I recently was at the Canton Fair and a person asked me: "What is the single most important bit of advice you can give me for doing business in China?" My answer was simple: find a good agent and train them to do exactly the same thing that you would if you were in the factories inspecting the products yourself. Think of it is a cheap insurance policy that can save you millions of dollars.

The cost of doing an inspection with a qualified agent is minimal when compared to an order arriving completely incorrect for some reason or another. Now you have a container of products that are either going to need to be sent back to China to get fixed or sold on the liquidation market. No matter which way it goes you are going to lose money and time and worse yet, your company will develop a reputation of a company that cannot manage its supply chain.

A common question about dealing with Chinese manufacturers is: when and how often should I inspect my goods? Honestly, it would be great if you had a staff member on-site every day. However, we all know that is not exactly possible. Depending on how complex your product is, you may need to check its progress more often. You or your agent should go to the factory a couple times during manufacturing and, as a bare minimum, conduct a pre-shipment inspection.

I know that having an agent in China will increase your overhead. However, I am sure that you will have a massive savings in comparison of manufacturing your goods in your own country…and you will be able to afford it. After all it is still cheaper than you coming to China every 30-60 days and doing the inspections yourself.