How to establish your local sales or production in China and reduce costs at the same time?
Client situation: After 7 years of using conventional distributors and achieving disappointing results this company decided to establish its own local sales, support and assembly operations.
Client Background:
Multinational company selling water filtration systems to over 60 countries.
PTL's Solutions:
PTL Group has specialized capabilities in manpower management solutions and shared business platforms. PTL Group started a period of 3 years cooperating with this client providing office sharing services for 3 sales people in 3 different PTL offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The company’s sales grew fast.
Following this success, the company decided to open an assembly factory for its full products line. PTL Group was contracted to provide the assembly workshop and the supporting warehouse and staff to operate it.
The new factory was ready to begin production 3 months later.
PTL Group managed all the logistic operations, financial and manpower activities of the new factory. The company’s professional executives were free to manage only the production and the sales departments.
Result in the Chinese market: The company gained an important competitive advantage with shorter lead time, cheaper production cost and the ability to sell products in local currency.
How to remain in control whilst expanding into the new Chinese markets?
Client situation:
Following its decision to expand, this company faced operational problems. Its local knowledge and personnel were inadequate to the task. The company then chose PTL to support the recruitment of new managers and to set up a new company structure in China.
Client Background:
This company is a global manufacturer of cutting machines focused on the shipping and construction industries. The company’s small operations in China were achieving impressive sales results.
PTL's Solutions:
First PTL Group provided an office sharing arrangement for the existing employees. A financial and HR reorganization process was made to regain control over budgets and employment regulations. Then it began a recruitment project to focus on new employees with knowledge of the local market sales environment and competitors’ practices.
Result in the Chinese market: After open discussions between the company and several top managers in the industry, one candidate was chosen to be the new General Manager for the company in China and another sales manager was recruited. The company was then able to find within itself a wealth of critical information about its existing staff and its past activities in the market which could then secure its future in the new market areas.
Client situation:
This client had been selling its products through two local distributors for several years. The company achieved poor results. It decided to make a strategic change in its sales structure by directly approaching Value Added Resellers (VAR’s) or SI’s (System Integrators) in locally competitive payment terms.
Client Background:
This was a leading multinational manufacturing company specializing in electronic equipment for the audio visual industry.
PTL's Solutions:
A national sales manager was recruited and began working in a space provided by PTL Group. Then a nationwide network of VAR’s was established alongside existing distributors.
PTL Group provides warehousing (bonded, pick & pack, distribution) and collection solutions as well as credit control for hundreds of VAR’S around the country. PTL Group staff was operating directly on the client’s ERP system.
Result in the Chinese market: The company recruited by now 16 employees, including a foreign country manager, under the PTL Group services umbrella. After three years of operating with PTL Group, the distribution channels grew from two to over sixty distributors. The client enjoys full transparency in the selling process, controlling the whole supply chain from the home country all the way to the end user. The company was also able to execute its new strategy without giving up its relations with the old distributors.
