At the end of part two, I was seated at the table with 30 other people. Soon, I would know if this was a contract signing meeting or a negotiation meeting.
There were no introductions. I communicated with a man named Chen, who I had met at our Grant Prideco facilities tour in Houston. He would speak in Chinese and then the translator repeated it in English. I would respond in English and the translator relayed my words in Chinese. This went on for about an hour. The discussion was a test to see what I knew and, I am sure, to judge my honesty. Toward the end of this first session, they told me they would split the order between my company and a Chinese company. That hurt. Their main concern appeared to be delivery time, making me think my quoted price was in the ballpark.