No matter what kind of company you are in, comprehensive or professional, state-owned or private, if you want to start your own business, the most important thing is to decide what you do or the positioning or direction of your products, not what customers you are. In other words, you have to have products before you have customers, instead of looking for customers first and then looking for products. I believe that customers will always be more professional than you. What they want is product, price, quality and service. That's what I did online. Seeing that a guest wanted to buy a padlock, I immediately searched a bunch of lock factories. When you see the information of toys, go to the manufacturer of toys immediately; It can be said that weapons and ammunition were not found at that time, and everything else was tried. The result can be imagined. Because there is no product direction, you can only stick one hammer in the east and one hammer in the west; Because you don't have a product direction, you won't be professional and don't understand products. How to find a good product, a good factory and a good price if the product is not professional? Without good products and good prices, how can customers give you orders so easily?
As a newcomer, in the absence of predecessors to teach you, we must first locate our own product direction, and then accumulate and learn step by step. To make clothes, we must first understand clothes; If you want to make hardware, you must understand its technology. Don't want to do this or that. Unprofessional, nothing can be done well. With good products, there will be good customers and good orders. Imagine if you were a buyer, would you trust a supplier who can quote immediately when you see the sample, or would you trust a supplier who said wait for me to check with the factory?
When I first entered the company, the supervisor gave me three sentences:
1, you never know what the guests are thinking (so don't guess);
2. You never know if what you are doing is right (so don't be timid);
You never know whether today's customers will become competitors tomorrow (so no matter how good the relationship is, some things should be kept secret).
The experience of finding customers is as follows:
1, please reply in time when you receive the guest information. Even a reply in a popular format will let the guests know your efficiency and respect for the guests. Sometimes when you think about how to reply and quote, the guests have already flown away. This is especially important for those businesses that advertise on Ali or global sources and have a lot of news every day.
2. If the guest says that he wants to inspect the factory, your chance will come. Don't bother. Only big customers will inspect the factory before placing an order.
Don't brag too much about the existing performance to the willing customers.
You must do what you promised, even if you can't finish it, you should tell the guests in advance, and don't wait until the guests ask. Honesty is too important, not only for the company, but also for the individual. Even if the list is not made, at least the integrity in front of the guests is retained, which is of great benefit to the business and future development.
5. Be skillful in quoting. There have been many posts on this issue, but I don't feel bad, because some factories and businesses have quoted sky-high prices (3~4 times higher than other factories! ! ), I am embarrassed to say that I am because of my excellent quality. Now I ask what's good about it, and I say engineers know better, but I don't know! ! Guests are not stupid. If the price of MP3 with the same capacity is high in Bisogni, who will be interested?
6. In the factory, customers complain that the price is too high. I always say, you get what you pay for, and you get a good reply. After entering the trading company, I realized that price is the last word, especially for big guests, the consideration of price is definitely higher than the consideration of quality. And don't think that others can't do the price you can't do. You have a penny here, and other factories can have half a cent. Take the electronics factory as an example. There are more than 3,000 large and small in Dongguan, Guangdong, and customers have a wide choice. Therefore, when the customer threatens to transfer the order without reducing the price, don't think that it can't be transferred at his price.
7. Business awareness is crucial. This thing is difficult to describe. Simply put, it can find out what is the most important factor for guests when considering whether to place an order.
8. Don't say "no" to the guests easily. Smooth control is a good choice. For example, the target price of guests is really impossible. You can say "I'll help you and your boss fight for it again" or recommend products that can reach the target price to the guests.
9. When attending the exhibition, I like to go on the first day best, because except the first day, most exhibitors have lost their passion and are almost tired of looking for prices for their guests. Those businesses that think they have a golden eye treat their guests differently. These are all fatal. The exhibition lasts only a few days, so please give full play to the spirit of 12 and give a good impression to every guest who comes to your booth.
10, sitting in the office, repeating the same work, sending emails, receiving emails ... Many people have been working for months, but they have not received any orders, not even a clue. I believe that most salesmen have experienced such a situation. I had the same confusion when I was in the factory. When I came to the trading company, I realized that the original customer development had no purpose, that is, there were no key customers at all, just general contacts, so it was naturally difficult to be effective. In business, before you start sending emails to new guests, make sure that your emails are valuable to them. For example, if you are making cheap small gifts and want to explore the American market, you should know that the target customers are Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree and Dollar General ... Stationery companies should know that the target customers are OFFICE MAX and OFFICE DEPOT…… ... Home appliances companies should know CIRCUITCITY, RADIO SHACK and STAPLES…… ... Only one of these customers needs to be captured, and the business volume is enough for the boss to laugh for several months.
1 1. Questions about quotation. Now most customers have their own quotation formats, which are convenient for comparison, but some factories can't understand or even be lazy, so they can't fill in the quotation in time, completely and correctly. They always feel that their quotations are ok, and there is no need to fill in such complicated things. But from the customer's point of view, if a factory worker can't even do such a simple thing as quotation, how can he trust you with the order?
12, questions about business skills. If you want to be a real enterprise, you should pay attention to things other than foreign trade. I mean, besides documents, customs declaration and other things that only foreign trade will involve, you should learn more business skills from domestic salesmen. Although everyone faces different markets and guests, their business skills are interoperable.
13. About the mode of payment. In foreign trade business, the payment risk is very high. Therefore, when considering payment methods, we should first pay attention to controlling risks. Everyone understands this truth. Then, if the payment method of the guest conflicts with your risk control and affects the transaction, how can we get the order and ensure payment? I have no choice but to go to China Export Credit Insurance Corporation. Although the procedure is complicated, once it is underwritten, it is absolutely safe.
