Will you be my friend ? Right now ! Please ... ?

On the way to Shanghai, I was sitting next to a British businessman who had arrived in Shanghai 9 months earlier. He complained … “In the UK, if you have a product and people need it, they buy it. In China, if you have a product and people need it, they will buy it ... only if they are your friend. How am I supposed to make friends in 9 months ? Why can’t they just see the value of my product without the friendship thing ?”

At the KMAP 2012 conference in Shanghai a researcher who wanted to do research in Chinese companies admitted she wasn’t successful in getting access to them. She understood the importance of quanxi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanxi) and asked people in the conference for help in getting her the needed contacts to make progress with her research.

Here is my advice on the importance of relationships in business based on quite a few years in Asia

- be aware of the relational characteristics of doing business in Asia; if you think that the Asians have to adapt to your approach (like the business man did) you will face frequent frustrations and won’t get very far;

- build relationships and try to enjoy the process; be active in business clubs  or chambers of commerce and give talks (not sales pitches) to share your experience; link up with your business contacts’ contacts;

- let the relationship develop: exchanging namecards, although important in Asia, does not constitute a relationship; relations take time so do not jump on every fresh contact to “sell” your service … it will surely kill the relationship;

- set realistic business targets that take the environment into account; there is ample evidence that developing a business in Asia takes time; if your business objectives don’t reflect this, you will disappoint your organization (and yourself).

At least the researcher was aware of the need to create and build on relationships. That's a necessary first step. And beyond that, creating and maintaining relationships requires genuine effort. It is a necessary time investment but one that will bear fruit for the long term.