- Yes.
- Yes, yes. - No.
- No, no. - Yes.
- Oh, yes, oh yes. - No. - Ladies, ladies. Why yes means no. Discover the truth behind China's business etiquette and culture. (R&B music) Now have you ever noticed
if you ever negotiate and done business with affluent Chinese, sometimes they will say yes
and then a few days later you don't hear from them again. Or they may say no, no, no
and they suddenly come back to you and they want to do a deal. Now, why is that? Today we are gonna explore that and how the affluent Chinese,
what they are thinking. So, what do you think? - They just don't want to tell you what they're actually thinking. - Why are they so, not secretive, but what are they hiding? Why can't they just be more up front and hey here's what I want,
here's what I don't want. Why is that? - I think they are
afraid of being cheated. They're just so afraid of
like people lie to their face. So it's easier to them
to protect themselves and not show you their
true thinking, I think. - I think in China you have to understand, if you ever come to
China, every single day it's like they're being scammed every day. Someone is trying to scam them, right. I remember when we went to China, even our phone was getting these scammers trying to get money from us. Oh your son is in the hospital. I don't have a son. And all kinds of crazy, crazy scams. Even on the street, remember
we were buying a wi-fi thing and we tried it and
- Oh yeah, SIM card. - SIM card. And it works on the spot,
but take back to the hotel and it doesn't work anymore. And because they're billions
and billions of people so the scam one person it doesn't matter. When they come here I
think they don't trust and that's why they don't want
to show their true intent. Do I actually want to buy this, do I not want to buy this,
do I want to do business? They need to observe you a little bit more and that's why they don't want to show their emotions
and intents so much. So when they said, yeah
sure I'm interested, sure I'm interested. What they're maybe saying
is I'm not interested, but I don't want to tell
you I'm not interested in case you might have
some information for me. Mui what do you think? - Yeah, the interesting thing is I think a lot of times the
heart is set on it's a hard no. They can not say themselves to say that. - They want to be polite. - They want to be polite and they have a fear of confrontation. They don't know what that could look like. And there's so much fear, they
would rather not get into it. They don't want to be
persuaded further either. They don't want to be in a position to be asked why don't you want to do this and them having to explain themselves. They feel a lot of pressure. So it's easier to say, yeah,
maybe, I'll think about it. They feel better and visually also, they can keep a smile on their face. They can still walk away feeling like they haven't hurt the
other party's feelings. So a lot of that is to really
preserve their emotions and they don't feel good
about rejecting other people. - And I think also,
again, goes back to China cause in China you don't
want to burn any bridges. You don't know who they know and you don't know when you'll
meet them in the future. - There's no permanent enemy. - No permanent friend, no permanent enemy. So they don't want to piss anybody off, so they yeah, sure I'm interested. They're actually not
interested, they just want to kind of keep the relationship. Interestingly, when I do
business with Caucasian, it's much more direct. Hey you wanna do a deal? You don't wanna do a deal? Let's have a meeting, let's
kind of hash out the details and let's just sign the deal. China is not like that, especially
dealing with the Chinese. What about, also that, when they say no it doesn't necessarily mean a no. They might say no, it's
like, I don't know. In China, it's the bargaining right. If they walk into house,
- Criticize the house. - Actually if they like the house, the first thing they
would do is criticize it. I don't like this, I don't like that, well this is shit or I
don't like the kitchen. You're like okay, this person
is not interested at all. Actually they are very interested because they wanted to tell
you so many bad things. Later on, they sit down with you. Yeah I don't like all these things, but if you give me a good
price I would buy it. So they're using that as
a negotiation thing right. - Chinese negotiation
strategies are very interesting. - They put you down first. - I see the ones where they
go into furniture store and they enjoy everything,
the conversation goes well. And then when it comes time to pay, they're like great we'll
take everything at 40% off. - Yes. - And then the sales
person is like wow, okay, I'm not really ready for this. So they kind of like to
stun you on the spot. See how far they can really
push you to the edge. I remember a few years
ago, I was in Shenzhen, and I was walking around the mall and they were very
aggressive with the sales. Some of the people were
coming out of the stores trying to solicit me
to come into the store. And of course I was in the mall and I went into a few of them and interestingly enough
I looked at a few things and they automatically
