Always can't develop customers and can't close orders? It could really be that your approach and direction are wrong!
This is an article that documents the whole process of customer development follow-upIf you are still complaining that there are no customers, no inquiries, no orders, then you must take a look, you will definitely benefit a lot.
In the eyes of most people, most of the foreign trade salesmen of Hong Kong and Taiwan are very professional, and they can survive well in such a fierce battle today, with a less competitive **, there must be something worth learning from us.
Compared with Hong Kong and Taiwan foreign trade salesmen, our hardware strength is not bad in terms of factory size, geographical location or policy support, but you will find that our order profitability is not as good as theirs. The gap is in**? The answer is actually quite simple: "soft power"!
Share it todayA Hong Kong foreign trade salesman develops customers and follows up the whole process of customersI hope it helps. Success is always reserved for those who are prepared, and this statement must not be false.
One. How to find customers and grasp customers?
On May 26, I googled a target customer in the United States. At that time, I used my three-legged cat kung fu, and after tossing, I finally found the mailbox. I conceived a short development letter and sent it to the boss of this company, and luckily, the next day I received a reply from the sales manager, who forwarded my email to her.
It's a pity,When asked for a catalog, she didn't show much interest.
On May 30, after a few days of knowing each other and exchanging pleasantries, she disappeared.
In June, I sent her three emails, but there was no response.
In July, I sent an email, but there was still no response.
In August, it was still an email that sank into the sea.
In fact, each email is never a hasty greeting, but a sharing of different tricks: industry trends, product catalogs, popular recommendations, company introductions, ......
Unfortunately, it feels like air talking. I've hit ** twice, but it's just a message.
In September, two emails continued.
In October, there were still two emails.
For 5 months, no progress has been made, and it must be a little lost. But the customer is very right, and my desire to win the customer is too strong, so although I have not gained anything for the time being, I still go all out to persevere.
In November, I sent three emails. In the third email at the end of the month, recommending the product**, the customer replied after a few days: thanks!
Tepid, maybe it's just an expression of "sympathy" for my constant "harassment".
But for me, it's like a match in the snow, it's warm. I always think that as long as the other party doesn't explicitly refuse, and is willing to spend a few words for me, I still have a chance.
In December, I continued to communicate with emails from time to time.
On December 24th, the day of Christmas Eve, guests asked for samples!
I often say that as long as the customer is willing to ask me for a sample, it is a big step forward.
There are a total of 18 samples from 2 factories. But one of the factories that had been able to communicate in the early stage suddenly said that it could not arrange samples. The reason is that the Chinese New Year is approaching, I am in a hurry, and I have to prepare samples for the exhibition, so I don't have time to help me make a board. Even if I said to pay the sample fee and back down once or twice in the communication, the other party still looked non-negotiable. I am a person who can communicate but will not accept the factory's unreasonable demands, and since the other party is not willing to cooperate, there is no need for me to continue to waste time and hope in her. Heaven has closed a door for you, and you must open a window for yourself. So, according to the products of this factory, I went to the Dongguan market in Shenzhen to find materials, and at that time, it was almost the New Year, and many stalls were closed. ran one after another, holding a stack of color cards, matching materials, accounting costs, and trying to be consistent with the appearance of the product that customers see through **. On December 29th, I got my things ready and contacted other factories to help make boards.
Two. The order is coming
In the blink of an eye, in mid-January, the sample was completed a week earlier than expected. I sent the sample** and the package weight and volume information to the customer, and asked her to provide the account number again.
In fact, when the customer asked to play the board, I explained that I would provide the sample for free, and they would bear the freight, and asked her to inform the express account number, but the customer did not respond clearly.
My idea at the time was that although the customer was not confirmed, I would arrange the sample first and ask the customer when it was ready. Even if the customer refuses to pay the freight in the end, I am willing to bear the freight in order to gain the opportunity.
Therefore, I can accept that the customer may refuse to pay the shipping fee, so this moment should not be endlessly wrestling with the customer on this point.
The customer learned that the sample was finished, please help me check the shipping cost of EMS and DHL. Our products are large in size but relatively light in weight, there is no doubt that the shipping cost of EMS is cheap, but the shipping time is long, and the shipping cost should be prepaid.
The customer chose EMS, I sent a debit note, asked her to pay, and wanted to try her response. The customer replied that he paid together in the first order, and I said happily that it was good, and I paid 2,000 Hong Kong dollars for shipping and sent 2 large boxes of samples.
Some people may ask, you just trust your customers' words? I think that since you know your bottom line, don't guess too much.
On January 27th, I found out that the customer signed for the package and sent an email to tell her that she could contact her at any time if she had any comments after seeing the sample.
