The Growth Techniques of a Foreign Trade Sales Champion: "Ask"!

When we communicate with customers, our conversations mostly revolve around products and orders, such as price, material, packaging, and delivery time. So, what other topics can we discuss that are still related to the order and beneficial for customer acquisition? Let's explore this in this issue.


 
Assessing the Customer's Strength
Evaluating a customer's strength is not about directly asking, "How large is your company?" but understanding through indirect means. For example, you can ask if they have had similar purchasing experiences before, whether their purchases are for personal use or wholesale, and if they have stores in certain locations. These questions can help determine the customer's strength and whether they are our target customers. Orders that are too small might not be very profitable, while orders that are too large might exceed our capacity. Finding the right purchaser is ideal.
 
This is somewhat similar to a blind date, where you judge the economic strength and living conditions of the potential partner by observing details such as the car they drive or whether they cook. Matching with someone suitable for you is the best.
 
Understanding the Customer's Purchasing Stage
Different stages of customers have different needs and follow-up methods. For example:
 
Evaluation Stage: These customers widely inquire about prices to assess the feasibility of a project. For such customers, you need to provide information on shipping costs, tariffs, and an analysis of the price and quality of similar products in the customer's market. It is also beneficial to provide successful customer cases to help them quickly assess the business, thereby facilitating orders.
 
Sampling Stage: These customers test samples from multiple suppliers to find the most cost-effective product. For these customers, you need to understand the competitors' prices, product quality, and packaging. If there is little difference between the products, you can attract the customer's attention through service and after-sales support to stand out among many suppliers.
 
Replacement Stage: These customers usually have a deep understanding of the market and products. At this stage, your competitiveness mainly lies in price and production capacity. However, if the customer is pushing the profit margins too low, you must learn to stop losses in time.
 
Identifying the Customer's Key Needs
Every customer's needs are different. In communication, you must clarify the customer's main concerns and follow up accordingly. For example, some customers care about price, some about quality, and some about delivery time.
 
When doing business, never start by emphasizing how cheap your prices are or send a quote immediately when a customer inquires. This approach has several drawbacks:
 
1. It's easy for customers to disprove you. If they receive a lower quote from another supplier, you'll be passed over in the first round. This is why many foreign trade professionals say their emails don't get replies.
   
2. Blindly quoting low prices may attract some customers to some extent, but for customers with higher quality requirements, the price is not the main attraction. Customers also know that low prices come with low quality. Moreover, blindly quoting without understanding the customer's needs and market makes the customer feel that your quote is templated and that they are not valued.
 
After understanding the customer's needs, provide a quote based on those needs. This is not only a process of mutual understanding but also a stage to win the customer's goodwill.