thought that I wanted that. Just from picking it up and looking at it. I remember I put on this
jacket, and I thought okay. I tried it on and it was okay. Then I put it back and I'm like
you know what, that's okay. And I really meant it, I didn't want it. And she's like just chasing me
out the door with the jacket. And she's like okay I'll
give it to you for 10% off. And I keep walking right. What's happening right,
she's following me. - Thinking your using your skills on her. - Yes, she's thinking
I'm trying to cut deals. - Haggling. - And then she keeps following
me, 20% off, 30% off. I'm like I really don't want it and I'm like running away. So I thought that was a pretty
hilarious situation in China. - You gotta do that cause
whatever price that they have pretty much you can negotiate. Everything's negotiable. So it never trust the market price, so they're so used to sort
of marking up the price and they know you're
gonna negotiate 20-30%. It's so common right. - It's actually the same when you go to tourist site anywhere in the world. You don't automatically,
whatever the price they put on, you wanna do a 30% off,
50% discount, right. Cause you know there's so much mark up. - But it's interesting, I
think the Chinese almost think it's a game like Mom and
Dad love to do that right. They could go to Costco and
say they want to haggle. Why's this crap this expensive? I want this steak, here
that's just the price. That's what you pay and that's it. No they like to play that game. They go back and forth,
we don't negotiate. What about no tax? No, we have to charge tax. What if I pay you in cash
then you give me a discount? No, it's the same. It's very, very different. Very, very different. So dealing with the
Chinese, how can we tell if yes actually means a yes, or how can we tell that no means a no? - That's a very good question. I think firstly, you've got to start with like facial expression. Maybe when you start talking with someone, when you are engaging, when
they are actually listening. Or they're actually looking around. - Playing with their cell phone. - Yeah, not really paying attention. - Body language, reading that,
paying attention to that. - I think the second thing is more like, let's see you explain the whole situation and then when they actually can talk, look at the body language. Are they more like leaning
back, or like leaning forward. Sometimes when they are leaning back doesn't mean they don't like it. It means they want to take
back the control or the power of the other power leaning forward. So I have more control, now
we can start negotiating. And sometimes if they lean like this, it not necessarily means
I'm very interested, it means okay, maybe I should go after and finish this conversation, right. So it's actually, you have to think maybe two steps ahead, not just
yes or no, that simple. Mainly the body language. - I think body language and also knowing that they think many layers deep. That it's not so simple
to say just yes or no, but especially if it's a major purchase, there are many considerations. Example again, let's go
back to buying a house. If they buy a house in here, it's just hey can we afford a down payment? Can we afford the mortgage? Does my family like it? Simple, do I like location? But they have many, many
other considerations. Such as, well, my money is in China, how am I gonna get it here? What about tax? What about if I'm here
and I'll go back to China to work but my wife stays here and then will she like it? Are we planning to stay
here for five years and then once I get my
citizenship I want to go? So that's it. Or actually I want my
kids to be here and learn. There are many, many considerations
not so straight forward. So if you don't address those concerns, or find out what those concerns are. Then it's very difficult
for them to say yes. And I also think maybe to see just how much time they invested with you, I think that makes a difference. So if they say I'm not
interested, I'm not interested, but they keep asking you,
let's have another meeting, let's have another meeting. It means they are interested for sure. They want to learn a little bit more because they are investing their time. Every time you think you
are gonna close the deal, well they'll say let's
have another meeting. And you go damn, how come
I can't close the deal? Let's have another meeting. Here, maybe call two
meetings, close the sale. With the Chinese you
may need ten meetings. It's just the way that they are, it's just the way they think. So if they're investing time
and they want to meet more, it's an indicator that they're interested. So knowing next time, no
doesn't necessarily mean no, yes doesn't necessarily mean a yes. Yes could be a no, no could be a yes. You gotta pay attention. Comment below, subscribe to this channel. See if you have any other
questions you might have when it comes to the China culture and just dealing with the Chinese. And some of the situations
that might come up. We might take some of those questions and create future episodes
just to answer your question. Again, turn on notification,
subscribe below. I'll see you in the next episode.
