(1) First, make a detailed record of the details of the customer’s negotiation to determine how strong the customer’s desire to buy is. In other words, you need to know whether he is a “real buyer” or a “buyer who is just asking for information.” Some customers actually already have a long-term and stable supplier, and they just use you as a reference for quotation. For such customers, it is best not to quote directly. Because it is not worth spending too much time and energy on such customers. It is not denied that there are customers who “sincerity can move mountains and open up new horizons”, but in general experience, there are too many customers who cheat for quotations and samples and information.
(2) As for the real and fake buyers, you can distinguish them through conversation (face-to-face interview, telephone, fax, E-mail) (the condition of this method is that the customer should respond to the questions you ask). Is he real or fake? Is he an expert or a novice? Just ask him a few key questions, such as: product specifications, technical parameters, the price he hopes to accept, the quantity he intends to order, what brand he makes, whether the brand has influence in the local area, which Chinese companies he has done business with, and how long he has been doing business with China, etc. Through these, you can roughly distinguish whether the customer is “real” or “fake”, “real” or “virtual”, and “big” or “small”.
(3) The strength of the customer can also be judged from the business cards provided by foreign companies, such as the area of the city where the customer’s company is located, how many telephone lines and fax lines it has, whether it has its own website, whether it is a retailer, wholesaler or importer, and whether it has represented some famous brands in the local area.
(4) Doing foreign trade is actually doing service. Whoever provides good service can win customers. Good service includes the following two aspects. First, the quotation should be appropriate, not too low or too high; good things should not be sold at a low price, and the price of ordinary products should not be high. Because customers often judge whether you are honest and familiar with the product from your quotation; if you quote a price far from the market for a very ordinary product, it means that you are not honest enough or you don’t understand this industry at all, and naturally others will disdain your fax.
Second, respond and reply to any information from customers in a timely manner; the reply to customers cannot be a simple question and answer, but should be as comprehensive and thoughtful as possible.