Welcome to the 4th Quarter. If you’re a service business in China, you’ll probably notice that the people around you are a bit frantic – assuming that you’re not too busy to catch it. More than at any time before, there’s now a sense of urgency among managers that this quarter is ‘do or die’. They may be right – but these sudden bursts of activity between holidays can lead to problems and setback.
We’ve found a few minutes to offer a little constructive advice for successful international entrepreneurs and managers in China. Read fast.
Tips for the overscheduled China manager:
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Stop biting off more than you can chew. Don’t look for business you can’t service properly and maintain. You are getting more leads and referrals now that you’ve built up a name for yourself, but that doesn’t mean you have to chase every one. If a real ‘lay-up’ comes along, go for it. Otherwise pass. ?
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Identify your core business and 2-3 business areas that you can reasonably expand into. Growth is still vital to your business, but while a new start-up can afford to let the market direct its growth, more established firms have to make sure that everything they do fits into a long term strategy.?
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Go with what works. Get a system that is effective for you and stick with it. Don’t always be trading up or starting over. Sometimes marketing or management strategies take months to kick in. If you keep starting new policies, strategies and methodologies, both your internal team and outside clients are going to lose faith in a hurry.?
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Know the value of time. When you were starting your business from scratch or setting up your company’s operation, steep learning curves made even failures and setbacks were valuable experiences. Now your time is simply too valuable. That 2 hour flight to HK is going to eat up close to 6 hours by the time you figure door-to-door travel time. Is it worth it? ?
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Delegate smart. Sometimes you are better off doing it yourself or paying a lot to get jobs done. A three-thousand rmb/month receptionist can be expected to know where the nearest subway station is - not how to translate a real estate contract.
China still offers more opportunities than a single business can take advantage of – but human resources and infrastructure make US-style delegation very difficult. As you get more successful and well-known, you are going to have to let your ‘B’ opportunities slide. Otherwise you’ll alienate your staff, disappoint clients and find yourself back in the bad-old-days when you had too much time on your hands.
Ed. Note: Our sister site has started a new series for time-challenged China expats called “The No Time To Plan Financial Planner”. 10 short, sharp posts that will help China-based households understand the mechanics and goals of personal financial planning. It’s still a work in progress, but check out the first few installments at www.ChinaExpatFinance.com.
