Singapore Expats

Trade Story

Discuss your views about Singapore business & economy, current policies & issues, starting a business in Singapore.
Post Reply
mmmaweiyuan
Member
Member
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu, 21 Mar 2019 3:16 pm

Trade Story

Post by mmmaweiyuan » Wed, 27 Mar 2019 5:00 pm

I graduated in 2006, doing foreign trade in a factory, that is, foreign trade, in fact, domestic sales also do. The company does not give us many platforms, the customer's disks are transferred from the supervisor, when there is no disks, we will go to various free websites to find customer resources, which can be said to be a haystack needle.

What impressed me most was a customer at the Hong Kong exhibition who had no hope of cooperating. Then he suddenly came to our factory in an e-mail, which gave me unlimited hope. After visiting the factory, the customer was ready to place an order the next day, and it was RMB 200,000. At that time, all the samples sent to the customer had problems. It was also because our engineer boasted that our ballast could match the other party's UV lamp tube. In fact, we did not match it. In this way, the order was delayed and the other side gave us enough. Time to adjust the performance of the product, I think this customer is very reasonable, every time a problem does not blame me me, but very patiently waiting for the solution of the problem, but time is not allowed, so this single to the end...

Later, when I sent an email to this customer, he didn't return it. I was embarrassed to call him. The customer finally became someone else's. The loss of this customer made me lose a lot. Basically, during that time, I spent my mind on that customer and put all my hopes on him. During that time, I did not develop new customers. As a result, I felt that all the hopes were gone. Everything has to be restarted, and my colleagues, when I negotiated with this customer, have pulled a lot of orders. This has increased my stress and sense of loss, which is a serious mistake I made.

Here we recommend a necessary tool for international logistics: after registering members, importing destination countries and weights, we can check prices online, compare prices, place orders and check lists. All channels, prices, freight forwarders can inquire. It's very useful. With this, a lot of orders are made quickly. Hope to help you!

From September 2006 to now, I have only pulled an order, which is really a failure. During this period, there are many customers who seem to be ordering. In the end, they are all gone. Maybe my service is not in place. Maybe I am too desperate. In a word, from a salesman's point of view, I am very failed and I have failed to live up to the expectations of others. I even wonder if I'm fit for the job. Depression, helplessness, maybe this is the test of survival, can not withstand pressure, can not eat bitterness, everything can only end in failure.

When you are familiar with the company's environment and people, you will always get tired of living like this everyday. I don't know what's the fun? But think about the anxieties of not finding a job before, and have to admit that survival is the most important, from now on, to face the work with a different mentality, when I successfully get an order, is it also a kind of happiness?

User avatar
sundaymorningstaple
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 40376
Joined: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 1:26 pm
Answers: 21
Location: Retired on the Little Red Dot

Re: Trade Story

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Wed, 27 Mar 2019 5:51 pm

Starting a new thread doesn't make you invisible.

Tic...toc...tic...toc...
Moderator
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

mmmaweiyuan
Member
Member
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu, 21 Mar 2019 3:16 pm

Re: Trade Story

Post by mmmaweiyuan » Thu, 28 Mar 2019 4:32 pm

I remember very profoundly that in early 2013, I received an inquiry from an Iranian customer. After the quotation, the customer accepted our price without counteroffer. Later, the customer took a holiday. Later, in April, the customer said that he would come to China to visit our factory.

In May, the customer came to Shanghai to inspect the factory. He just started to visit another factory, and then came to Xi'an. I earnestly made preparations and learned the relevant terms in advance. (We are a part of the product that the customer needs, because our customer group is just the product that the customer needs, so we know the market of this product very well, and made a true report of PPT. To sue customers, what we do is an accessory of this product, but we know the industry of China very well and the customers are satisfied after listening to it.

The next day, the customer, my boss three people went to our factory location, Changsha, to the factory, there cooperated very well. Later, the customer bought a set of samples on the spot, said to take the samples back to test, after testing, order, then the customer went to Shanghai, we returned to Xi'an the next day, when the customer just left, he said that he needed another sample, and the next day he wanted another sample. Leaving Shanghai, time is pressing, provisional decision, I sent it, then really ups and downs, booked tickets, see when there is no ticket payment, and finally booked a class more than 11 o'clock, I arrived at the hotel in the early morning, Shanghai is raining, then feel very poor, there is a match girl to catch up.

