Alibaba.com Online Training Course How to Respond to Buyer Inquiries Alibaba Gold Supplier Service Team

1. Alibaba.comThank you for attending theCourse
Good afternoon. Online Training webinar .
The topic today is “How to follow up inquiries and make
the deal”. Hope the information we share today can help
How to Respond tofor your Alibaba business.
Buyer Inquiries
you to get more inspiration
Alibaba Gold Supplier Service Team
It will start at 16:30 (Beijing Time)
Thanks again for coming!

2. Agenda
Understanding Your Buyers and Group Inquiries
General Rules To Reply Inquires
Quotation Samples

3. Top 3 Considerations When Buyers Choose Suppliers

4. What Concerns the Buyers most in dealing with new
suppliers

5. Research from Nielsen
What are the key elements on the first contact?
Understanding of Buyers’ Needs
63%
Suppliers’ Response Time
55%

6. How Do You Group Inquires?
According to information provided in an inquiry, we divide
inquiries into 4 main types:
Specific and detailed inquiries
Specific but brief inquiries
General inquiries
Advertisement and spam

7. Type 1: Specific And Detailed Inquiries (Top Priority)
•
I am interested in importing royal jelly powder from your country. And our company is located in Busan.
We have many natural food distributors in Korea. If you can fulfill my following request, please contact me.
•
Color: milky white or light-yellow
Appearance: powder, 100 mesh
Odor: pure fragrance peculiar to royal jelly
Taste: acid, pucker, sweet aftertaste
Moisture: 5%
…
Quantity Required: 1,000 kilograms
Shipping Terms: FOB
Destination Port: Busan, Korea
Payment Terms: T/T
•
Thank you
Jerry Wales
Sales Manager
•
ABC company
Email: xxx@xxx.com
•
Tel…
Specific requirement
Purchasing conditions
Payment Terms preferred
Complete contact information

8. Type 2. Specific But Brief Inquiries (High Priority)
Our company is specialized in tools and small machines sale in US. We are interested in your
Gas Cutter Machine. Could you send me your catalogue with price list?
1. Please indicate if you would like to send samples of some selected products (FREE OF
CHARGE) for inspection prior to place orders.
2. Please indicate any discounts or special offers for quantity orders.
In the first instance, please send all correspondence to: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Thank you
Jenny Wanda
Sales Manager
Email: xxx@xxx.com
Only product name, no specific requirement

9. Type 3. General Inquiries (Low Priority)
•
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are interested in your products which I saw in Alibaba and we sincerely hope to
establish a long-term business relation with your esteemed corporation. Please kindly
send me your catalog.
•
Thank You
Johnson Kell
Sales Manager
Email: xxx@gmail.com
No product name and no product details

10. Type 4. Advertisement And Spam (Least Priority)
Example 1:
dear sir
Good Day!
Promote their own product to you
im a factory from china .
i can offer cellphone ,but your qty is very big
this is right ?
if you have interesting
A huge amount of profit mentioned at first
Example 2:
Dear Sirs,
I am Mr. Ali Buba, Bill and Exchange manager, Bank of Africa Ouagadougou Burkina Faso. I have a profiling
amount in an excess of US$18 Million, which I seek you to accommodate for me. You will be rewarded with
40% of the total sum for your partnership. Can you handle this
I need your assistance in transferring the sum of ($18 Million) eighteen million US Dollars into your account within 7
to 10 banking days.

11. Agenda
Understanding Your Buyers and Group Inquiries
General Rules To Reply Inquires
Quotation Samples

12. General Rules To Reply Inquires
1. Analyze before making quotation
2. Reply efficiently
3. Track after quotation

13. Analyze Your Buyers:
Before making your quotation, investigate who are our
buyers and what they need.
 Study their demands from inquiry
 Go through their company website
 Search from Google or other Search Engines
 Learn from Customer Reports by third party
……

14. Reply Efficiently
 Timely Response (Reply within 12 hours; keep TradeManager online)
 Answer all buyers’ concerns
 Make a clear but attractive quotation
Display your products together with pictures and brief
description. (Excel or Word Format is recommended)
List the price and also the shipping cost if necessary.

