Experience to share on reception

Dear all,
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aU         This the first time to share something in foreign trade field. As a green hand, I think yesterday's reception really make me confident of myself. For I always not confident in my oral English but yesterday I found that I  also can communicate with my client very well in English.
3rA-p1e{         So, I gain confidence, and think everyone should be confident in themself, it is the basic thing when you start to do business.(s\'m,wK:w r M-K
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         Here is some process to share, wish it will be useful to somebody:0o2F-UHM{h)mc.r?

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Bo          Before our meeting, we should find a date that is available for both of us. So some of my mail as follows:
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[color=Red]Dear Cathy,7GO"EAHEA

7j+dD'^*r Thanks for your friendly reply,
8Z1w)p_\fK It will pleasure to meet with in your factory,
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RWFw5W;i+z 159***********
H;S-A)C#| This is my china mobile 4EEU-V hq
We can contact with this number after 16th,
I3^M-c4F,z&zPed So i will be in Canton fair,F
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It will be finish in 20 and then I will come back in 25,
-w{*Aa'n9A;E|]2vV I will spend some of days meens 20 to 25 in Shenzhen,
C*B}'E(a*kNl)h I will find a day in my schedule for visiting your factory,
j:_ c k;D6X;N Anyway I need your relationship and your hospitality because I do not your city,0kT|9h[GrOVx]
Awaiting your reply,tC{*YI[/tX a#j
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Best regards,
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Cem[/color]S^U5T a}
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[color=Blue]Dear Cem,+P0`$AI#FX[vD

3i3nL^!Xh           As a host, we always friendly and cordial treat our friends and business partners and anyone to our company.  
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9R1b~cm           We are in Hengli town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. If you are in Shenzhen or Guangzhou, We  can pick you up at your place./n"~'^HgB$uR
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         From  your  schedule, and for 19 April to 20 April is weekend, So 21 April to 25 April to both of us is available. Can we make a meeting during the time?  4vr-sh!W
         
oD\*t*P/CZ          Wish you have good time in China!
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2bs{;qzZ:y2Tq Best regards,
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Cathy Liu[/color]-N3}1Z`D

_(x&a2P%\/raIr    [color=Red]Dear Cathy;
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t-OOPm7t Thanks for quite reply,:DLVh~SQ
21 to 25 it will be nice for me,
M(~xU6I)R|9ws We will be meet in these days,0w4X&F:u+n;W:O,i
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Anyway i will send an email for the right time,
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x,] Keep in touch,z+KDnE-X~&h
Best regards,
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_Z8Z[&n_2I Cem [/color]
gW6FG fy H     [color=Blue] Dear Cem,#S1@vf(II

,NkK_\          How are you ? &^-E/c-R/QApe_*{
         Today is April 21, the first day of this week, and may I know when you will come to our factory?
`Z6Uy0DO&wL          Awaiting you kindly reply!6kup5z`4}]S&D

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n'h)Cs R"V!c Best regards,
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9?,Ww@3z Cathy Liu[/color]      
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   And then he gave a call, for he is now in Guangzhou, and said he wanted to come on that day. You know, I even did not prepare anything and so did our manager, and he would go out for business. So I sent him an email :/u `9I)SLK ci+F4uB
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[color=Blue]Dear Cem, N*j:U#r8j*Qm
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            Sorry to tell you that for our manager is out for business, so can we change the meeting to another day?
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            And in the call , you said, tomorrow you will have things to do, so the day after tomorrow may to us is available, if this is ok for meeting on April 23, please give me your new hotel address. if not, please give us your day that for our meeting. Thanks a lot!0L!b4p3E9b W Z*r
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8NC*?tT.l#{b Best regards,
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Cathy Liu[/color]
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          At last, we made the meeting at 22th, but he did not give me the exact time. /I$V7DAxD~|
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          So on April 22, I asked my manager if he could arrange a car for to pick Cem, but to my surprised, our manager rufused, he said it is too far to take him. You can imagine how angry I was.  But I still could not find another way just to tell our client, Cem, to come to our factory by railway. But it was really big problem, so I wrote :
#p#~W@RgnA)@ [color=Blue]Dear Cem,B%v`Y&O,bmJ^2L
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         I am told that from Guangzhou to Dongguan there are two traffic ways for reference:x3VUhN:C ~5g
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By car :  it will be spent more than two hours  
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By railway:  it is only takes half an hour. (Guangzhou railway station TO Dongguan railway station)!{7r9Ss1a,T Df3Mw3d
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         So, for the high efficiency, may I know whether it is convenient for you to come to our factory by railway? And then I can pick you at the Dongguan railway station.`7qf!OB }9],NST
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Best regards,
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Tf)lsjN8L#o:V Cathy Liu[/color]
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)p0w'L(G#U"dN               Thanks goodness! He replied: ok, I will come with railway.  So happy I were when I saw these letters. /I$T5jD;na/S4xK"N
              But he still didnot give me the exact time when he would come. ^4PL3BxY2e
              Waited, waited from 10 AM to 14PM, still no telephone or mail. So I gave him a call at 14:30 PM, he said to me that he would come at about 15:00 or 16:00, okay, the only thing I could do was just wait. 7ngB5{!}j]h8{-y
              16:30 I gave him a call again and he said he was on bus, I asked, which bus, and it was to which station, but unfortunately, he didn't know, he just knew it is from Guangzhou to Dongguan. So I said, could you give you phone to a chinese who around you?  So then, I got the right information from the chinese, the name of the bus station and the time they might arrive on.
u:Ziy,K]f&U(z`             And then, I said to my manager, I should go to pick him at Dongguan City Main Bus Station, Can you guess what's our manager say? he said,
1@:G-I%nbn|w|          " It is too late, why does he comes so late, I have no time to meet him tonight, you see to it, all by yourself alone, don't brother me!" 2H [!S0fI2Q0D
           He really make me angry at that time, for I have never met client alone before, and what is worse, he is a foreigner. 5u&[1Rby.qaQ
           okay, still no choice for me. Face the difficulty directly. I should be brave.
*xP5te$`Pq            So, you know the feeling when I was on the way to pick client. (\p4s i`
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           But We arrived at the right time, and I give Cem a call to make sure his arrival time, and knew that within 10 minuts. In order to let him see me as soon as he get off the bus, I asked people that where the drops that Guangzhou to Dongguan bus stopped and then waited there. I have printed Cem's name on paper, so I when I saw a bus arriaved I raised  it, a little stupid but effective, I think. And after 5 minuts, my phone rang and I turned around, and then I saw him, Cem, a handsome man.:$ :lol :lol :victory: :victory:

