Eight Suggestions from Senior Buyers to Foreign Trade Enterprises

Compared with domestic trade, the biggest difference between foreign trade is its complexity. Due to different cultural backgrounds, there will be many potential challenges. How to understand management and deal with these challenges, I believe you are here A topic that is most concerned by every exporting company. Mr. Mike Bellamy, the founder of the purchasing company PassageMaker, analyzed the new challenges and promotion strategies of export enterprises at the Hangzhou Station of the "Zhisheng Future Export Forum".

Bellamy is also the chairman of the non-profit China Sourcing Information Center and the author of The Essential Reference Guide to China Sourcing. PassageMaker mainly purchases for some big brands in the United States, such as Wal-Mart, Dell Computer, etc. The purchase scale last year was 200 million US dollars.

1. The rising cost of manufacturing in China is a good thing.

Mike Bellamy: Let's take a look at what challenges China faces now? Everyone knows that, first of all, the cost in China is rising, the other is the weakening of traditional European and American markets, and the intensification of competition in emerging markets, such as Latin American countries, Middle East countries or other Asian countries.

What I say next may be surprising to everyone. From the buyer's point of view, I think the rising cost of manufacturing in China is a good thing, because the rising cost will make these suppliers think about how to improve efficiency. Why do you say that?

For example, when I had two drinks with my Chinese supplier friend ten years ago, I would ask you what your life goals are, just do some production, make money in as many ways as possible, and make money later Buy a house and make a fortune.

The situation is different now. If you want to survive, you need to become a more professional supplier and improve your competitiveness, so the rising cost will make you think about how to improve efficiency. My suggestion is obvious, that is, let the cost go down and the quality go up.

Second, do not accept orders that are not target buyers!

I would like to tell you something valuable today, telling you to attract the right buyers and make them satisfied, but this sounds easy, the reality is that many of our Chinese suppliers do not have such plans, For example, there are two or three thousand people in factories in China. They don't even have a plan to define who are the target buyers and how to make them satisfied.

Mr. Pei Kewei also mentioned that each customer is different, and each customer's target factory is also a different supplier. How well the buyer and supplier match, we look at several factors, purchase volume, price, language and market conditions.

The last point mentioned here is still very important. It is also very important to have some ready-made finished products or some products specially customized for customers. Some suppliers may be better at making products that are repeated and cost less. There are some suppliers who are good at making customized products, these two are different, so it is necessary to see what kind of company you are in order to determine your target customers.

Three, be an honest supplier

I will tell you a real example. There are 30 full-time staff in my office in Shenzhen who will look at the website of Global Sources every day, and then look for some suppliers and find suppliers. Some suppliers will say no, these orders do not match our company's capabilities and are not suitable for us to do, we will make special note of such suppliers, because we will classify it as an honest supplier, when they say When not, it is very valuable. If this order can't be made, we will make another order because they are honest suppliers.

Assume now that we have identified the target market, target customers, that is not enough, but also make sure your sales people understand your strategy and plan. I often communicate with the bosses of Chinese companies. For example, the boss knows that our target market is large-scale orders, but when he arrives at the exhibition, his sales staff will take all orders, even some small businesses in South Africa, so you not only need to Know it yourself, and communicate it to your team.

Fourth, don't exaggerate your business

At the same time, when our buyers go to the home page of your website, the buyers will know what products you are doing and what your expertise is when they go to the home page. Make sure your product company profile or company salesperson has some knowledge of the language.

We need to know that it is almost impossible to find a Portuguese speaker in Dongguan, so we can consider cooperating with partners in overseas countries and setting up our own sales partners in overseas markets to help you solve the problem.

The first thing I want to say is that I know that the vast majority of Chinese people are very honest because my family has a lot of Chinese and I love this country too. However, we found that the websites of many Chinese companies do not seem to be doing so well, such as company size, customer status, historical situation, and your ownership of the company. Sometimes companies want to stand out in the market competition, so they use scale It's not a good thing to write bigger, have a longer history, say you have ownership, etc. We want to be honest, it doesn't matter if your company's history is not that long, because some customers are willing to look for such a company.

5. Provide clear materials to let buyers know your business

Let's now take a look at how to make buyers leave a good impression on you. First of all, I think it starts with the quotation. For example, I sent an inquiry, which is a very complicated thing. The quotation you replied is just an email. What is it, you should reflect professionalism when quoting, and the quotation can reflect whether you are a professional enterprise.

