外贸谈判从零到千万不抛弃不放弃(附邮件原文)

Jenny

我，FRANK，一个两年多经验的外贸新手，每天发着开发信，忽然有天觉得：是不是联系不上的客户，就应该马上电话联系，总之就是要联系上，问清楚行还是不行(恰恰这点很简单，但很多新人都做不到)。

马上发传真，大体上介绍了下公司及产品问对方的兴趣，客户没回复，后来打电话，告诉他email，客户回的第一封邮件摘要：

We checked shipping possibility from your port to our discharging port (Damietta Egypt) we found the following ;-

1.        container loading is very expensive and we can not do .

2.        we looking for Break Bulk loading for quantity about 3000m3 every single shipment ,  we checked the shipping companies from our side but they are not interest to load this cargo .

看来难度不小，我们所在的城市港口很小，散装货轮一般都看不上。怎么办？放弃？呵呵，不是我的作风。马上回信告诉客户，我能找，你先把量和目标价痛快的说出来。这客户很乖，又很不乖～～～

for your info, we can confirm immediately from 2500 up to 3000m3 board as follows;-

3.6mm = 200m3 @ $200

…………

this price is FOB + $40 up to $42/m3 freight .

这价格太离谱，差距不是一点两点，产品的规格还不大一样，没关系，生意人嘛，谁还不知道讨价还价这点破事儿，我跟你磨.我回复如下：

I will check the price tommorrow with shipping company. and for the FOB price I think it is really difficult for us . but anyway I will try my best to meet your target price. so I will quote you for CFR price tommorrow. Do you know any shipping companies that you are dealing with now? we can contact them.

客户给了我他现在用的货代的联系方式，

the companies which we are dealing with are thoresen , cosco and hyundai ,

but unfortunately they refused to load the cargo from south china for that

we rely on you to find a suitable shipping company .

经过我联系之后，他们压根没兴趣，因为量太少，根本不值得停靠一次我们的港口，怎么办？只能多找，多撒网，靠我的劳动来弥补这个劣势。

终于找到三家愿意走货的，但是价格太高，比客户在连云港的高20美金每立方米。对于几千立方米的货物，这是个很大的差距。不管如何先报给客户再说，经过几轮讨价还价，最终客户确认了价格：

Re your offer and phone discussion,-

We can confirm the following ;

3.6 No sanding US$260.00       about 200m3

Kindly issue sales contract and send it back.

貌似该庆祝了吧？呵呵，definitely no。

因为还要跟船公司确认运价和运输方式，包装方式也要考虑。因为包装意味着成本。

再向客户要量，作为价码跟船公司谈，但是客户说有些规格由于我们做不了所以量最多只能这样了。

3000m3 one shipment is no problem if you can follow our market standard

thickness which I explained before 11/14/17/21/24mm .

17mm we can get about 800m3 .

11mm about 500m3 .

so we can easily manage 3000m3 .

but if you don't do and we had to follow your thickness it will be according

to our yesterday e-mail .

hopefully you reconsider and revert with positive news to can start new long

business relationship

我的回复，如下：

1)the 9mm sanding board we quoted to you is our best price.and as we are sincecely to run a good business with you .we alaways quoted you our best price to you.also as you know ,our board is with good quality according to some other suppliers in china..even so ..our price is similar as the price of them..so I think our Products is more competitive than others and the board in your current market

2)11mm/17mm/ , the thickness above is difficult for us to produce.and the price is higher as we have quoted to you .if you can accept the price quoted ,,so we can  produce for you.

3)anyway.I will check the cost again to see if it is possible for 11/14 to reduce some rate for you.

4)please re-advice the quantity can be ok for 9mm(ifpossible),12mm,14mm,15mm,16mm,18mm,25mm.

客户对量进行了重新规划：

Re your below msg,

You have two alternatives,

A) 3.6 No sanding US$260 about 200m3

…………

if we add 250m3 9mm @ $240/m3 the total quantity will be = 2250m3

B) 3.6 No sanding US$260 about 200m3

…………

Total = 3000cbm

Kindly reconsider and cfm your favorite option

鉴于与原来船公司谈判破裂，价格上涨，我的回复如下：

1)for 9mm,ok,we drop our profit,USD245.25 per CBM ,we only want to add this item to have the quantity to negotiate with shipping company,and it is very difficult to negotiate with shipping company with the quantity under 2500.and it is nearly impossible to negotiate under 2000CBM ,please confirm this price and do us a favor.

2)as we quoted you the CFR price based on freight price USD55.00.and this is quoted from a shipping company.but now they increased the freight to be USD68.00.a crazy rate.

so we must find another shipping company available on price USD55.00.it is very hard to confirm the freight with shipping company now.and we have been informed that now the freight market is hot due to the chinese exporting and oil shortage.

so we will try our best to reach the freight ,and run our business asap.but if we failed ,please participate the freight with us ..and if the freight out of bearing of both of us.we suggest to defer this order when the freight acceptable.please comprehend this point:the freight is out of our control......

3)about 11/17/21/24mm,,we may add0 these thickness in next order,we are considering produce these sizes for you only ,but we must run once business smoothly to persuade our inverstor.

4)can you inform me the Melamined or veneer or laminated paper MDF you want.we can add them into this quantity to make it up

客户也很诚恳的回复如下：

Ok we will confirm your price for 9mm @ $245/m3 C&F .But now total quantity still 2250m3 can not be increase to 3000m3 unless you produce even only one thickness 14/17mmother operative to increase this volume 3.6mm/5.5/7.5mm to be sanded I/O no sanding so we can increase some volume of this .Freight increasment from 55 to $68 is too much we can increase just

$2/m3 .this will be workable for you or nor ??

看来这个运费是无法逾越的障碍

now ,we have reached a good position in our business.but as we know..the only thing is the freight. the freight market is increasing now even in lianyungang,and it is out of control for both of us.we have negotiated with many shipping forwarder these days.and got the freight from USD66-75,still in negotiation.so now we suggest proceed our business in two ways first,please increase thefreight to definite USD60.00 per CBM,and we will responsible for the beyondof this price in practice.second,we accept USD57 for freight, but we only burden the risk of fluctuation within USD60.00,but if the freight is out of USD60.00 in practice.it will be born by yourside.. kindly confirm this point and inform me back..then I can send u the contract

客户提出了他的解决设想：

Actually we can't take the risk of freight fluctuations as it is completely vague for us, so we either buy on C+F basis and we don't interfere in the freight matter at all or you ship the cargo from Lianyungang along with our other cargo.Please check and revert.

开始运用话术对客户动之以情，晓之以理，但是我不得不承认，价格，是一个业务员必须倾力付出才能逾越的障碍，而且也是外贸业务员的天生杀手，多少英雄好汉，在这上面折戟沉沙，价格这把双刃剑，浸淫了多少鲜血……多少……（做抒情状@#￥）

thanks for your email .wish everything goes well regarding your

comments,yes,I do understand and agree with your idea about the freight

fluctuations.the risk surely can't be taken by buyers if in C&F terms.

On the other hand,for your information, we have negotiated with over 4

forwarders about the freight these days.they informed us that it won't be a

economical way to ship the goods from Lianyungang port because it is too far

from our factory.

and forwarders also took their strong will to ship our cargos to your

port.but the freight was still firmly at USD66-68-72 around.they have quoted

their best price as it is in competition,so I think it must be confirmed at

USD65-66.00 per CBM.

otherwise.as we want to start a business in your country's market, my

quotation are based on a "next to the cost-line price"..we wish our buyer

could promote our good MDF at a nice price,so our business can grow up

quickly in your competitive market.this is most important thing for a

factory like us.,we must carve our way out to survive...

Anyway ,In order to proceed our cooperation as soon as possible,please

support the freight to be USD 60.00 per CBM,then we bear the other USD 5.00

or 6.00 to settle the first shipment as soon as possible.

客户看来是被感动的不轻（自作多情ING），也一起来想办法解决问题，很想促成交易，到此时，客户自己也付出了巨大的精力和劳动，没有特殊原因，他会想办法促成交易的：

Please be informed that the freight from Lianyungang to Damietta is about

USD 47/CBM and we have regular vessels from there, so we can buy on FOB

basis, so we can start our cooperation together. Please comment if it is

possible to ship from there.

但是运费实在是无法谈下来，我开始动包装的心思，把包装去掉。全部人工搬运，这个方法可以减少很多包装成本的。但是客户无法接受，开始改用集装箱试试，把最有优势的产品报给他，其他规格都去掉了：

As I told you,if you can accept the shipment to be in separate sheets.so we can divide the freight in 20FCL to be USD60.we also can reduce our packing cost..

