpreter for any kind of activities in China or overseas (I have long term visas for US and Canada), you are welcome to contact me.
My contact information:
Cell phone: 0086-17898805287
E-mail: hunksun119@hotmail.com
Profile on interpretersky.com:
