It's obvious that I need to learn something for this job,to work in a foreign purchasing office helping with their business in china.



What can I do to be qualified for this job?

Thanks,

Replying to [tianye]:
Is there anyone who can help ?
I will be highly appreciated .

Replying to [tianye]:
You can either be Book Smart and to get an MBA degree, or be Street Smart like many people you can find doing the ground works here in Alibaba.

To learn from experience takes longer time, and the correct amount of exposure and the ability to discern the software of things that is running.

Street Smart

Replying to [tianye]:Proper communication & constant Followup are the key to success in this kind of jobs.

Replying to [tianye]: Start thinking for the buyer profit...Give him good service for his orders, proper follow-ups.

Replying to [Street Smart]:
Thanks very much.I need to learn something about supplier delopment and audit ,and quality control.
I am just having my future with multiple choices ,not "suspended in one tree "in a chinese word.

Last time ONE US customer visited our factory.I picked him up in person and then sent him back to hotel.We talked a lot and he gave me some suggestions to learn these .In this case,I will make my future more bright,at least I think.
Thanks again,street smart,please give more comments.

Replying to [Deepali]:
You're right,this is what I have to do.
Thanks for your comment.

Replying to [Ammeet]:
I didn't mean that.I mean what qualifications Such as working experiences,communication ability,certificates,etc?

Dear tianye:

When I am at your age, I worked very hard on two jobs, came home late every day, at eight in the evening.

And after marriage and my first child, I applied for another job, in a MNC factory producing medicine, and stopped working part time for the other company, and earning more than before. I took up night cl to further my studies.

However my life story may be different from yours, and the place and opportunities are different, so I would not expect you to follow the same path to success.

There is one most important aspect about your work, that is to be happy in what you are doing and to have a clear career destination. From this persepection, I could say that most small, locally run companies have poor job prospects (head way in Chinese), and most of them practice nepotism. That is to put their son, or son-in-law or nephew or kin folk on the top position, no matter how good you can be.

If you feel that your future prospects is not good, than take the opportunity to seek for employment elsewhere.

The American says : "Jump out of the -hole, don't be stuck in the mire." I watched a movie titled "HELLO AMERICA" and the story is about a young television weather presentator working for a small network in Chicago.

He was deep in the mud with problems: family problems, his son aged 14 got molested by a Sodomist, and his 12 year old daughter got involved with smoking. His wife was having affair with another man because he has to work long hours, and coming home late. His father was a writer and a good confidente to him, and he got cancer. Everywhere he goes at the streets of Chicago, people throw food at him, like ice-creams, chocolate puddings, pizza and hamburgers. At first, he thought it was accidental, as he stood near a garbage bin, they could have missed the bin and hit him, but where there were not rubbish cans around half eaten food was thrown at him.

He told his dad about all his woes, his dad told him to get out of the hole. He applied for job in New York TV station: Hello America. Went for an interview and got the job at a salary of $1.5 million dollars a year.

His life changed thereafter, no more things being thrown at him, and people on the street treat him with respect. You can be like this weather forecaster.

Street Smart

Replying to [Street Smart]:
Thank you for the enlightened story.Exactly,it's important to get fun from working days ,after all most of our time is spent on working .

My life goal is to own a trading company,but it's not so realistic and will be needing longer time.In order to achieve this goal ,I have to be started from sales,just like my present work.So I am eager to develop myself and my business in a short time. but you know "more haste,less speed"
the major problem I am thinking of is the growing speed .It's important and as time goes,the pressure on my shoulder will come up.So I have to make correct choices.

Working in this company,I have got some orders but not very large value and I think it's not so easy to develop customers.Part of reasons is from myself and the other is the company ,I believe.
If you have some better suggestions on this matter,please advise.

Replying to [Street Smart]:

Let's continue with the business development.I think you must have
rich experiences.For an order,the first step should be the quotation.
after receiving the enquiry,I won't quote at once but ask somequestions required for me to know what's the other party about.
Some answer me and I quote them together with some details such as payment term,price term,packing,and delivery time.for some,there are no replies.So I just delete them.

Questions 1 for you :Is it very important to do this job before quotation?

For those I have quoted,I will do follow-ups on a regular basis .Some questions I often use are 1.ask them if they receive our quotation as a reminder 2.ask them if they have any questions with such price
Some reply quickly but some not.I find if our price is far away from their target ,they are not used to come back.If our price is good,they tell me the fact and let me wait for further news,if our price is a little higher,they may ask us to do something with it ,namely reduce price.

Question 2:In your experience,how to do this job(followups)well?

For those who have approved such prices and ready to place orders,especially for those agents,they have a couple of suppliers whose prices are close to us.In this situation ,what need I do to win orders ?
When something like this confronts me,I am disgusted to launch price war but to say something which pulls us relationship.I pay much attention to our service and it help us build friendship.

Question 3:If you were me ,what will you do to win their preference?

At last,for those who have placed orders with us ,but for the first time the value is small,and next order is still pending .For the most part,I would like to ask directly when they place formal orders and order plan for coming months.In this case,I guess some people are just waiting .Some people take some masures to push them.

Question 4:What's your practice?

Street smart uncle ,please share your opinions .I appreciate it.