Middleman and Customer

Today I would like to share with you about how to seize the customers with middlemen, which should be recalled the 118th Canton Fair. At that time, I received a Foshan middleman and from chatting I found that he did the products sourcing for an Indian V brand. I knew this brand but just couldn’t find the relative person in charge at that time. And finally it was just given in canton fair to me, wasn't it a surprise?

While the threadbare problem of discount can’t be avoided, so the middleman won’t help sincerely to recommend our products. In this case, I had to keep on relying on myself. Although I wanted to find directly the Indian part key person it was not easy at all and I found some so-called people in charge after some time while none of them were in power. The follow-up came again into a deadlock.

In the early stage of this spring fair, I heard from others that they were coming to attend Canton Fair where I realized that the key person should come together. However, I didn't know how to contact the key person and not to mention his Chinese contact details. So it became the top priority for me to have customers visit our booth in the fair.

Only when I got the contact method of the customer can I raise the rate of customer visit. And I came up with a method just the day before the fair opening:

I rang the Indian office and said that I’ve made an appointment with the purchasing manager but I can’t find him till now, so I wished they can offer his Chinese number. Later, the office person gave me a Chinese number and I contacted the manager at once. I introduced us by constant messages and calls even if he was not impressive of us at that time. However, he gradually showed interest in our products after the calls and messages. Therefore, in the first morning of Canton Fair, the customer came along with boss and other several people to our booth, of course, and their middleman.

Although this middle man didn’t help us to recommend our goods, we received him as a significant customer. During negotiation, I offered my seat to him for not enough seats and kept on making records on foot. Meanwhile, I handed water and beverages to him as other customers. I thought the middleman could understand our sincerity from heart and he didn’t raise an objection during negation. Although we didn't expect him to recommend us to customer greatly, we can understand that his not obstructing was the biggest support to us. In addition, we tried to recommend our products to customers and provided some goods display which together won the trust of customer quickly and achieved the final order.

I gain much more from this fair than the former fairs and I wish you have got what you want from these three practical experiences I shared. Good Luck!