2)but now the loose packing is not workable for your side,so here I quoted  you the pallet packing price to you. please find the quotation attached and feedback. as I was trying on negotiating with different shipping company these two months,but it is very very difficult..I was tied...my friend.. so I quote you now in 20FT container ,which can be shipped at any time.please tell me your comments. please note that the qutation is based on at least 5*20FCL .

客户最终提高了他的目标价格，进入了最后final battle round。哈哈：

Our best price will be as follows;

3.6mm = $265

5/5.5/6 = $257

7.5mm = $255

…………

hope you can cfm by return

我告诉他我们的最低限度

but please kindly be informed that I really has done my all efforts to reduce the cost. as I really want to open the door for both of us.hoping to run a good relationship. so please kindly confirm the price I quote you yesterday but with USD1.00 lower per CBM as I will pay the USD1.00 personally in order to proceed this order.Here I list as follows:

3.6mm: USD 270.00

5mm:USD 256.5

6mm:USD 258.00

please confirm by feedback with other details : payment and delivery time

其实我的目标就是其中一个规格，一直在谈所有规格，是避开谈一个规格的焦点效应，太焦点了客户肯定死咬不放，全部一起放出来，必然有一个可以让我给抓住，在后来我让客户先买四个柜子5mm规格的好了，结果客户回复如下：

You can make the proforma for 10 containers 5 MM all. The price should be

USD 257/CBM and please make the rounding of the quantity upto 4 digits in

all our documents.

哈哈，至此第一笔订单敲定，过了没几天客户便30%TT打过来了。

总结，事实上客户的目标价格大部分都差太多，这笔生意确实很有难度。但是幸好有两个规格还是有机会的，为此我在工厂做了大量的工作，比如争取到了库存最多的产品，老板答应降价处理，然后再规格上4.9MM由于是正公差，算5mm，这样按立方的话，可以减少成本，在包装方式上创新，减少护板，跟船公司压价，等等等等。

永远要记住：为客户解决问题，客户才会为你解决问题。

后记：后来正好有个叙利亚的客户也是船运，有6000立方米，顺便搭载这个客户3000立方米我们走了一批，还有一批用小船驳到连云港走了一批。再到2007年用火车走了一批2500立方米的货到连云港出了一批。这个客户总共从我这里走货超过150万美金。也就是一年的事情。现在都过去很久了。我也从事了其他的行业，不过每年大家都会发个邮件问候一下。

嘿嘿。我跟这个客户一年的邮件加起来有六页hotmail。

其实相比于一般的谈客户的过程，这是一次比较艰难但还算正常的谈判，基本上所有的过程和都涉及到了。如何联系客户，如何报价，如何谈价格，如何促成最终交易，总之还是我那句话，为客户解决困难，客户才为你解决困难。

我想分享的主要是（掌声哗哗哗，咳咳）。是一个客户从零，到大的过程，说出来三两语，但做出来那可是一波三折啊。

其实世间很多事皆是如此，努力坚持，加上机遇。就能成就你，我个人信奉一条，不论多么艰难，最后只要成功了。一切都是值得的。

再来唠两句，其实，现在的我看那时候的这个单子有了一些新高度：

1：你们有没有发现从头到尾，客户都没有问我要样品，不管怎么样的产品，单谈价格，都是有问题的，客户以“德国机器生产的中国产品”为大体的概念来衡量我们的产品，这样其实是不好的。

2：现在我比较关心长久的发展，客户最终把产品拿去干嘛啦？如何能做到让他继续拿货？

3：我根本没去看过客户的工厂，如果说十几二十万美金不值得去的话，那我们有上百万美金的交易，不去看，确实说不过去吧，一旦客户拒付货款，那后果？

4：我们做外贸，其实做到后来，一个询价邮件过来，我自己已经很清楚成交的可能性在哪，多高，值不值得去做，这样的状态只能表明我是个外贸有经验的业务员，但是离战略离大作为，还很远，有没有关注公司的长远成长？有没有塑造品牌？卖一个路由器那叫贸易，但是你能卖到华为的成绩吗？你的企业能做到世界500强吗？如果我们不去思考这些问题，每天只是发邮件与客户纠缠，仅仅为了几千块工资而去为一次简单交易而努力。。

那，这难道是外贸？这难道是中国的贸易之路吗？你难道为自己是个外贸老业务而可以沾沾自喜吗？

我想，答案肯定是：NO！