Recently updated on October 8th, 2017 at 06:54 pm
Tip 1: Don’t show your thoughts on your faces. Never get immediately happy about the good news or upset about bad news. Information can change quickly within minutes. Don’t show your happiness when you are getting good deals at prices you are very content with, or you would end up getting higher prices for other products.
Tip 2: Make a timely payment on the basic that all the production is only and they are of good quality. Paying on time can help you depart, close customs and ship on time.
Tip 3: Don’t assume your Chinese supplier knows what you are thinking about. Don’t assume they would know what a particular item should look like in a particular market. Don’t assume your supplier would do what you consider to be the right thing. The best way is to list bullet points and follow up the production process closely.
Tip 4: Keep professional, stay friendly and alert. It is not a matter of how large order you give them, most Chinese suppliers are in the dark as to how company cultures and professionalism work in the west. For the most part, the things both parties care are totally different.
Tip 5: Don’t be a legalist and ask your Chinese suppliers to shoulder the responsibility for mistakes. If you change suppliers every time when there are errors, you’ll be changing suppliers faster than changing underwear. The supplier will make mistakes and the key point is to find a supplier that make very few mistakes and stick with them, see them through the problems as it will create loyalty and you can get more discounts basing on good guanxi.
Tip 6: Make logistics your responsibility and ask your vendor to assist if possible. Some vendors do offer logistics but if placing logistics fully in their hands might distract them from the main thing. Let the supplier produce, and you take the logistics for them.
Tip 7: Visit the factory in person or have a 3rd party QC check your goods. Even if the factory promises to provide you photos of the production pictures, you might end up finding as if they take photos in the dark, drunk and upside down since some of them really do have trouble using camera.
Tip 8: Don’t judge a supplier basing on a stock sample. A stock sample might have nothing to do with you they will do for your current order and the stock sample they sent you might be an old dusty piece off shelf for one or two years or several months ago.
If you assume and convince yourself that everything in China manufacturing is ok, a lot of things can go wrong. Don’t assume. It is better to micro-manage in the early stage of production to make sure what the factory can handle on their own. Double check everything.
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