After the customer returned home, he urgently needed a batch of goods. At that time, our technology misjudged the difficulty of the products, and he decided to catch up with the goods. After the goods were ready, due to the tight delivery time, the express delivery was too late, so the later practice was that I took the goods with me to Shanghai Airport and found the flight to Iran. I randomly found someone to take the goods over. Sixty kilograms, two big boxes of goods, arrived in Shanghai late at night and found a car to deliver them to me. When I arrived at the hotel, I went to the airport the next day. I found two suitcases hard to handle. I went to the street for another day. In the afternoon, I realized that I hadn't eaten for a day. Then I put all the goods in a big suitcase and took a taxi to the airport. I randomly found a Chinese who went to Iran and brought the goods to my customers. Customers said a lot of thanks at that time, what goods are good, please go to Dubai, stay in the sailing Hotel and so on, I was also very serious, just want to make good products, more orders. After a few days, the customer received the goods and said that all our products were not up to standard. At that time, they basically collapsed. The result of such efforts was unexpectedly like this. I really hate that I am not a technology.

Later, the customer said that we needed a batch of goods, but we had to accept the prior goods before payment, because the previous bad records, after several of our bosses negotiated, let me reply to the customer like this. At that time, our price was relatively high, I was also worried that the customer did not order, so I talked to the boss, the boss said that we had a big risk, so the price had to be set higher, after that. After delivery, the customer said it was a government project. It took some time to know the result. We waited patiently and the customer kept in touch with me until the fourth month after he received the goods. The customer disappeared like god. Skype, qqq, whatapp and Viber were all out of touch.

Therefore, I can't stay in the previous company. This story on the road of foreign trade makes me unforgettable all my life.

mmmaweiyuan
Member
Member
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu, 21 Mar 2019 3:16 pm

Re: Trade Story

Post by mmmaweiyuan » Mon, 29 Apr 2019 5:50 pm

We often hear people say that we should be a professional foreign trade salesman, because whether we are professional or not directly affects the root of our life. And it is an important criterion to judge the level of our salesmen. But once we go deep into it, for example, as the title of this article says, how can we calculate a professional foreign trade salesman, that is, where exactly is our professional place? I think to be an excellent and professional foreign trade salesman, first of all, we should do three things. I will analyze them one by one.

Firstly, product knowledge should be firm. Whether it is domestic or foreign trade, we must master product knowledge. This includes the production process, raw material prices, packaging information and so on. It can be said that your mastery of these information directly affects your impression in the eyes of customers. Let's say you're okay with your customers by email, you have problems you don't understand, and you have time to consult your colleagues and supervisors. What about attending the exhibition? If you are not familiar with product knowledge in the process of explaining product knowledge to customers, will you make customers feel that you are very unprofessional? And then affect the ultimate communication effect. A reasonable state of affairs is that you have to treasure all kinds of elements and selling points of the product, so that customers can't beat you. That's what we're looking for, but many salesmen can't do it. The factory is OK, there are many channels to learn product knowledge, foreign trade companies will be more difficult. So learning product knowledge has always been a big stone in the minds of foreign trade company salesmen, which needs to be solved urgently, including me.

Secondly, a salesman's professionalism is also reflected in his English proficiency. I believe you all have a deep understanding of this. Although many people do not speak English well as a prerequisite for foreign trade, especially in the past, a simple understanding of spoken English, a few simple e-mails, often can talk to foreigners about business. But the situation has changed. With the formation of buyer's market and fierce competition among domestic suppliers, who can express and communicate more smoothly with foreign friends, who can often take the lead. I think English is a tool in foreign trade. Although it can't help you to do a good job in foreign trade, you can't do it well without it. Good English, for most of our salesmen is a thing of added beauty. It can further help you to improve the efficiency of orders and negotiations. The so-called "good work" must first be sharpened.

Finally, as a professional foreign trade salesman, you must also have a very thorough knowledge of international trade. For example, it's hard to imagine a salesman who can do a good job in foreign trade without even knowing what DDU and DDP are. We must be familiar with the process, knowledge and other elements of foreign trade theory and practice, so that we can have direction when we communicate with customers. It can also take the initiative in this process. In fact, when you have a deep understanding of all kinds of trade links, you will unconsciously bring a kind of aura to the customer, making him feel that you are an expert in this field and that he has a sense of security in doing business with you. Isn't that what we are after? Therefore, solid knowledge of trade theory is equally important to the first two points.

Of course, there are many factors that determine the professionalism of a foreign trade salesman. If you want to write them all down, you can probably produce a book. So this time, I will only make an analysis of the three main factors, and welcome your criticism and suggestions. Foreign trade is a lofty work, and foreign trade theory is also a broad and profound knowledge. We should keep it fresh and keep the habit of learning and sharing. I think, as long as we do this, we will not be a foreign trader.

tiktok
Reporter
Reporter
Posts: 638
Joined: Mon, 21 Jan 2019 5:04 pm

Re: Trade Story

Post by tiktok » Wed, 01 May 2019 8:23 pm

Can I come to your factory in an email?
I not troll/wacko/spammer.
Me no expat. Me foreigner.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “Business in Singapore”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests