I'm a new buyer and I've managed to source three custom made items through two Alibaba suppliers. I was very lucky because both were very patient and we probably traded at least 100 emails before my products were finally delivered to me. I knew what I wanted but I didn't know everything the supplier needed to give me a quote so we emailed questions and answers. I looked at their products and chose the supplier because they made something similar to what I wanted. I expected the supplier to take the lead because they know what they can do for me. I expected them to tell me, yes we can do that (or not) or this is what we've done for others and this is what we can do for you. I was very excited to go through the process and work with very professional and caring suppliers. I was amazed at the speed of production once we all were in agreement of what I wanted. They never treated me as if I were a waste of time. I will always turn to them first when I need another quote. You will spend a lot of time and money looking for new customers i.e. the "no experience customer." But everyone has to start somewhere! It has been said that 80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers. My point is that if you take the time to educate your buyers you will cultivate a loyal customer.

Now let's talk from the buyer's point of view. I have seen several very interesting statements here that show the well founded frustration of certain sellers that deal with inexperienced buyers. We are a trade company, therefore, we buy and sell, which makes us be at both ends of the table and therefore we can judge better the why and how?

When we are in the sales chair, we treat inexperienced buyers equally as we would treat potential "real buyers" because the fact is simple, if the customer doesn't know about the product, and we educate him, not disclosing clue features of course as well as sources or soimply following someone's advise. move to the next one and forget about them if we indeed realize that they have no clue of what they want.

But.... what about when we sit in the buyer's chair? dealing with inexperienced sellers sadly the most common found in China. Poor English skills in many cases, not the representative's fault but clearly people without the proper training and or technical skills to manage such a position in the international market. It is very frustrating for an engineer (my case) having to deal with beginners in the other side of the line that in many times have absolutely no clue of what are they selling. Asking for technical sheets is a common practice in USA and in the most part of the world, I just dont understand how can a product be designed by a so called " manufacturer" and when you ask them for a technical sheet, they send you a "home made" excel or pdf file with "copy and paste" Internet pictures and a last minute made up technical information that is irrelevant or fake.

Dealing with suppliers that are not experts in their field (unfortunately the majority in search engines) is a very frustrating and time consuming experience that pushes many buyers to other suppliers. The lack of technical resources is devastating for a technical device. I have been dealing recently ith several companies that claim to be manufacturers of products that we distribute, when we ask them for technical information they are not capable of producing even the real CAD document that a real company has to have. It is impossible to design a product without proper documents and certificates, but when prompted for these documents they "make them right on the spot" this creates a vague sense of mistrust and sadly disqualifies many suppliers from entering successfully high end markets such as the US and Canada.

My advice: if you want to have quality buyers, become a quality seller. Offer professionally made catalogs, editable material, excel price lists, technical sheets for GOD sake! high definition pictures and a good customer support. If after you having all these tools you encounter a customer that "doesn't know what they want" then yes by all means let them go and move on, but before you complain about inexpert buyers, review your own selling policies and talk to real people from the region that you are trying to deal with, not every product is made for everyone and not everyone likes the same product. rule #1: study your market, your customer and provide the best possible service. The ample the information the lesser the questions, therefore the lesser headaches and no more time wasted for eithe party.

;)

I have ever co-operated with new customer in this way too. Due to the first year they do import business, they have no idea how to ask and what need pay attention to, which make me spent much time and do a lot of work to remind them the detail business issues. After half an year's hard communication and hard working, we have received a biggest order (as first order) and i am smiled with happiness.

No matter how customer is, but you need be harder, more patience and professional.

so we have to learn more , and need patient.

  I have the same experience with you and know your troubles.

it's not easy to say, i don't think a customer have no experience can find you on alibaba

sorry for your happened. i also in this trouble.

 

Actually,we do have to face these problems at sometimes.

As for me , I will give him(her) some alternatives for his(her) refference.

I also is a freshman in the export trade, I got all kinds of ideas through your question. sincerely regards to all of you!!! welcome to my site hppt:/www.cnhnyh.com

From a buyers perspective, I sometimes ask questions to get the supplier to respond in which I am looking for a few factors that help me choose my supplier. 1. Response Time - I cannot handle waiting for a response via messaging. 2. Understanding of English - Hard to do business if we miscommunicate 3. Eagerness to help - If i am designing something I need someone that can help with a solution. 4. Knowledge of their products - You would think all suppliers would know their stuff but I have found this to not be the case. 5. Willingness to talk $$ - Sometimes I get suppliers that dont want to give me a rough estimate. This is very irritating to me when I am trying to determine what options I want to choose and am not given a clear picture on what it will cost me for each option.