It may not be very difficult to become a qualified foreign trade merchandiser, but if you want to stand out in a highly competitive society, you need to work hard to do your job better and strive to become an excellent foreign trade merchandiser. This requires foreign trade merchandisers to have strong working abilities as well as certain working skills.
(i) Strong communication and coordination skills
The work of a foreign trade merchandiser involves all aspects, and the work span is very large. You will deal with every department, and you will have to face many people and things. At this time, strong communication and coordination skills are very important. A foreign trade merchandiser with strong abilities can handle things between customers and the company, and between the various departments within the company with ease and skill. If the communication ability is lacking, then the relationship between the parties cannot be handled well, which will seriously affect the development of the work. Foreign trade merchandisers are only assistants, with small positions but great power, because they are managers of various orders and need to track all aspects of the orders. Any department must cooperate with the foreign trade merchandisers and obey the instructions of the foreign trade merchandisers when necessary. Some departments may not cooperate with the work of foreign trade merchandisers. At this time, foreign trade merchandisers must communicate strongly: “Whoever is not responsible for the foreign trade merchandisers is not responsible for the orders, that is, not responsible for the company.” If your ideas and thoughts are correct, you must insist on them. If you point out other people’s mistakes, they will be convinced. Of course, although foreign trade merchandisers sometimes have to communicate strongly at work, they must pay attention to skills, including address, politeness, speaking style and tone. Moreover, in normal work and non-working time, you must pay attention to relevant non-work exchanges and communication with different departments to establish a certain relationship, which will be helpful for future work.
There are two main communication methods in follow-up work
1. Follow-up communication
That is, reminders, confirmations and supervision of work, which is a working method with a normal mentality
Applicable occasions for follow-up communication: (1) When the order deadline is not very urgent, it is carried out normally according to the plan, and the task can be completed flexibly; (2) When the order is very ordinary or insignificant; (3) When facing personnel and departments with relatively high ability, credit and power levels.
The tone of follow-up communication: “Manager Zhao, I’m here to get the drawings of XXX type lamps.” “Engineer Zhang, can the prototype of NT-06 be confirmed today?” “Director Wang, can the products on order 266 be shipped tomorrow?” “Manager Li, the plastic parts of XX product are running low, please hurry up and purchase them!”
2. Expediting communication
That is, urging, requesting and issuing ultimatums for work mistakes, which is a communication method with an autonomous or tough mentality. Applicable occasions for urging communication:
(1) When the order deadline is tight and the task can be completed as planned;
(2) When the order is in a delayed state, but it is still necessary to complete it;
(3) When the order is very important and has a certain influence on the company;
(4) When facing personnel or departments with relatively low ability, credit and power.
The tone of urging communication: “Manager Zhao, if you don’t give me the drawings of XXX lamps before August 21, the supplier will delay the mold opening by one week.” “Excuse me, Mr. Zhang, NT-06 will be produced tomorrow, why hasn’t the prototype been confirmed yet?” “Director Wang, is there any problem with the shipment of the products on order 266?” “Manager Li, the inventory of plastic parts for XX product is lower than the safety stock, and if we don’t deliver the goods, we will run out of materials.”
(II) Strong time management ability
As a foreign trade merchandiser, you must have a very strong sense of time and time management ability. One of the principles followed by foreign trade merchandisers is to ensure that orders are completed on time. When quoting and confirming the order to the customer, a specific delivery date will be determined. Once the order is confirmed, the factory will start preparing materials for production. The production of general products requires the following processes: procurement of raw materials, timely processing of raw materials, mass production, post-inspection of products, packaging, and preparation for shipment.
Foreign trade merchandisers have to track a wide range of links and many links. In order to ensure that the order can be shipped smoothly according to the original delivery date, each link should reasonably allocate the corresponding time, each link must have a control point, and the entire process must be strictly executed according to the plan. You can’t do it wherever you think of. From the perspective of time alone, if you only focus on a final completion date, once a problem occurs in the middle link, it cannot be discovered in time, or when it is discovered, it is too late and cannot be corrected in time.
The more links are divided and the clearer they are, the more control points there are, the greater the intensity of time management is required, and the earlier problems can be handled, so as to ensure that the order is completed on time. It is necessary to closely grasp whether each control point is completed on time. If it is not completed, find out the reasons and solutions, otherwise it will affect the final delivery date of the order. For example, according to the original plan, the parts will arrive at the factory on July 10, but if the parts supplier has not prepared all the parts by July 8, it is necessary to communicate in time to see where the problem lies. If it is not handled in time, the entire subsequent links will be postponed.
