Many of my clients tell me the same thing over and over. “The factory said that they can make it”. Yet thousands of dollars later for tooling fees, mould fees, and samples and they are no further ahead than they were when they first started dealing with that factory.

One thing that you must learn about Chinese culture is that the most important thing to the Chinese people is keeping “face”. We as western’s can translate this to reputation. However it goes much deeper than just that. To Chinese loosing face is the worst thing that can happen to them. They truly believe that if they tell you “no” you will think of them as a factory that is not capable of doing anything.

The truth of the matter is that most Chinese manufacturers will tell you they can do anything as long as there is good money in it for them. The most difficult thing for a western buyer to determine is when “yes” really means “no”. For native Chinese this task is simple, they can read body language as easy as you can read this blog.

I know what you are thinking….How do I really understand when “yes” means “yes”? Well there is not a real science to this other than have them show you other products that they have manufactured that are equal in construction or complexity to your product. Once they can prove this to you and only then go into prototyping your product. Make sure that you set strict deadlines for things to be accomplished by them.

Make sure that you are the owner of all the tooling and moulds that are needed to make your product, after all you paid for them. If they are not willing to meet your demands and you find your demands reasonable then this can be a real sign that possibly “yes” really means “no”.

There are many books that have been written about this over the years. I would advise you to pick a few of them up so that you have a good understanding of why Chinese say the things they do. This way you will not be so shocked or offended when told one thing but the truth is another.