14. The relationship between the enterprise and the boss. When I negotiate with the factory, I obviously feel that it is more effective to talk to the boss than to talk to the merchant, because the merchant never knows where the boss's bottom line is, which brings up a question, how much should the merchant know when preparing for the negotiation. Don't think that the boss will trust you and throw you the BOM. How to grasp the boss's mentality is also something a salesman should learn, especially when the price can't be negotiated properly.
15, this article should be specially given to the salesmen in the factory. Factories, especially large ones, have poor service awareness. When I say service, I don't mean that guests come to serve tea, but that in our daily communication and problem handling with guests, we should not only have the consciousness of doing a good job in products, but also have the consciousness of doing a good job in services. For example, I asked a company to help me make samples. He felt bored and complained that I was the most annoying of his guests. Imagine if the hotel waiter complained about the guests while pouring tea. Here, I would like to remind some young female businessmen not to play the lady's temper or coquetry in front of the guests, even if they usually have a good relationship with the guests. Foreign trade merchants pay attention to rigorous and meticulous style, and must never show the face of a little woman in front of guests.
16. Now some marketing books emphasize that salespeople must be neither humble nor humble when meeting customers. However, many businesses are not humble and indifferent in front of customers. Forget cool. I don't know many questions, even the basic situation of the factory. It seems easy to be modest to put on a look of "your question is ridiculous", but at the same time, modesty is not that simple.
17. At school, I also took some courses in marketing, including psychology, but now it seems that those things are beyond the grasp of people with few years of social experience like me, especially in foreign trade. The interpersonal relationship is relatively simple, and it is basically impossible to accurately grasp the psychology of the guests in the negotiation. Therefore, without complicated ideas, don't waste time and energy guessing what the guests are thinking, and don't make any judgments based on guesses. All judgments must be based on facts.
18, a customer contact list is very important. It's best to compile one in your OUTLOOK and send out some new products and quotations every once in a while. Although it is only a little effort, it can leave a deep impression on customers. In fact, the number of valuable guests is limited. After pre-screening and screening, how to get potential customers to place orders has become the first priority, and making customers impress you is the first step to success.
19, guests are human beings, and they will be confused and make mistakes, and they will be impolite. Therefore, for those guests who don't scold enough to make the people angry, they must be scolded, and they must be severely scolded. But after scolding, you must call to explain that you are too young and impulsive, so as not to sulk in your chest and offend your guests.
20. Doing business in a factory often feels that purchasing and finance are more difficult than customers, and a lot of time and energy are spent on internal friction. Now that I think about it, if I want to get the support within the company, I must pay attention to good interpersonal relationships and guard against arrogance and rashness.
2 1. If you are not just a factory or a simple product (then you can't do much), then don't shy away from being a trader. Never be smart enough to try to hide your role from customers. Face it frankly. After all, TRADER is not your first concept in international trade around the world. Customers are people who have been in this industry for many years. Any industry has certain patterns and rules of the game, so as long as customers know the value and role of your existence, they will like your role. Don't try every means to avoid it, for fear that customers will see the factory and others will know that you don't have a company, and so on. It's all a trick in a trick If you are not a thief, it will make people think you are a thief. Can you make others believe you?
22. Grasp the core thing. For example, seize the trademark printing authorization, customer-specified technical design scheme, etc. , at least this. What's left is just unimportant things. Actually, you don't have to pay the factory. We must break the stereotype that we can't do anything without money. There is a saying in Taiji Zhuan called "Follow the trend", which is actually a very profound business knowledge. Whether you can follow the trend is also the embodiment of your comprehensive ability.
23. In-depth analysis of what foreign customers are most worried about when doing business with domestic suppliers. It takes seven inches to hit a snake! Then take targeted measures, which is the meaning of your role.
Don't limit your vision to the circle of foreign trade, be a high-level foreign trade expert. The strategic layout, perspective, comprehensive quality and ability he needs are by no means a foreign trade salesman, only knowledge of foreign trade processes and documents is enough. Don't forget, once you become SOHO, you are the boss, not just a salesman. You need to look at the problem from a higher angle. Reading more strategic articles and historical classics is absolutely necessary for you to think from a different angle, look at the problem more comprehensively and try to figure out your opponent's psychology more effectively. For example, many articles in TOM Forum and Powerful Country Online are very deep.
25. Let me give you a prologue of Sun Tzu's Art of War. "In the past, good soldiers were invincible first, and the enemy could win. You can't beat yourself, but you can beat the enemy. Therefore, a good soldier can be in an invincible position and cannot let the enemy be in an invincible position. Therefore, it is said that knowing victory is not doing it. " You got it? In a word, if you want to take part in Huashan sword talk, you should practice martial arts first.
26. Everyone knows that goods are branded. In fact, individuals also have brands. Set up your own brand (note that it is not a trademark), and buyers and sellers will infect each other with their own brands, so that the other party will be impressed by your personality charm, so that they will not talk about too many conditions with you.
27.B2B must find customers.
28, find customers through search, Ali has many such articles, so I won't say it.
29. A successful foreign trader knows what to do in a day? What did you do? What would you do?
Once you feel that you really can't find a way out in this industry, don't be discouraged, give up bravely and change industries. In fact, after so much experience, my only feeling is that it is easy to win and difficult to lose. Giving up is sometimes really a state. Not everyone can face giving up calmly, especially when you have to give up something.
3 1, note: the real essence of foreign trade: you are not right, you are a marketing role. There are essential differences, so I won't say much. Experience it for yourself. You and the customer are not in a supply relationship, but two different links in the supply chain. Good customers are importers, wholesalers and retailers are not good customers, and the order volume is small and unstable. Importers still have downstream links.