Southern Perspective Shenzhen

Another great point from David Dayton over at the Silk Road Blog on why he would want to work with a supplier that told him no.

In his latest post, Over-Promise, Under-Deliver and the realities of the Chinese Market, David makes the point that

“Chinese suppliers are infamous for never saying no, believing that if there is money then they can either figure it out or sub it out.  My theory is that if the factory is so honest that they’re willing to lose business by telling me ‘no’ then that’s someone I want to work with in the future.”

I had a recent run in with this same situation last month for an LED project I was working on.

I attended an LED show in Dongguan, at possibly the worst Sheraton in China, and was able to use my foreigner pass to be seated as a foreign buyer, which I guess is technically true.

I did not know much about LED’s but I was armed with my client’s specs and ready to take on all comers.

I was taken aback because the first couple of suppliers, with rather large factories and extensive manufacturing capabilities, told me “No, we can’t do that.”

I was told that reaching 2 of the 3 specs was doable, but they couldn’t hit everything I wanted.

Then I had several smaller companies tell me “Sure, we can do that no problem.”, now back in my early China days I would have jumped at these offers but now that I’m no longer a China virgin, something seemed fishy.

I went back to my client and told him what I had heard from suppliers and he admitted that he was testing my ability to find accurate suppliers and that their specs were not something widely available.

The first factories I contacted were the ones that originally told me “No, we can’t do that.”

If you are lucky enough to find an honest supplier like that, WORK WITH THEM.