Buyers
What a Western buyer checks before replying to a factory
Before a buyer answers your email, they look you up. Here is what they check, in the order they usually check it, and how to get each step right.
A buyer at an importer or a retail chain gets emails from new suppliers every week. Most of them are deleted. When an email is interesting, the buyer usually does not answer straight away. First they look the factory up. It takes a few minutes, and it decides whether you get a reply.
We see this again and again in the outreach we do for factories.
1. Your website
The first click goes to your website, from the link in your email signature or from a Google search for your company name. In the first minute the buyer wants to know three things: do you really make this product, can you make it for them, and who should they talk to.
What helps:
- Your own domain in your company’s name. A shop on a marketplace is not enough on its own.
- Natural English, checked by someone who writes English well. Short sentences are fine.
- Real photos of your products and of your factory. Stock photos and photos with watermarks make a buyer careful.
- The basic facts: where you are, since when, what you make, the minimum order, and a named contact person.
- Speed outside China. Open the site on a phone, through a connection outside China if you can. If it takes many seconds to load, many buyers will not wait.
2. Your LinkedIn page, and the person who wrote
B2B buyers in Europe and North America use LinkedIn to check both the company and the person. They look for a company page with recent posts, and for the sender’s personal profile: a real name, a photo, a job title and the factory listed as employer.
A page that stopped posting two years ago, or an email signed by a person who cannot be found anywhere, makes the email look less serious. Keep one company page up to date, and make sure your sales manager’s profile names your factory.
3. A catalogue they can forward
A buyer rarely decides alone. If they like what they see, they forward your catalogue to a product manager or to their boss. That catalogue needs clear product photos, item numbers, sizes, materials, minimum order quantities and packaging options.
Keep two versions: a small PDF that goes through company email systems without problems, and the full version as a download on your website. When buyers reply to the outreach we run for factories, they most often ask for a catalogue, prices or minimum order quantities. It helps to have all three ready before the first email goes out.
4. Facts that match everywhere
Buyers compare. The year you started, the size of the factory, the number of workers and your certificates should be the same on your website, your LinkedIn page, your marketplace profile and in your catalogue.
In our work we often find different numbers for the same factory in different places. Usually there is a simple reason, for example an old brochure or a profile filled in years ago. For a buyer who does not know you, it is a reason to doubt. Write one fact sheet with your real numbers and use it everywhere. Only mention certificates you can send as a document.
5. How fast and how well you answer
When a buyer writes back, they also test you. Is the answer clear? Does it answer the question that was asked? Does it arrive within one working day, in their time?
China is seven or eight hours ahead of the UK and Ireland, six or seven hours ahead of most of continental Europe, and twelve or thirteen hours ahead of the US East Coast. An answer that is already in the buyer’s inbox when they start work is good. An answer three days later is often too late.
Prepare answers to the standard questions before you start: prices (buyers often ask for FOB prices in US dollars), minimum order, lead time, samples, packaging and certificates. And make sure the person who can answer is in Cc on every email.
6. Where they can meet you
If you exhibit at the Canton Fair or another trade fair, put the hall and stand number on your website and in your email signature. Buyers who plan a visit ask for it, and it shows that you are a real company they can meet in person.
A ten-minute check you can do today
- Search for your company name in Google, from outside China or with a VPN. What comes up first?
- Open your website on a phone. Is it in English, fast, with real photos and a contact name?
- Open your LinkedIn company page. When was the last post?
- Check that your sales manager’s LinkedIn profile shows your factory as employer.
- Check the size of your catalogue PDF, and whether it shows minimum orders and sizes.
- Compare your key numbers on your website, LinkedIn and marketplace profile.
- Send a test message through the enquiry form on your own website. Does it arrive?
We check these points for every factory before the first email goes out, and fix the ones that are part of our work. We make sure that what buyers find is as good as your factory.