- [Narrator] The king of High-Ticket Sales.
World's Highest-Paid Consultant.
Media Celebrity.
Multi-Millionaire Entrepreneur.
Acclaimed TEDx Speaker.
International Best-Selling Author.
Dan Lok.
(dramatic music)
- Now, let me ask you a question.
We're gonna talk about today the art
of selling to the affluent Chinese.
First of all, why do you want to sell to affluent Chinese?
- [Audience Members] Because they're affluent.
- Because they're affluent, yes.
(audience laughs) That's a good answer!
- [Audience Member] There's a lot of them.
- And there's a lot of them! Yes!
Especially in Vancouver, right?
I mean, if you go to Richmond, you see,
practically I think I'm in Asia.
(audience laughs)
There are people who live in Richmond,
never ever speak English,
they just learn how to speak Chinese,
and you can live quite well over there.
Why else, besides they're affluent?
- [Audience Member] They like luxury goods.
- They like luxury goods, yes, okay.
What else? Why?
- [Audience Member] There's a lot of them.
- There's a lot of them, yeah.
There's a lot of them.
- [Audience Member] The largest market.
- The largest market, okay. - In the world.
- In the world, yeah, now.
- [Audience Member] Biggest manufacturing
country in the world right now.
- Okay, manufacturing, so power, manufacturing, yes.
- [Audience Member] They like to buy real estate.
- They like to buy real estate, are you a real estate agent?
- [Audience Member] No.
- Okay, but they like to buy real estate.
What else do they like to buy?
- [Audience Member] You have to work fewer hours
if you have one affluent client.
- Okay, you have to work fewer hours
if you just get one affluent client, yes.
- [Audience Member] Maybe it'd be like an untapped market,
because Western people kind of avoid them, maybe.
- Untapped market, so the Western people maybe,
not avoid, but they don't know how to sell to them, yes.
Okay, good, good.
So let me give you a little bit of a quick background,
even for those who know me, or who don't.
What qualifies me to teach this particular topic?
Cause I only teach stuff that I live.
So I was born in Hong Kong and my mom is from Taiwan.
So she is from Taiwan, and my dad is from Hong Kong.
I immigrated to Canada when I was 14 years old.
So kinda growing up here as a teenager, in North America.
So I have the unique privilege
of being able to speak Cantonese, Mandarin,
as well as English, both written and spoken.
So (speaks foreign language),
and I can (speaks foreign language), and English.
With that, and because I was
in China, in Hong Kong, in here.
Is there a difference in the culture, yes?
- [Audience Members] Yes.
- I noticed something very interesting.
Because growing up there and growing up here,
that I noticed that the way that...
Cause I started my first business when I was in high school.
I noticed the way that both cultures,
the way they do business are very, very different.
Yes?
I would say in some cases the opposite.
The opposite.
So that's why Chinese sometimes when they come
to North America they have problems doing business here.
Vice versa, you have Caucasians who go
to China and try to do business there and that's,
I mean, they get their ass kicked, of course.
Same thing, so when I first started dealing
with the affluent Chinese, I got my ass kicked.
Cause I'm like a little bit like a banana.
(audience laughs)
You know what banana is?
Yellow on the outside, white inside.
That's a banana, like CBC.
Cause I grew up here, right?
Went to high school and college here.
So at first when I was dealing with them,
and I was like what the fuck.
And I was having so many challenges.
And quite frankly, a lot of the affluent Chinese
are a pain in the ass to deal with.
And I wasn't sure, like what is going on?
How come when I do certain things?
Cause when I deal with Caucasian, it's very straightforward.
We work on a deal, you talk about this,
you talk about that, and we sign a deal.
And you just move forward.
Well not so with Chinese.
Cause written agreement in Chinese doesn't mean shit.
(audience laughs)
And I learned why, that way.
And I study, and I think...
Because one thing about me is I like to reflect.
What do I like to do?
- [Audience Members] Reflect.
- Yeah, most people they make their mistake,
and they keep making their same mistake.
And they've asked, "Why do I keep doing that stupid shit?"
Me, well, if I make the mistake.
Okay, let's step back.
What work and what didn't work?
I like to reflect and think it through.
And then I started coming up with my own philosophy
of how to do business with them,
how to communicate with them, and yeah, they...
Whatever amount you're thinking, how much money they have,
I'm telling you they have much, much more than you think.
(audience laughs)
I'll give you a perfect example.
I know an entrepreneur who owns
a yacht company in Vancouver.
You know, those big boat.
I was asking him the question, luxury yacht,
I said "Okay, so how is business? Good?"
