Strategic Partnership

I send an email or message through social media.

I usually know what sort of commuication an individual prefers. Sometimes an SMS works best.

Catching up online may not be as beneficial as catching up in person, but it sure is powerful, quick and easy.

My approach is to set myself up as the harbinger of Doom right from the start. I make it very clear that my communication style is one of simple, unadorned, straight-talking language and that I don't mince words.

I make sure the client understands that the "fault" of speaking directly lies with me, and they are not to feel offended when I use firm words.

I have found this approach to work more than 80% of the time, even with fragile egos.

As a general rule, I adjudge a person's basic personality type and adjust the language style to their preferred mode. Accept that between 15–20% people are just plain thin-skinned, and you'll never appease them, no matter what you say.

Hi Wendy

You need several tools to work this out.

1. What is that industry and channels business model - for a given retail price, what are the margins required by the retailer, the group(in the case of a franchise or banner group) and the wholesaler. Based on your costs, what margin do you need to make. In many cases the retail price will need to be 4 or 5 times the cost of a product to have enough margin for all levels in a distribution channel, and leave enough for you to market and sell it too.

For example - in the pharmacy channel, most retailers will want their stores to make 50% plus in markup/33% margin, at wholesale there may be 9-15% for head office, and you may be paying 15-20% for sales people to sell it in to individual stores. On top of that there will be other % for promotions, investment in catalogues, promotion periods, % for damaged stock, stock returns etc etc. You really have to look carefully into all the elements and know what a particular banner will want from you before you can decide if you can afford to do it.

Knowing all of this you can then start to calculate what RRP will help everyone in the channel make money.

2. Buyers - with most retailers there will be a head office buyer(in the case of groups) or a store buyer(in the case of single store retailers) and you need to find out from them a number of things including a) do they stock that type of product b) when do they make decisions on their ranges c) what do they expect in a presentation from you d) what support do they expect from you in marketing and other areas.

Hope this helps

Hunter

BNI takes a lot of commitment in time and brain power to keep up with, so the rewards need to be worth the effort.

It doesn't work well for all businesses, so it is best to speak to others that are in BNI that run a similar business to yours.

If can work, BNI can teach you a lot of relationship marketing strategies which can be applied for broader business purposes.

Consider BNI part of a broader business plan, and is worth joining even for a year or two if it gels with you and your business.

The main issue with doing business in Asia is the lack of "Rule of Law". It's a bit wild west. There are of course exceptions to this, but short term gain is the main focus. It is seasonal thinking. This was a shock to me at first, as business academics like Hofstede propose long term thinking as dominant in Asian cultures. My observations and discussions with other operators is that this is the opposite, that many will sacrifice long term gain for a quick buck.

To do business one needs a trusted agent based on location. China is big. To check that the shipment is the right quality. They have a range of quality levels. One really needs due diligence at all times.

Contracts are only effective against the foreigner, they mean little to Chinese and Vietnamese. Relationships, or more importantly consequences of bad behaviour are more important. Without a fair judiciary system, the law is not really an option.

Of course there are so many opportunities in Asia and China. As Western Countries have been crippled by austerity measures, reducing consumer spending it's really the best place for business. It's exciting too. Just the other day I met the Viet Kieu mention by Obama in his speech. He has sold his business in Silicon Valley to start one in Vietnam. Most markets are immature and crave a more sophisticated approach. Currently the trend is to move manufacturing out of China to Vietnam, due to costs. Samsung just build their largest factory, Microsoft is doing the same. With all the trade agreements (FTA-EU, TPP, AEC) and growth of the middle class, the ASEAN area shows more promise.

For Australians, no one knows business in China more than Justin Richardson (https://cn.linkedin.com/in/justinrichardsonchina). He has been there for 18 years and speaks fluent Mandarin. Someone I have know since the 90s. I also follow Winston as he have some honest videos on living in Shenzhen. Like this one https://youtu.be/FXXQnyWRSSg

I am based in Northern Vietnam and regularly visit China.