What can we do,when we reply the customers' e-mail,and there is nothing to do?

Kaka,


That is a question which all sales people should know the answer.


Some products are very technical and specific, there are lots of jargon, and technical terms. The product you have in your Website is in this category, and ordinary people would not be the most likely prospects looking for your product. On the other side of the coin, the sales person must have the technical knowledge of the product at the back of his/her hand. This is important for the sales person to make a sale, or close a deal with the customer.


People will ask questions like: what are the differences between this coaxial cable and that? What are the applications and in what environment or condition is this type being used? Selling electronic or electrical items, the basic knowledge is basic electricity, or physics, such as Current, Resistance, electro-magnetic field, interference, noise to signal ratio, connectors, insulation, and so on.

Your company should have a Data Book on the various types of cables your factory is producing. From the data book, the specifications are given, and their characteristics, and finally their costs. Everybody knows that Gold is an excellent conductor of electricity, but why not all cables are made of Gold? ... because they are expensive. If you want to buy a cable to connect to your TV Antenna, you do not need to have Gold cable, only Copper wire will do, and some low resistance Oxygen-free Copper wires for the speakers with low Ohms connection. That is the technical part.


Now, the commercial part and the salesmanship part. Good sales person communicates well with his/her customer/s. Some of the customers may not be so technical minded, and you need to explain in ordinary terms, or give layman examples. They may not know Ohm's Law, and you have to explain in terms that they can understand. Like water flowing through a pipe, the smaller the pipe, the lesser water flowing through, so this is resistance and the flow is the current. Then if you apply a higher voltage, more current flows through the same cable, so as you apply a higher pressure, you will get more water flowing through. That is why they use GIANT CABLES for their amplifier output to the speakers. The most important part of sales is able to relate to people, and then make the quotation.



to continue.

After quotation and offering the right solution (not product only) to the client, you must do follow-ups. We made some surveys on Successful Salesman, and the more follow ups s/he makes, the better chance of getting the order. We came across some incidences where the sales person fully depend on their emails to make quotations and receive orders. This is not wrong, but you have to apply Murphy's Law to almost everything in life, ask yourself : "If anything that can go wrong, will go wrong with my quotation."

We have a real case where the sales person sent the quotation by email. She did it in PDF format, and this particular version uses the Korean Script encoder. The customer did not receive the quotation, saw a blank page with lots of garbled codes and they deleted the incoming mail, afraid of getting virus. This customer is in Singapore, and the Sales Person in South Korea, sole dependence on the OUTLOOK system. I phoned the client, and they say no quotation, then I asked the Korean sales person to send by facsimile, she did and got the order. Most customer will not call you or even bother to ask you if you have sent quotation, it is only up to the seller to ask. Our German principal has even a more agressive approach. After they sent quotation for your inquiry, they expect some feedback from you, and after a period of 4 weeks, they send a Question form which:


Dear Mr So and So,


'May we draw your attention to above mentioned offer. Reference to your enquiry, and our offer number dated XX/XX/2009. We have not heard anything from you in this matter, therefore we would be pleased if you inform us, if there is still a demand in your house.


Please cross the according statement and inform us:


(  )  Offer is still open / no decision.

(  )  No actual demand.

(  )  We need more information.

(  )  Other supplier.

(  )  Another technique was used.


If there are still technical problems or question concerning prices, please don't hesitate to contact us again.


In case of an order, we hope to satisfy you with competitively priced goods in a high quality.


We are waiting to hear from you and remain.


With best regards,


Street Smart

keep customer saving ugrated products

Dear fellow members,


My texts and writings, are many, and they are free counsels to many newbies (green hands) and I hope they help you. However, I will be discouraged just like any other contributor in the forum, if these many hours of tedious writings are not taken into account, and the readers simply ignore them or find it hard to read, as they are long and sometimes boring.


The answers to your questions are already answered by the e-Business concept itself. In our lifetime, every institution of learning has its purpose, and they are all credible and worthy of their cause.


You asked: After Quotation - what next? Followups are very important to sales management. Most of all, you should maintain a level of communication with your prospects (they are not your customers yet). However, there is also a cycle of sequence of action and 'programs' you need to do, and if after doing all these, and still not getting any response, DROP IT. You should let them go, and not spend any more time on the suspect, and go to the next suspect and prospect.


My materials on CRM will be valuable and precious to those who recognise it as important tools for their trade, but will be just a passing decoration on the pages of this forum if they are not taken into account and followed. Salesmanship is a skill, just like any other skill, or techniques, it must be practised, steps followed and mastered. Like what I saw among the Shaolin monks, they practice martial art skills and exercise them since very young, and learn them for years.... of course under the coaching of a Shaolin master. So, please go on practising your sales and marketing skills and become a Master Sales Person.


Thank you for reading.


Street Smart

I am green hand here.And I have read a few articles of yours.Even though I haven't kept them on my mind,I have known a lot.Because you can share your experience of international trade with us.Some of the messages maybe can help us in the future even at this moment.

Chen Guoqiang, I am also Chinese, just like you. We are very conscious of our face.

But when we want to learn some skills from someone, we have to put this aside, and would even do the works to serve the Master, so we can learn from him, and he will be willing to impart his skills on us.

Like the many Kung Fu serial movies and stories I read from the story books of the martial art world in China, and even in other parts of the world, where the practice of Master and Apprentice has the divides. To a certain degree, the skills will be imparted, and there is also the responsibility of the follower to do what the Master says and keep on practising and repeating it until s/he is ingrained with it.

Here, I have volunteered to impart what ever I have learned from my past experience as a Sales Person, which is on my personal level. The ways may be not correct, or not the practice of others, or inferior to the other methods that others do, that is alright. I would not say my method is the best, neither it is the only method, you may find some useful points and some not so useful, and adopt some and discard the others.

However, based on what the Sales and Marketing Management classes teach, the follow ups after quotation is the key to many successful sales. It is communication, which builds strong bonds with the customers and makes them feel that they are happy after buying your products, and they will give you more orders in the future.

Street Smart 

,thanks for your valued sugesstions and experience.it's very useful for green person,