Ben叔商业英语——如何应对包销

duduup

背景
 
1. 一款产品开发出来，花费了差不多50万人民币，一年只开发1-2款。
 
2. 一个业务员将这款产品推荐给合作多年的马来西亚的老客户（这个老客户也是这个业务员当年辛辛苦苦从竞争对手那里抢夺回来的，一年数量1000；后来客户在市场上发现另外一个人（这个是后面开发的新客户）也在卖这个产品，一年数量1500。
 
3. 跟进这个老客户的业务员更换成另外一个业务员，老客户要谈包销。
 
新业务回复如下：
 
Dear AAA,
 
May I ask your annual demand for each model if it is the exclusive model in your market? （一来就问人你付得起多少钱？叔叔我卖巧克力的我不敢。。。我丑我先睡去。。。）
 
Please let me explain the exclusivity in our company as following:  （不错，用let me explain让人舒服。说exclusivity policy在这里会比较好，就是算我们是一视同仁的。）
 
1) The tooling cost for each model is around xx,xxx USD.
 
2) The certificate cost for each model is around xx,xxx USD.
 
3) It will take at least 8 months to finish one new BPM model, the development cost is xx,xxx USD.
 
Totally, it will cost xx,xx USD for one model, please kindly understand that we need to keep the balance between invenstment and output (orders ).
 
Based on the very large cost on one NEW BPM model, Normally, we will not sign the exclusivity with customers,there are two solutions for the product conflict:
 
1) For the models you selected, please tell us the annual demand and we will check if it is possible to keep you as the only distributor （不是only distributor, 而是sole agency/ sole distributor) in your market.
 
2) If the annual demand is small, we will suggest to make the product colour different for avoiding the conflict. (我看到你在提供其他方案了，这点不错）
 
Sofar , the orders from BBB is more than yours, （哗，你是在说：AAA你算老几？）so it is very hard to make the decision, however, we respect our relationship, （啊，那真是皇恩已沐啊。。。）Any more suggestion, please feel free to tell us and let's discuss about it. （其实这句已经跟微信那个第一个微笑脸一样有呵呵感了。。）
 
Best regards,
XXX
 

duduup

Ben叔点评
 
其实整体来说这篇写得还可以的。我一直强调，BE（business english）不是要多华丽的英文，而是在于沟通。思维在语言之上。这一篇算是达到这一目的了，只是语气太强硬。想必你对多年的朋友也不会如此吧？所以，英语表达就把你害了。
 
我听过不少老外对中国商人的感觉是唯利是图。讲真，这是废话中的废话，难道要跟你说好做彼此的天使吗。。但他们这样说，我看很多时候问题还是出在表达。这一篇就大概有这点意味了。一个辛苦争取来了然后合作多年的伙伴受到冷待的故事。我当然知道你们不是这个意思了。我们不如看看怎样改会比较好。
 
BEN叔叔的回应
 
Hi AAA,
 
First of all I would like to appreciate your intention to work exclusively with us.  This mean to me our product can serve your market well and I assume that also mean you are happy with our relationship.  Look back to our long successful history it make perfect sense we can work further and closer together. 
 
Yet, being exclusive could be a direct financial hit to our business.  Here I list out my concerns:
 
1.    ROI:  Considerable investment in our NPI process:  Design, tooling, certification, timing.. etc. if you are interested I can send you a breakdown to give you a better idea.
 
2.    Put yourself into my shoes I wish you could understand where I come from.  I need to go volume in order to amortize my cost. 
 
3.    As a result, I would be more than happy to discuss with anyone about exclusivity with a contracted volume.  This way I could focus on my manufacturing role while partnering with local market expert on sales. 
 
4.    Having said that, other factors like branding effort, channel coverage….etc could be of consideration. 
 
I am open for discussion if the above sound reasonable to you.  Meanwhile, I believe being exclusive is NOT the only way to be of best interest to us.  There must be some more opportunity.
 
Thanks for the trust and the business.  We will keep talking.
 
Regards,
Ben