A few days later, the customer said that the samples were good, but there were 2 products that were not what she expected.
At that time, it was close to the Lunar New Year, and the factories had already closed their furnaces, and it was impossible to make any more boards. I used "kindergarten level" photoshop technology to draw renderings of the product using another material. Maybe she doesn't like it, but what I can do is try to satisfy the client and make her feel that I solve her problems every step of the way, instead of simply being a "Miss No", with a sentence in her mouth that there is no way, this will definitely not work.
Soon it was the Lunar New Year, the first day of the Lunar New Year, and I received an email from a customer asking a set of product ** questions, something like that, why A is more expensive than B.
Speaking of which, it was my negligence. The product in group A is the product of the factory that was unwilling to cooperate with the board later, which is relatively low, while the product in group B is the product of another factory, which is higher. At the beginning, because I didn't think it through, I wanted to impress customers with the low price of group A, so I didn't narrow the gap between group A and group B products.
Frustration doesn't help, but a hasty price cut is not a wise choice either. I thought of some reasons why I didn't have full confidence and sent them over.
First:Because a customer placed a large order for the materials of Group A products, we were able to purchase the raw materials of Group A products at a low price.
Second:Exaggeration highlights the details of Group B products, so the labor cost is relatively high.
Third:Gradient **Group B products, with a large number of corresponding low prices. To deliver information to customers, Group B can do Group A**, if you have a large enough number.
Fourth:Slightly modified options for some of the styles in Group B can reduce costs.
Fifth:Expressing the willingness to cooperate and modifying based on details, the Group B product, on the original MOQ**, decreased by 1%-3%.
In this way, the customer seemed to accept my explanation and asked me to fill out their factory spread sheet, and at that moment, it felt like the order was not far away.
However, it was a little too early to be happy, and after the ** was sent, the customer disappeared for 3 months. Despite this, I continue to communicate with customers in one direction without interruption, sending new product catalogs and interspersed with inquiries about orders.
It wasn't until April 9 that I finally received the customer's order.
But when I opened it, I was disappointed. First of all, the number of customers is only a quarter of my moq, and the requested payment method is t 60daysEven though I clearly listed the MOQ and Payment Terms on the ** slip, the customer seemed to ignore it.
So the order came, but the negotiations had just begun.
Three. Confirm the order and know what to expect
On the one hand, I communicated with the factory to determine if the factory was willing to take the order, and on the other hand, I contacted the ECIC (Hong Kong Credit Insurance Bureau) to do a buyer's credit assessment.
Once you have a plan, you can start negotiating.
I replied that we insisted on our t with 30% deposit, balance against the copy of b l payment method and asked the customer to increase the number of orders.
The customer gave back the payment method to t t 30days, but the number did not increase.
I explained to the customer that the small quantity increased the cost in disguise, but in order to show sincerity and establish cooperation, I accepted their quantity, **unchanged, and the payment method was 100% t t against the copy of b l
And just like that, the customer accepted my payment method from the initial t t 60days to 100% t t against the copy of b l
Maybe I've backed down too much, or maybe I've actually gotten more out of the negotiation, so I may not have done the best job in this communication.
But after nearly a year of hard work, I finally became a vendor for my guests.
From the first order confirmed by the customer in mid-April to today, the customer has placed 3 orders in the past 2 months. Although the quantity is not much, one of the orders turned out to be a set of products from other ** merchants they are selling directly to me copy.
Moreover, from the very first order, we have been constantly developing new products with our customers. I dare not say that we already have a place in the hearts of customers, but at least we have shaken the position of other old ** businessmen who have cooperated with customers.
As mentioned in the previous sharing, in the real market, high-quality buyers in the industry will have their own stable merchants. The direction of our efforts is to keep our old customers on the premise of leveraging customer orders from peers, that is, to replace the original first-class merchants of target customers.
Different clients have different personalities, and in the year I have been in contact with this client, I have learned that she is the kind of person who comes to you when she has something to do, and you don't bother her if you have nothing to do, and her design and development skills are not strong.
So she doesn't want you to ask her what she wants, but wants you to tell her what products are suitable for her and provide her with options. Capture the psychology of the guest and make her think of you when she needs it. I believe that our relationship will grow stronger and stronger.
Foreign trade is really getting more and more difficult, although successful examples are always particularly dazzling, but in fact, more of you and I are working hard silently. Take the gains and losses lightly, since you have decided to fall in love, then insist on doing a good job, go in the right direction, and eventually see the dawn.
For more information on foreign trade dry goods, pay attention to *** foreign ** station].
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