Business development
One bridge. Two markets.
Every project starts on one side and lands on the other. We work in both directions, with the same standards on each side.
What business development actually means here
Between France and China, business development is rarely a sales problem. It is a translation problem — of expectations, of decision cycles, of what counts as a credible partner. The product is usually fine. The way it is presented, priced and supported is what decides the outcome.
So the work starts before the first meeting: understanding which side you are on, what the other side needs to see, and what has to be true before a conversation can become an agreement.
Where we are useful
- Market entry — structuring how you arrive, not just whether you arrive.
- Partner and distributor search — finding candidates, then qualifying them properly.
- Commercial representation — being present on the ground between your visits.
- Business introductions — opening the right door rather than many doors.
We do not sell a market study. A study describes a market; what changes an outcome is the sequence of decisions taken after it.
Two directions. One method.
Tell us which side you are starting from — the first conversation costs nothing and usually clarifies more than a proposal.
Coming into Europe, three separate jobs.
For a company arriving from China, market entry is the visible part. Three others decide whether it holds: whether the product may lawfully be placed on the market, who imports it and on what terms, and whether the name and the shape are yours here. They are bought separately and they fail separately — usually late, and usually after the first order.
Questions we get on this.
Do you work in both directions, or only towards China?
Both. Romain covers Europe → China; Coco covers China → Europe. The two directions are not mirror images — a European company entering China and a Chinese company entering Europe face different questions in a different order — which is why each has someone whose own market is the destination.
What does business development mean here, concretely?
Market reading, partner and distributor search, commercial representation between your visits, and the digital presence that supports the rest. It stops being strategy at the point where someone has to make the calls, sit in the meetings and follow up afterwards.
Do we have to choose between a distributor and going direct?
Not immediately, but the choice decides who owns the customer relationship, and that is expensive to reverse later. The useful question early on is not which model is better but which one you can still change your mind about.
In which language do we work?
French, English or Chinese, including inside the same project. Documents, meetings and follow-up happen in whichever language the person on the other side actually works in.
If you are arriving from China, say which of the four you are stuck on — it is usually not the one you came to ask about.