SAMPLING

Sampling   : I have noticed that traders always facing  problems with sampling as follow: Mfs^[,{*\6B5^-Wo
1) Undecided whether to give or not to give, who should be given or not be given
oV#W.__9^"j 2) Who should bear the  sampling cost and courier charges ? whether to be sent by normal post or express courier services!z;S.Pb7c
3) How sampling has to be done ?
EuJ ]w$i~ B I place great important on sampling as it would ultimately affect your business dealing. I wish to write more if you guys shown interest and  responds.

First,i am in the furniture industry,well,in my opinion,there was two side,one is if i work in a company,the other is my own customer,means i work as a middleman.!yXj*z
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{)TAkv"Z"bB;p8H If i work for a company,normally,the sample charges are on customers' account for sure,especially for those new customers,but i always promise the sample charges will be refunded once upon the order.About the express charges,i may ask the customer to take charge of it,but if he is a potential customer,i may apply for manager to pay for it,cuz once we doing business,that is mutual benefit,so both we two should pay out for it:D.Meanwhile,if just ask me to send some catalogue or information,the express charges will on customers' account for sure,but the catalogue is for free:lol
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R_Y-a*Y?H(B But if i am only the middleman/SOHO during the case,i will not take charge any of the cost for sure for i have no money and no encouragement to have it:lol :L .Only when i cooperate with my reliable customer & supplier,then i will consider to make the sample for free:lol

We traders use to have many complaints about overseas clients, on the others hand, they do have complaints on us as well, the most commom one is sampling, therefore, I raised this issue here for us to discuss, the following are just my own views.,h$dr
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1)  Most of the foreign buyers find difficulty in getting new sample or their choices sample especially when supplier is new to them. It always occurred during trade fair/exhibition.Exhibitor usually responded either with outright "NO" or " could only give away at the last day of the fair" or " send to you later" ETC.Such responds not only drive away potential customers but also reflecting badly on your company image. Generally, reasons with such responds are no more than three, suspicious on the intend of the customer, worrying on copy right and limited of stock.The above only apply to those samples which are handy and inexpensive. In my views, reasons of clients asking for sample are also no more than three, he is in same kind of business, he has shown interest to do this kind of business in future and market survey for himself or his friends.
Ut0s5w4l 2) How to classify them is not a difficult task. Usually when a customer is able to show you a counter sample of his or photo and also be able to discuss with you in technical term of your product, he certainly belongs to the first group, one important point to take note is that you should not at anytime asking them where and from whom he has brought the similar products unless he voluntarily disclosed to you.For the rest, whether sample should be given away depending on country factor where you believe with good potential or new to you which you wanted to penetrate.
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.S8h3XfkCVx (to be continues..........)

Looking forward the following

Many thanks for your share. I have added your thread into "[url=http://forum.fobshanghai.com/thread-314856-1-1-2007_Christmas_Activities.html]Christmas Activity[/url]". It is hoped that more friends could read and learn together.

It is really a good topic!@9dm5}8{-|#a[,{+o-S
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The samples sending is always headahe for most of us-cost of sample and charges of sending,who will pay for them? The supplier or the buyer? It is a big question.
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We want to do business with these customers who show sincerelity and interested to you and your products,so the first thing we need to do is "Judge the customer", to get more and more information from the potencial buyer, discuss with him with technical term of your products,then you can get to know he is a specialist in this line and he can give a reasonble comments for your products,prices and all the conditions.That we know that he is not the "sample collecter",then we can make a decision.d8CZ1sB)_x(Va
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I agree with Lily's suggestion as:
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[quote]the sample charges are on customers' account for sure,especially for those new customers,but i always promise the sample charges will be refunded once upon the order.[/quote]
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.Jea z2GA8l It is fair to both of the supplier and buyer,even the samples cost.5f*D{d!wN]!g.e
We should have open mind and long version in business.

3) Lets Samples do the talking : At time when customers are far away, no amounts of phone calls or emails can do wonder than a piece of sample. It does not only representing of yours goods' quality level but also reflecting on your marketing attitude and working ability. One of my client once told me that to judge a  new salesperson/supplier  is from the sampling which  he/she had prepared and he has never wrong since started business with China. Those who had done a good job in sampling usually does handle their export professionally.My experience tell a proper sampling will definitely enhanced the face value of your goods. My client has summarised that samples which he received are no more than three kinds , the off -grade , the outdated and sample without proper illustration. That answer the reason why customers sometime were reluctant to bear the cost of sample and courier charges. A genuine buyer will surely expedite the buying process if they have received a proper sample and will bargain less if the presentation of the sample suited to their taste and need. The received sample represent the first impression and symbolised the future bulk goods which he is going to get. Among the three kind,  sample without proper illustration are the most commom, illustration is difference from description alone as it requires in-depth elaboration such as possible variation, marketability etc and all these will assist customer in decision making.
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7YD"q1G7T*f5w| to be continue...........

4) What is " Sample/Sampling"?  To buyer, it is something new/ latest fashion or improvised vision of the exiting range of products or face-lifted vision . We could also call it product development, it is important as this is the bread and butter for all manufacturers regardless of big or small. We Chinese manufacturers , to my opinion place very little attention to it. With the rapidly changing world of today, short product life cycle, culturally admixture, free-flow of information and border-less economy have great impact on product development. To foresee or prediction of consumer changing taste has to be done by marketing staff as they are the front-liner in the business world. For product of well  known brand or from renowned corporations, sample giving is not so urgent as compare with least known brand and corporations where most of our Chinese corporations are in. Just look at the Korean and Taiwanese in the late 70  or Japanese in the late 60, their marketing people were so enthusiastic in pushing their products, knocking doors everywhere and of course armed with proper sampling. I am not saying that we should give sample  whenever we can but at least the cost of sampling/sample and distributing charges should be included in the company budget in which we marketing people should fight for.

Firstly , I am a salesman in printing industy. encountering often clients requiring sample , whatever collected or free of charge. a6{BgL:r m
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Our company's policy is: Collect sample fee and then refund from order for new customer.

the best condition the client pay the sample fee and the delivery charge; these clients is very important . if you met them, congratulations! you will get their order later;-E^2]q|8H
usually the client may pay the sample or they will pay the delivery charge. you should choose the better way for you. we usually offer our client free sample and pay the delivery charge for them after they transfer the delivery charge to us ( as it is cheaper which paid via us);
O:dl)U!f;^? off course, you may meet some of company, they say that they will not pay anything. if you met them, you should evaluate this client and make a decision.

Each company has its own sample policy. you should understand and obey it.

We should do that according to our company's stragety.
0~*],\5i#?G Sometimes when we meet potential customers we can take them into consideration.4a\B[\1O"B`
There is no free lunch in the world.'?*{(zA&x(I
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What we can do is nothing but do it in a more human way.
#]Vv?*@'Q Combine what you have experience, say it in a more constructive way, which your customer would accept.

if the customer is an old one,  also, there are two cases for us to do respectively. 6`'f-@SN/Z
      a) The deal is a big one, with reference to established relationship with them, I prefer to send the sample for free, even we should make the new sample, but of course, the mail fee should be their account. To be assured that we can get the sample fee in the mass production due to the deal is very huge, and the sample fee is very small, no one knows the sample fee has been calculated in the amount of the total value. It is very simple for these customers....
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LH!h2k8Bq2u l[       b), The deal is a small one, regarding to the exist relationship and the amount is not big, we can not calculate it into the total value of mass products. Then, how should we do will be better? Of course, it is free, and we bear the cost, but we should let this customer know, that we bear the cost, and hope he/she can place a bigger order in the future.