Often, my friends in China ask me to help them with various aspects of college or business.  I often use blogs to help them, which allows me to give advice to many people at the same time.  This blog is one of that type of blog.  Another advantage of using a blog?  I usually charge a fee for my services.  But if I write a blog, I work for free! 

My friend in China wrote, “I told you that I was looking for a job two weeks ago. You know I had little working experience in the hotel. but now most jobs require a relevant experience. becuase of which I failed to a lot of opportunities. Recently. I got a job in a LED lamb factory as a international salesman. now I have to write E-mails(often called Sales Letter) to the foreign customers who are  from America or Europe. And I never do this  before. so I don't know how to write or what I should pay attention to. I'm eager to learn from you. In addition. I may need to call the foreign customers. I don't know how to start our conversation. and I'm always worry about that. Sedgehead. You are the best foreign friend I have ever seen. That's why I'm writting to you. and I know you are really busy man. I'd appreciated if you could give me some suggestions when you are available.”

First, I will provide a list of English suggestions and corrections for my friend.

1) Remember my “little things” blogs.  Use good capitalization, punctuation, and spacing.  I suggest: “. . . hotel, but . . . experience, because . . . . Recently, I . . . . Now . . . emails (often called sales letters) . . . are from . . . this before.  So . . . . In addition, I . . . conversation, and I’m . . . .Sedgehead, you . . . . And I know . . . . Note: nearly every word here was changed or spacing next to the word was changed.

2) Check you spelling before sending an email or letter.  Examples: because, an international, writing.

3) Avoid sentence fragments.  Each sentence needs a subject and a verb, even if these are “understood” from the context.  For example, the short sentence “Go!” has a subject and a verb.  The verb it “go” and the understood subject is “you” as in “[You should] go [immediately]!”  We don’t say the whole sentence.  We just shout “Go!”

Those examples will tell you the most important things you need to check when you are writing an email based on what you wrote.

My friend wrote, “I don't know how to start our conversation.”  How you start a conversation depends on who you are talking to and whether they know you or not.  So I will divide my comments into two part, first for a person you know and then for someone who you have never spoken to.

Calling strangers to tell them about your company is called “making cold calls.”  The phone call is “cold” because the potential customer does not know you and has not “warmed up” to you as a friend or businessman or business woman. 

Calling people you know:

Remember the questions that are important to a newspaper reporter.  Think about these questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?  You want to provide information to the person you are calling, so you need to both give and receive information on the call.  As my other blog states (on another website), a salesperson needs to do three things:

1) Tell the customer why they need your product.

2) Tell the customer how you can supply that need.

3) Ask for the sale.

Selling is really quite simple.  Being comfortable and successful as a salesperson only requires learning how to sell.  So, a simple piece of advice would be “study sales techniques.”  Here’s an example of a phone call to a current customer:

Salesperson: “Hi, Mr. Smith.  This is Jane Doe.  You probably remember me.  We talked a few weeks ago when you purchased some widgets from our company, the XYZ Manufacturing Company in Shanghai.”

Customer: “I remember you.  You’re that guy who sold me those widgets we needed.”

Salesperson: “Did they work well for you?”

Customer: “Well, yes and no.  The product worked fine, but the color doesn’t match what we have exactly.”

From there, think about what the customer needs.  Does she need more widgets?  Do you have a better color in stock?  Does the customer know anyone else who needs widgets?  Etc.  The most important thing is to be relaxed and friendly.

Calling people you don’t know (making cold calls):

Remember the general method of making a sale.

1) find a need and tell the customer why they need your product.

2) show how your product will fill that need.

3) ask for the sale.

Salesperson: “Hi, Mr. Smith.  This is Jane Doe.  I represent XYZ Manufacturing Company in Shanghai and I’d like to take a couple minutes to introduce our new line of widgets to you.”

The basic rules apply.  Be friendly.  Practice before you call so you are comfortable and know what you want to say.  Provide basic info as quickly and politely as possible.  The potential customer is thinking “Who is this?  What do they want?  Why are they calling me? Where are they located?  When would I need their product?  How can this person help my business?”  Try to answer those questions.

Remember the basics of sales.  Show the customer they need your product.  Show them why your product will fill their need.  Ask for the sale.

I’m not a salesman, but everyone needs to do some type of selling, even if you are simply selling yourself and your skills.  Even a botanist has to provide a product to someone.  I can’t sell my product (botanical and ecological knowledge) without telling other people what it is and why they need it (environmental protection to avoid environmental disaster).  Sales may not be my favorite job, but I've learned the basics.  More detail is readily available on the internet.  Search for "sales techniques."  Feel free to ask me questions.