Because many years ago, maybe less than 10 years ago,
they were selling one.
How many?
- [Audience Members] One.
- One yacht to affluent Chinese per year.
One.
Guess how many they're selling now? 100.
Per year.
And they pay cash.
They don't need financing, they don't like financing.
Like, that's the difference we're talking about.
Not just real estate.
Guess if you go to Mercedes, BMW,
who is buying all those cars?
We're just talking Vancouver, yes?
Yeah.
So you can even on Facebook can say,
"Oh, those affluent Chinese, they're driving up the prices."
Oh, don't believe what the media's telling you.
Okay?
The media is designed to brainwash you in a certain way.
I'm saying there's a huge market there.
And there may be for some of you,
there may be some money there that you could make.
Maybe, maybe not.
But at the very least, I think you will find it
entertaining just to listen to some
of these stories of what's going on
when you're dealing with them.
Sound good?
(audience agrees)
And my wife, Jenny, my father-in-law, and mother-in-law,
actually they're all from mainland China.
So you can see, I'm from Hong Kong,
my mom is from Taiwan, I grewed up here,
and my wife, mother-in-law, father-in-law are from China.
Now, here's the very first problem when people,
when they're trying to sell to affluent Chinese.
They think they're all the same.
They are not all the same.
Chinese coming from Taiwan, coming from Hong Kong,
coming from mainland China, they are totally different.
It's the same, no different than I say to you,
"People from Canada and U.S. are the same."
Or, "People from Vancouver and Quebec are the same."
Are they the same?
- [Audience Members] No.
- No, there's a big difference.
Even within China, they have different provinces
that even the language, there's a difference.
The accent is different.
The North, the South, the culture is totally different.
The food is different.
When you've got billions of people,
there's some differences, right?
So just knowing that the language,
in Hong Kong they speak Cantonese.
What do they speak?
- [Audience Members] Cantonese.
- Cantonese.
In Taiwan, they speak Mandarin.
What do they speak?
- [Audience Members] Mandarin.
- In China, they speak Mandarin
and many, many, many other languages, right?
But mainly, it's Mandarin.
And there's also a difference between the
Mandarin from mainland China, as well as Taiwan.
So just so you know.
And like I said, only I've built
several multi-million dollar businesses
in North America by just doing business
back and forth, that facilitate deals
in terms of tens of millions of dollars.
Now, disclaimer, I didn't get paid on all those deals.
I got fucked over a few times.
By the Chinese.
(audience laughs)
So then I learned the lessons and how to deal with them.
So dealing with them, you have to be,
but once you know how to deal with them,
it is interesting.
And one thing I've learned is once, it's like if people say,
"If you can drive in Taiwan, you can drive anywhere."
How many of you have been to Taiwan?
Okay, let me just explain to you
how it works, or even in China.
Red light doesn't mean shit.
(audience and Dan laugh)
Okay?
You have your car, you have motorcycle,
you have like bicycle, all on the same lane.
It is unbelievable.
When you go there, it's a mess.
Like it's, here driving is like a piece of cake.
You can drive and eat and listen to radio
and massage your back at the same time.
It makes no difference.
But, seriously, driving in China or Taiwan,
it's unbelievable; extremely dangerous.
When I was in China, that's why I don't drive in China,
I get a driver, or get a cab, whatever,
when you're going through the intersections...
Now, you remember, so red light, right?
Red light, green light, doesn't matter you're going!
Cause if you're not going,
you're not getting through because people, they don't stop.
In here, you know when, let's say
you are walking across the road,
and then you have a car coming,
usually you say, "Hey, thank you very much," right?
And then they would what?
- [Audience Members] Stop.
- Stop, and then you go.
Don't do that in China, okay?
Cause they would think, are you like Iron Man?
You have superpowers?
(audience laughs)
Because they are coming through!
It's not their fault if they hit you.
I'm serious.
Just be careful.
That's why, you walk, you look,
you make sure that everything's okay, you look,
you know it's your job to save your life.
It's not their job, they don't watch out for you.
So a lot of the difference in culture--
I want to take a moment and acknowledge you.
Maybe you have been following my work for some time now,
and you've been watching my videos for a period of time.
I want to hear from you, how my work
has impacted your life and your business.
I want you to comment below and share with me your story.
That's what gives me motivation,
and that's what gives me the drive
to create more and inspire more.
And if your comment is very good,
my team will pin it to the top.
I do read every single one of your comments.
I might not have time to reply to all of them,
but I do read every single one of them.
I look forward to reading your story.