The process that about our meeting I will share in another thread.....
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5x4D x8\2add_ pay attention if you are interested in this case!:loveliness:

You are wonderful!:D

the meeting !

On the way we back to factory, I chated with Cem some topics, such as what is city he likes most, and his hometown, Olympic game...etc.od.C'rK A2e
          He said Hongkong he likes most for almost all of the people there speak English. I said, in mainland also many people can speak English. He said yes but just can say "Hello","ok", "byebye".  
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tWx(I!oT          And in the car, he described his country, Turkey, which in his words, it is a nice country and its river is blue and the sun alway be seen everywhere.  
.z [.daR W8kC_          Then I knew, it is the time for both of us to show our love to ourself country, So I said, China is also a beautiful country, you can not see the sun because it is too late, it is 19:15 PM. !om2g#R\j*[$t%_&V
          About an hour later, we arrived at our factory, for it nearly 8:00, so few staff work at night, so I took him to our Vip conference room and served him with a bottle of water and a bottle of Coca Cola.)Y_2HH#F
          Then I called for our engineer down to conference room. So when I came to technic problem I can ask help from him. And then we went to our sample room which is also a big conference room where the managers held meetings every morning. !Y7I9Y2xc[r
          For Cem has already seen our product at our Hk stand, so it is easy to introduce our products to him. And then he took his battery out of his luggage bag. He wants our charger to match his battery.   For they are different types and has different function due to different parts inside them.
eQ];^3B1Uv-n#z           So a long time be spent on explain how to change our charge to match his battery.
0[:OpJ&R6d$s1P           During that time, I should translate both side's words to each other and make three of us know each other well. Now, I still puzzled by myself how could I do so great thing like that!
7L"b[0R1k:])NE4o2L          After discussed about the function and quality, Cem needed two types of our charger and asked the fee he should pay for the simple.  I really could not dicide how much he should pay, So I asked help from our engineer manager who is a Vice President in our factory. Due to his coming, some troubles to me became so easy.  At last, we gave him sample for free, as the words said by VP, gave him as a gift.
bpJ;}AR"l/W         And then, we talked about something like where and how to deliver the sample to him and others things about order.0\s4B7^rW3i;zyij
        Finally, VP ask a driver to send Cem back to Guangzhou.
0D(@z2f5w7if         And I finished the reception with praise  from colleagues.
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'k#BE,o,T"I1o           over...!!!:lol :lol :victory: :victory:

Got a good experience!

