How to deal with a customer who asks about the price for the first time?
For large products, such as daily consumer goods, handicrafts, etc. Without analyzing the market and customer situation and sticking to a certain price, the scale of foreign trade quotation is very flexible in most cases, especially those quotations with relatively large profit margins, which often lose many transaction opportunities. Business is negotiated, and “asking for a high price and paying on the spot” can breed endless business opportunities. The basic principle is that the quotation is slightly higher for the market in developed countries in Europe and the United States, and slightly lower for developing countries or backward areas. As for products, the price of old style products is low, the price of conventional products is medium, and the price of new products is slightly higher.
For new customer inquiries, we do not know the customer’s specific ordering needs, psychological price, etc. If the price is low, even if the transaction is completed, there will be little profit; if the price is high, it may scare away customers and miss opportunities. At the same time, it is not ruled out that competitors may pretend to be customers to spy on business intelligence. Therefore, the price should be treated with caution, and it is true and false.
For customers you meet for the first time, it is best not to use formal words like “quote” to quote. A simple “price” is enough. You can even omit the word “price” and make it a “virtual offer”. The key to a virtual offer is to leave a tail to “hook” customers. A common example is to stipulate a minimum order quantity as one of the bargaining chips for future bargaining; a virtual offer is followed by a supplementary statement, “The above prices are for reference. As you understand, the prices will vary greatly depending on the order quantity, delivery time and payment method. Sometimes there will be a discount of up to 10%.” And so on.
From this “leaving a tail” method, two common quotation techniques have evolved: “low price leaving a tail” and “high price leaving a tail”.
The so-called low price refers to a quotation that is close to the cost price and has low profit, which is maintained by “running volume”; the high price is the price with expected higher profit.
“Low price with tail” means to quote a low price, but set a relatively large minimum order quantity, even much higher than the possible order quantity of the customer you estimate. The key is to use low prices to arouse the customer’s interest and provide a logical basis for future price increases – if the order quantity is not enough, the price will of course be a little more expensive.
“High price with tail” means to quote a high price, deliberately set a small order quantity (estimated that the customer can easily reach the quantity), and promise that if the quantity exceeds this, the price will be discounted. In addition, it means that according to different payment methods, a larger discount can be given. In short, the price is sky-high, but the customer is encouraged to pay on the spot.
Whether to use the low price method or the high price method depends on the customer’s situation. Generally speaking, you can first check the customer’s situation on the Internet. If you find that the customer has a large-scale website and branches, or spreads purchase information on the Internet, it is best to use the low price method for such customers, because you will have many competitors. At the beginning, the price is high and the customer will ignore you. On the contrary, for those middlemen who are not familiar with the industry, you can use the high price method, and take the initiative to introduce the “insider” product technology in the correspondence, deliberately complicate the situation, give customers a feeling that “this product is very particular, and laymen are easy to be fooled”, and finally, try to use the customer’s mentality of “spending money to buy a safe” to earn more.
In addition, when replying to inquiries, in addition to the price, try to attach some information about the product in the reply, such as packaging, container conditions, product pictures, etc. The purpose of this is to first give customers an idea of the price, and then introduce the basic situation of the product and industry trends, so that customers can strongly feel that they can understand the product information whether they contact you or not, and “it is worth contacting”. It should be noted that unless it is a one-time deal, otherwise when dealing with customers for the first time, the transaction is secondary, and the long-term and steady flow of water and trying to arouse the customer’s desire to “keep in touch” is the most important.
Some customers are relatively vague when inquiring, without specific styles, order quantities, target markets, and other parameters that can be used to measure and adjust prices. At this time, you cannot just sit and wait for the customer to express “clear intentions”, but try to get the customer to state his purpose. For example, after quoting a general FOB price, tell the customer “Please tell me the port of destination you need, I am happy to convert a CNF price for your reference”; or “Please tell me your possible order quantity and delivery time, and I will see if I can give you a good price or discount.” In this way, you can get the basic information of the customer, and then adjust the quotation in a targeted manner based on this information, so as to promote the transaction.