(III) Strong product recognition ability
(IV) Whether it is an industrial or foreign trade company, as a foreign trade clerk, you must know your products thoroughly, including the product production process, product specifications, product performance, product cost accounting and quotation, etc. If you are not familiar with the product, you will not be able to find the problems that arise during the production line, or in other links, if you do not understand the product, it will be difficult to convince others, or it will be difficult to judge whether the information of others is correct, so you will be in a dynamic situation. At the same time, if you are not familiar with the product, when a problem occurs in a certain link, you will have no countermeasures and cannot put forward suggestions. For example, when we ask the factory for a certain product, if we know this product very well in advance, it is difficult to judge whether the factory’s price is reasonable, and it is also difficult to negotiate a suitable price in time.
“Therefore, as an excellent foreign trade merchandiser, in order to make your work effective, you must first be familiar with the products you serve. There are five suggestions for familiarizing yourself with the products:
(1) If it is a manufacturing enterprise, you should go to the production workshop and sample making department more often; if it is a foreign trade company, you should also squeeze out time to go to the factory more often and learn from the operators and technicians.
(2) If you are taking over the work of a previous foreign trade merchandiser, you will learn a lot about the product by sorting out the letters you have communicated with customers before.
(3) Ask customers for advice more often. Since customers dare to place orders, it means that they have a certain understanding of the product, even if they are proficient. Foreign trade merchandisers should be more professional than customers. It is the most unwise thing to treat customers as fools.
(4) Ask seniors for advice more often, and if there are other foreign trade merchandisers, create opportunities to become their friends. If they are willing to impart knowledge and experience, then you will get twice the result with half the effort in understanding the product.
(5) Take notes frequently and be a thoughtful person. Organize the product-related knowledge in the daily order tracking process into documents and memorize them in mind.
(IV) Clear mind
Foreign trade merchandisers may be exposed to many orders every day, and the product specifications of each order are different, the order time is different, and the status is also different. At this time, foreign trade merchandisers need to keep a clear mind, all work must be in order, know what work is the most urgent, and distinguish between priorities. Sometimes there will be confusion between different orders from the same customer, different models of products in the same order, and the same model of products in different orders. A company may have different products, each product has different suppliers, and each supplier has many different models of product orders in operation, and these orders are at different progress. If the foreign trade merchandiser does not keep a clear mind, it is likely that he will mix up the orders and cause work confusion.
(V) Good work habits and work attitude An excellent foreign trade merchandiser must have a correct work attitude and be very serious and meticulous in his work, because mistakes can be made if he is not careful. At the same time, we must develop good work habits, learn to use various commonly used office software, and learn to design various forms to record our daily work content, so that there will be no omissions. Taking the most commonly used office software Excel as an example, each foreign trade merchandiser must design and establish various related forms in combination with his or her work content and nature, and complete each task step by step. Not only should every detail be known, but it should also be recorded in the form. Through the form, the work progress and status of the foreign trade merchandiser will be clear at a glance. (VI) Timely handling of abnormal events. There are many work links for foreign trade merchandisers, and problems may occur in each link. If they are not discovered and corrected in time, it will eventually affect the quality and delivery time of the order products, and then affect the customer’s impression of the company. When an abnormal situation occurs in a certain link, it should be raised in time, and the relevant personnel or departments should be required to correct it, and other personnel should be reminded to pay attention to this problem. If the problem is relatively large, you should find the relevant person in charge. For example, if there is a problem with the raw materials, you can find the purchaser; if there is a quality problem in the production process, you can find the factory manager; if there is a problem with the shipment, you can find the document clerk, etc. When a big problem occurs, it is important to find the right person to handle it in time. Don’t go to the operator of the event, because he has no right to make decisions and can’t come up with a solution. At this time, you have to find the person in charge. If it is a small problem, then let the operator solve it. At this time, it seems a bit of an exaggeration to go to the general manager or the person in charge of the company. Therefore, in order to deal with various abnormal events, foreign trade merchandisers must find the right person, spend the least time, and handle various problems at the fastest speed and highest efficiency.