Reply #1 liuchunyanid's post

Very good you are..8o4lZ6TM X[ @"Z
congratulations

Cathy, your story let me thinks of my first meeting with client alone. (d_ B)P6t3`I*cP7s0D

#_-}U/zf%M1e l d a Russian client, when I saw him, a handsome white man , very high , a little fat. he just came to shenzhen, and will stay for half a year. I told hime our office address, I asked him by taxi, but he want to take bus. so i told him bus no. and stop, when he got off bus, he gave me a call, he said he was in gate of a building, but he was not sure it was our building. then I hear chinese voice, he said he was securitygard of the building, the building is in the other side of our building. so I went donw to pick my client.

my meeting with russian client is bad, I think.r[:WSK+Y6v

~]"ERK'X1\w*N before going to our offcie, clinet told me he just want to take product photo, because our product  photo are not good. so when he arrived our office, I took  him to our sample room, gave a water of him, he started to  choose models, put all models toghter , than take photo. but the light is so strong that the photo is so bad. I  take my suit to cover, the photos a little better, at last, Client  put case on blank notebook
$YpN;}lh he asked me our product defect rate, I can't sure his meaning,so I write defect on my notebook, he said yes, I reply him.:}:j?,q:R/\

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EQr ~w after he taking photos, I show him some mp3/4, he shaked his head. then he saw the would map,said his country is russian, ask me how to speak in Chinese. Nb vu(v%D
he knows little chinese, I don't know how he take bus. I think he print your company address in chinese to show the busgirl.
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U;z then he left our office, I want to show him, but he said he know the way, but he would go around.nO*ajgF
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while the meeting, I chat little with client, because my oral english is poor, and I don't know what we should chat.
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V iq$bF T5`6g my god! so bad reception.

[quote]Originally posted by [i]LightTea[/i] at 2008-4-24 12:45 [url=http://forum.fobshanghai.com/redirect.php?goto=findpost&pid=3243882&ptid=322327][img]http://forum.fobshanghai.com/images/common/back.gif[/img][/url]8C7nR\ N3D|
my meeting with russian client is bad, I think.qc5u9c6t!fnz#cmO
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before going to our offcie, clinet told me he just want to take product photo, because our product  photo are not good. so when he arrived our office, I took  him to our sample room, gave a water of him, he started to  choose models, put all models toghter , than take photo. but the light is so strong that the photo is so bad. I  take my suit to cover, the photos a little better, at last, Client  put case on blank notebook
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he asked me our product defect rate, I can't sure his meaning,so I write defect on my notebook, he said yes, I reply him.Z/Z O4B&V2_
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after he taking photos, I show him some mp3/4, he shaked his head. then he saw the would map,said his country is russian, ask me how to speak in Chinese. 1_HvE bk.wR
he knows little chinese, I don't kn ... [/quote]s9kz|#jH2?%E#H
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&e7|m1x4rxN7\T :hug: :hug:
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:) Anyway, things will be better and better....
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!F7Z'vq&EOkH trust yourself~

Hi,Cathy Liu,we have the same english name but i'm Cathy Chen
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Dc I have recepted two foreigners in our factory since i'm here,fortunately i do not need to pick up them,for their come is without anticipation
:W(y"XsMX so i'm not anxious,just try to get him known by our boss and let they
-kV"xTE(lt know our products more,so it's just a meet:D

forget to say we are in the same city shenzhen,maybe we can be
:lmNG4Jd"W friends:handshake :c-vRYx
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my MSN is [email]lovehappycathy@live.cn[/email]

this week , I must meet another Russian client, a beautiful girl.  next week , a uk client will come to shenzhen.more and more clients come to our company. so bad, I am very nervous .

before or when I meet my client, often I will tell them , my oral english is not good, pls speak slowly, and I will take pen and note book. maybe I  will use them when we commnicate.n\tg!GnW f
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:lol :lol

[quote]Originally posted by [i]LightTea[/i] at 2008-4-24 18:02 [url=http://forum.fobshanghai.com/redirect.php?goto=findpost&pid=3243996&ptid=322327][img]http://forum.fobshanghai.com/images/common/back.gif[/img][/url] dXW&g*H3S*C6[s
before or when I meet my client, often I will tell them , my oral english is not good, pls speak slowly, and I will take pen and note book. maybe I  will use them when we commnicate.
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6O5w LjKEB[1? :lol :lol [/quote]&R$`9}O6Dndci
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Don't worry. As a foreigner, he/she will try its best to let you understand main meaning. Meanwhile, talk with them slowly. Especially pls ensure the key words of your sentence. Just be confident. Practice more, you'll use to speak English little by little. Recording some information is really a good method. Anyway, good luck!

there are so many foreigners came to my factoty, but they came with translator, and i'm new in the factory, so i don't have the chance to chat with them, even say hello. how eager i have to speak to a foreigner.

I  just came back.met  the Russian cleint, yes, she is a beautiful girl , looks younger than 30. I  took sample to her with my boss.  when we get her hotel , it is 6.30. she took us to her room, but the room was so small  that we only standed and talked. then we went to have meal. while meal, my boss chated with client and encourage me to talk . he said when u can't express , you can use one word instead of  one sentence.it is a good way.