I know that many companies here today have many traders. If you are a manufacturing company, you can't just put pictures of your own factories on it, because your competitors can do the same, so you need to prepare more Some, such as marketing materials, some documents, and most importantly, your quality control manual, ISO alone is not enough, anyone can spend thousands of dollars to get an ISO certificate, so we not only need some Specifications, quality control manuals, if you can submit more information, I think I can understand what a production enterprise is.

Six, the website is the facade, you need to take care of it.

Next, let's take a look at what a good web design is. I think the website is very important. First of all, you must understand the thoughts of your target customers, such as Brazilians. The mentality of his mind is different from what Americans think.

Here is an example. This is a very typical problem. Chinese companies often have photos of unfinished factories on their websites. But foreigners may not believe it after reading it. This is not finished yet. It is not a guarantee that it will be finished by then. This is not a guarantee. This photo is a photo of an assembly production plant in Boogie. This is not fancy at all, and there is nothing particularly fancy, but after the customer visited me, I thought it was the real situation.

Seventh, strengthen communication with customers, let buyers trust you

We just talked about the website, let's take a look at how to make buyers satisfied and how to make more buyers find you. For me, if I find a supplier, it will take a long time to audit, and once it's settled, it's not going to be changed because it's a few cents cheaper. For all the suppliers here, you're looking for a new customer. It's very, very laborious, so it's very important to keep your existing customers happy.

Let's talk about what project management is first. Some of the suppliers I've seen have very good products, but they don't have a notification system about what's happening now. If they don't, customers will think in a bad direction. , so it's important to let your customers know who is doing what, when and why.

Communication is so important, when an employee sends an email, he will know whether the email meets these standards, such as whether your attachment has been added, whether it is correct, and it needs to be translated into English. No, has the main point been made clear? There is also the time zone difference between China and the United States. You only have one chance to communicate with customers 24 hours a day, so you must seize the opportunity and do not make mistakes in the process of sending emails.

8. Recognize differences: Westerners focus on rules, and Easterners focus on relationships.

Next, I will talk about the cultural differences between China and the West. I have a small story here. I have a big client on Christmas Day. Send me a message on the eve of the holiday saying that the partnership with you may be terminated and no more orders will be placed. This is a German client and this is what I got for Christmas because they are German and they speak very directly.

Knowing this situation, I didn't write an email to tell him that we are friends and can't do this, because the personal relationship has to be separated from the business, and the email I replied was "I'm sorry, can you explain why we made such a decision? If the situation changes in the future, I still hope that you can place an order and so on.” After six months, they came to me again, saying that they had overestimated the capacity of another factory, and now the order can’t be completed, and now I will place it from you Is the order ok, I'm willing to accept it, but I doubled the price, it's not a matter of personal relationship, it's just business, business is business.

Another point is the difference in style between China and the United States. We know that China is a relational society, and everything is based on relations. For example, I have an American customer who has a long-term contract with me. They sign an agreement with me, and I will sign an agreement with a Chinese supplier. Maybe the agreement is 20 pages long, and they don't even read it, they just sign it. They think this is an order, and after signing it, they can do business and collect money.

A few years later, the Chinese side terminated the contract, and the two sides sat down to discuss. The US side said that you did something wrong, you broke the contract, and we were hurt. This is the case. So our advice is to make sure that both parties understand the correct meaning if there is a longer contract.

If you find the right target customer and receive the right project, it is easy to satisfy the customer. The premise is to make a decision first, who is your customer and who is your important customer.

Dialogue with suppliers

Question: I don't want to change this supplier, how can I find a suitable supplier?

Mike Bellamy: It's not because of price. Professional buyers don't always pay attention to price. The most important thing is trust. For example, I met each other at the exhibition, not through some beautiful websites, etc. I don't know if those websites are real or not, and then this quotation is very professional, and the material delivery time is written, and payment is made. Ways and so on, that is, every step from the website to the quotation and to the project management, I think the other party is reliable.

Question: How can a trading company honestly say that we are a trading company, not a factory, so as not to lose orders?

Mike Bellamy: You have to be able to show what you, as an intermediary, really bring value to customers, such as better language or more trust, or better payment methods, etc. .

Question: The customer should not go to the intermediary, but go directly to the factory, because the factory is sure that the price will be better?

Mike Bellamy: You must ask yourself what value we provide in the supply chain as an intermediary. If there is real value, customers will not run away.