15. Track Your Buyers:
 Add potential buyers in Contacts
 Send a follow-up email after 2 or 3 days if no feedback
 Contact by other communication tools, such a telephone, fax,
TradeManager, etc.
 Bring your greetings in festivals or send your new products to them if
necessary

16. Agenda
Understanding Your Buyers and Group Inquiries
General Rules To Reply Inquires
Quotation Samples

17. Quotation Sample: Specific And Detailed
Point out when you received the inquiry.
Dear Mr ABC,
We are pleased to receive your inquiry of Aug. 2nd and to hear that you are interested in our plush toys.
Our company, Universal Trading Co., Ltd, was established in 1998. …
Model No.: 105023658
Product Origin: India
Price Terms: FOB Mumbai Other Price Terms: CIF London
Delivery Lead Time: 30 days
Certification(s): EN71, EN50088, EMC
Shipment: To be effected within 2 months from receipt of the relevant L/C by Maersk Line.
Payment: By sight L/C, T/T
We will keep this offer valid only for 7 days.
Give a short introduction
about you to your buyer
As we are receiving orders day to day and our present stocks are nearly exhausted, we would advise you to place an order as soon as
possible if deliveries are required to be prompt.
We are looking forward to your initial order. Thanks and best regards,
Yours Faithfully
Mairaj Ali
Export Dept.
A.B. Technology Co., Ltd
Email: mairaj@abtech.com
Letter body should contain the detail
description of your product, such as
functions, color, size, delivery time and
packing
Your contact details must be input at
the end of quotation.

18. Quotation Sample: Specific But Brief Inquiries
Dear Jack,
Thank you for your kindly inquiry dated on Apr. 9th regarding the Gas Cutter Machine. And I have visited your company website and
known that your company is nearby Los Angeles. So the price for Gas Cutter Machines is as follows on the term of CIF Los Angeles in
USD.
Gas Cutter Machine Mode No. NB-PB-037P USD32.56/Set
Check buyers’ company information from internet and company
Gas Cutter Machine Mode No. NB-PB-037H USD39.75/Set
websites, and give quotation as per buyer’s local market needs.
The payment term will be 30%T/T for deposit and the balance against the copy of B/L. And the L/C is also available for the first order.
All of our Gas Cutter Machines are meet the American API standard and best seller in North America. They would be double checked
through our special examining instruments on our product line. Replacement Parts be packed separately with manual guide on the bottom
of the carton who is free of charge.
12 Sets of Gas Cutter Machine be piled in a pallet. 16 pallets exactly fill a 20 feet container. The lead time is 3 weeks once the order is
confirmed.
There will be highly appreciated if you could let us get your opinion on our quotation. Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thank
you.
Mary Li
Sales Manager
ABC Manufacturer Co., Ltd.
Tel: +86-571-0000000

19. Quotation Sample: General Inquiries
•
Dear Mr. Sunny,
Thank you for your email of Sep. 6th, 2011.
We are able to produce 3 series of starter batteries, namely BCI (Battery council
international), DIN (German standard) and JIS (Japanese Standard) batteries. From your
website, I get to know that your company has kept a long-term business relationship with
some Japanese carmakers. So I figure the batteries you are using should be JIS series.
Here I am sending you the specification of this series of batteries for your reference.
…
We hope our products can meet your need and we may establish a long-term steady
business relationship.
•
James Martin
Export Dept.
A.B.C. Co., Ltd
Email: james@abc.com
Tel: 66-xxxxxxxxx
Check the buyer’s company information from internet
to further evaluate what exactly the buyer may want
and give quotation with specific requirement.

20. Why Buyers do not contact you?
Price ok but
pending final
decision
Too busy
Price not
acceptable
Hope to get price
list
No interest
Reserving
suppliers

21. How to deal with it ?
Create a customer list
Actively call
Actively email
Improve Quotation samples

22. Up coming trainings and Learning center

23. Thank You!