I am happy today. I believe next week, I will do well  , meet uk client.

thank u so much to share ur experience,it is so useful to me

[quote]Originally posted by [i]huatuowei[/i] at 2008-4-24 15:36 [url=http://forum.fobshanghai.com/redirect.php?goto=findpost&pid=3243935&ptid=322327][img]http://forum.fobshanghai.com/images/common/back.gif[/img][/url],\5[S2W0}-pw,d
forget to say we are in the same city shenzhen,maybe we can be ;IeY g5B
friends:handshake
2L$R;p#ki@ my MSN is [email]lovehappycathy@live.cn[/email] [/quote]J5F8GD!X;W@8R.F*b&|
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:)
!W8L5j7Q4@%~)s Sorry to tell you that I am not in shenzhen but in Dongguan. 0t@A+g VQ S@pd
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we can also be friends on FOB.:hug:

[quote]Originally posted by [i]LightTea[/i] at 2008-4-26 19:52 [url=http://forum.fobshanghai.com/redirect.php?goto=findpost&pid=3244772&ptid=322327][img]http://forum.fobshanghai.com/images/common/back.gif[/img][/url]
+T(B5x5z3V!\"c ul I  just came back.met  the Russian cleint, yes, she is a beautiful girl , looks younger than 30. I  took sample to her with my boss.  when we get her hotel , it is 6.30. she took us to her room, but the room was so small  that we only standed and talked. then we went to have meal. while meal, my boss chated with client and encourage me to talk . he said when u can't express , you can use one word instead of  one sentence.it is a good way. [/quote]3^r n\R*K;{
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Before meeting, we always worried about the professional words that may trouble us a lot but it will not a problem when you are explaning its mean for you can use another words. Rw(_ Mor+b#k
Just try it!
3w8nG)^8RT1j'M r:eO And when you are in difficult to express, key words will do great effect on communication.

i got a big embarrassement on my first reception to a Canadian:L :loveliness:

When our clients came to our company, I just have little chance to say nice to meet you to them.
I+Q0U"Jd-o But i'm sure i have chances to chat with them in the near future.

Got a good experience, thanks!

oh,
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OuvY _ r so detailed explanation.
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1X%]8?"\PQ L It's good~

you are so great ,cathy

TKS FOR SHARING

Cathy, I am back, we had four days for 5.1 and I met uk client in guangzhou.  we talked naturely  some words I can't understand uk client, I took notebook and pen, uk client wrote on notebook.
#A~0|Q]0F7^ after this recepation, I know client can understand me, but sometimes, I can't understand  client. so I should improve my listening .!Nr h#h;o$JEsuO T
:loveliness: :loveliness:

yes  trust yourself    i should learn from LZ experience

[quote]Originally posted by [i]LightTea[/i] at 2008-5-6 17:25 [url=http://forum.fobshanghai.com/redirect.php?goto=findpost&pid=3247474&ptid=322327][img]http://forum.fobshanghai.com/images/common/back.gif[/img][/url]3]:j9h9]%F-b
Cathy, I am back, we had four days for 5.1 and I met uk client in guangzhou.  we talked naturely  some words I can't understand uk client, I took notebook and pen, uk client wrote on notebook. #J-`]IYPFc7B/y
after this recepation, I know client can understand me, but sometimes, I can't understand  client. so I should improve my listening .I1p3] bZ*r
:loveliness: :loveliness: [/quote]-b.H)?GX;Ul
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:)
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d\y[N&_NZt watch film is a good way to practise your listening....I mean American film...

Hello , Cathy Liu . Nice to meet  you ! I am very glad to know your experience about reception . I remember my first reception . hehe ... I don't know why i am not nervious but relax , because of this , the clients always remember me . :)   The two India clents from Shanghai to Ningto at 10:25 . According to their quest , I book a four star hotel at first , and my boss arrange our driver Mr WEI to the Ningbo airport to pick them up , I didn't come with Mr Wei,but i hand him a papar which wrote the client name , client company , and warm welcome .  Mr Wei pick up the two Clients to the hotel . we confirmed that Mr Wei would pick them up at 9:00 next day . :loveliness:   At 9:30 , the India clients come , i invite them to our production department at first , then show them our sample room . We have a meeting in our Vice president room , out boss was in Mila Show . After introductd same products , they always keened on the lower price  ,we negotiaion about the price almost 2 hours . It seems that thay are satifiled . :L   Therefor , they ask my VP that whether i can come with them to another company as a tranlater!!!! To my surprise , they appreciated my oral speaking . My VP agreed . My trip beginning ....... &n#q7@dby,E
      When we were back to the hotel , they ask me how could i want to get the fee , I refused . so they invited Mr Wei and I to have west dinner :loveliness: ..........
+| ~*nk(A1{        From this recepition , i become more confident with my communication . I think you can do better then me , right ???:victory: