It's not worth it to lose your order on such a small thing

1. I often receive questions from students. Do you want free samples? The samples are already free, does the express still have to be borne by the customer? Now the courier fee is very high. Let's talk about this again today. In fact, it depends on the specific situation. If it is Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, it is very cheap. I sent it to Taipei by SF Express for dozens of dollars, so there is no need for the customer to bear it. But if it is a complete stranger with no obvious intention, then in Ghana, Africa, he wants a sample. The sample itself may not be worth much, but the courier fee will be three or five hundred, or even higher. At this time, we can discuss with the customer and ask the other party to provide the payment account number, which is reasonable. However, if some customers have a high degree of intention and have been talking for a long time, it is also a problem if we make it difficult for others to move forward on a little detail at this time. In many cases, it is not that customers are unwilling to pay, because customers also have to apply and go through the process in their company, which is more troublesome. The buyer thinks it is difficult for you to negotiate, but another supplier is very happy, so talk to someone else. At this point, you may have lost a precious opportunity on such a small matter. Many people may say that the samples sent may not have the following, isn't it a waste? But I'm not thinking about whether this project will lose money or not. I'm thinking of a total amount. For example, I prepared samples for 100 different customers and sent them samples. Assuming that the average investment of each customer is 200 yuan, for 100 customers, our total investment is 20,000 yuan. Among these 100 customers, winning three or five, that is, a conversion rate of 3% to 5%, should not be a problem. And I believe that with my ability, I can have a conversion rate of more than 10%, and I can earn it back no matter what. In fact, what I want to tell everyone is, don't worry about and struggle with these small investments, it will waste a lot of your energy, and it will also make you miss a lot of opportunities. Let me tell a story here, my former boss, I learned a lot from him at that time. The biggest point is that I can see from him his dedication and support to customers. This is also the reason why he was able to do so much back then. In 2007, he would be able to do more than 200 million a year. 2. Once I was quoting and preparing samples for a trading company in Hong Kong. Because I know the habit of the boss, even if the price of the sample is very high, he never asks the customer to charge a penny, so he makes a special proofing for the customer. Proofing seems to cost more than 10,000 yuan, because he wants to make a prototype, and the mold maker has not opened the mold, but it costs about 10,000 yuan to make a prototype, including the plastic box on the outside. Then we asked how much the factory needed to charge when we purchased from the supplier. At that time, there were only a few accessories, because we had other things, but for a few accessories, the factory said it would charge 100 RMB. But in fact, we know that this accessory costs only one or two yuan. If the factory thinks that you want a sample, then I will ask for 100 yuan, and I can refund you when you place an order. I told the boss that the factory needs to charge 100 yuan, so I will call the factory again in the afternoon and try to get a free sample. The boss was not happy at that time, he told me, you waste your time in this kind of place? The precious time in the afternoon is not used to communicate with customers. You use it to tangle with the factory. Is it 100 yuan, 50 yuan or no payment? Am I missing this 100 yuan? I invited you to do business today. You have to serve customers well, not to save me 100 yuan by spending 2 hours here. Is my company raising you just for you to do these things? Don't stretch this front, the important thing is that you have to move the project forward quickly. Whether it's 100 yuan, 50 yuan, or 0 yuan, it doesn't matter. Because the upper and lower limits are 0 and 100, it's not worth your time. We should put our energy into making the factory continue to do it quickly. We can send samples this afternoon and send them to customers tomorrow. This is the boss's thinking. In another case, a small clerk from a purchasing office was visiting our company. There was indeed a price quotation in the early stage, but the purchasing office was a little-known company, and a lot of samples were sent, but there was no transaction yet. When I came to visit, the boss asked me to receive the colleague from the purchasing office. He first asked me to go to the finance department to pay 4,000 yuan. Why am I still trying to withdraw four thousand dollars? He told me to immediately find one of the best French or Japanese restaurants of the kind and treat the client to a good evening meal. What I thought at the time was that 4,000 yuan is not a small amount. My salary was only 2,000 to 3,000 yuan at that time, and I was a person who had not had any business dealings. And what are his thoughts? It's about investing in clients and leaving no stone unturned, that's how he does things. I told him later that this customer does not necessarily have an order, and he is the purchasing office, not the buyer, and has no decision-making power. He told me that you are wrong to think so. Although this person can't decide anything, I gave him a lot of respect today, which is something he can't enjoy on other suppliers' side. So does he feel indebted to us? With the feeling of indebtedness, he will share some information within the company with us, which means we have acquired a valuable insider, right? After another dozen private friendships, he will definitely be inclined towards us for the quotations of some projects in the future. What about the low price of peers? He told us privately, we got the inside story right away, and I can get stuck at that point every time, right? Then we send him samples, and he can send them abroad as soon as possible. If others send them, he will press him for half a month, right, and the business will naturally pick up later. The boss is like this, thinking about being a person rather than doing things. As an employee, it may be difficult for him to increase his salary by 100 yuan, but he is very willing to invest in customers. This is one reason why many clients basically never leave after doing business with him. Because it was so comfortable and smooth, he thought about everything and arranged everything. At that time, the company's internal employees were lost from time to time, but the performance only increased, because the customers were too stable. This also guided my work for many years in the future, from a small private company to Fortune 500, to Wal-Mart, to Li & Fung in Hong Kong, because I learned from him to spare no effort in investing and supporting customers. Many foreign trade counterparts may not agree, and everyone's way of thinking is indeed different. But, it doesn't matter, that's because you haven't experienced these things, and you're not in this position. Everyone's thinking boundaries are not the same. Maybe at some point in the future, after you have really experienced a lot, you will feel that what I said today is true.

Reprinted from: [Yi Bingmi Lesson] If there is any infringement, please contact to delete