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Friend or Foe?
“Hao Peng You” (pronounced how pung yo) is a frequently heard expression while conducting business in China. Directly translating to “good friend,” Chinese vendors are always “hao peng you” (friend) until an issue arises which might requires them to take responsibility, admit a mistake or even worse, accept a small financial loss. While there can be exceptions involving, real lasting relationships built over time and based on trust, the majority of “hao peng you” relationships are one-way - beneficial to the vendor and less beneficial then one might, think to the customer.
Test Your Relationship
Testing your relationship with your supplier either through a real or (even a minor semi-fabricated issue) is one way to determine the true nature of your business relationship. While at first, this may seem excessive or even underhanded, it should not be viewed in this way and must be seen rather as preventative research – proactive in the western sense but with Chinese characteristics.
Finding an issue such as a scratch, a deviation from specifications a slightly off color (or heaven forbid real un-repairable loss of damage) and asking your vendor to take responsibility for it can be quite revealing. You would be surprised at the number of suppliers who, even after long-term relationships and numerous large ongoing orders (which is money spent with them and profit in their pockets) will refuse to offer a credit or even accept partial responsibility for issues which might have arose. When faced with such issues, many “hao peng you” suppliers will employ blame and deflection – anything to avoid taking responsibility. Common excuses include:
* You didn’t tell me: (Ni mei gao su wo) Often the case here is you did tell them, but they were not listening. Therefore always write things down as clearly as possible.
* I am sorry: (Diu Bu qi/hen bao qian) This is usually intended to express remorse, with the idea that if you feel they genuinely made a mistake you will be more reluctant to hassle them about it or ask for a discount/credit.
* No one else ever mentioned this before: (Ni shi di yi ge you zhe ge wenti de ren) Vendors know that if they can make you feel like a “complainer” you will begin to doubt whether or not the issue at hand is valid.
A good supplier should recognize that issues can and do occur and will try to work with you through such issues. At times, this may even mean sharing some losses on obvious mistakes or major quality related problems. Other times it will mean educating you on the true nature of the product along with its strengths, weaknesses and limitations. But if a vendor refuses to work with you on a minor issue, imaging what will happen if a major issue comes along…
For more on this subject along with other China business and furniture industry insights, see our blog at: http://www.acf-china.com/blog/
All text is © 2007 ACF China Co. / antique-chinese-furniture.com.
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