Many people use customs data to directly search for potential customers, find contact information, and send emails. However, the results may be disappointing, with few responses. If you use customs data in this way, success may be more a matter of luck. It's essential to use the right methods; otherwise, it might be more effective to buy a list of buyer emails and send mass emails.

Buyer Selection:

There is a lot of data in customs records, but not all of it is suitable. It's crucial to confirm whether a potential customer is a professional buyer/supplier. This step is essential; otherwise, much effort might be wasted.

By comparing the number of times a buyer purchases your specific products and all products, you can directly determine the buyer's expertise. Some buyers may have purchased your product, but it could be just one transaction among the hundreds or thousands in their records, mainly involving freight forwarders and traders. You can filter these out to save time.

Buyer Analysis:

After the initial filtering, analyze the buying habits of potential customers. Evaluate the quantity and weight of each purchase to see if it matches your capabilities. It's best to focus on buyers whose needs align well with your capabilities.

Analyze from which regions the customer has previously made purchases to understand their preferences—whether they prioritize quality or price. This information is helpful in closing deals.

Analyze the timing of their purchases to predict when the next purchase might occur. Some customers buy in the second half of the year, while others make monthly purchases. Different customers require different timing for contact, increasing the likelihood of a response.

Competitor Analysis:

For matched buyers identified through analysis, pay attention to their existing suppliers. Before contacting buyers, it's advisable to research the products and prices of their current suppliers. Identify your advantages; otherwise, there's no reason for them to switch suppliers. Quality and price should be emphasized accordingly.

Another strategy is to find customers by analyzing competitors. Focus on competitors with similar market strength, especially those with higher prices or similar quality but lower prices. Since these competitors can attract the same customers, you can directly approach them without the initial screening process.

Contact Information:

The contact information provided in customs data varies. Some countries have more purchasing managers' contact information, including names and emails, while others have less. Some customers provide their own phone numbers and emails, although the quantity is limited. In some cases, the contact information is matched by the customs data company, and the price may vary.

In-Depth Contact Person Exploration:

Many people simply copy email addresses from data, but finding the right person is crucial for effectiveness. Once you have the company name, check if it has an official website. If available, you can find relevant contact persons. For smaller companies, you can directly contact the owner, president, or CEO. For larger companies, focus on functional roles such as buyer, purchasing department, or product engineers. Different customers may have different responsible personnel.

LinkedIn is an excellent channel to find relevant personnel directly. Once you have a name, finding contact information becomes much easier. You can also send messages on the official Facebook page to inquire about the buyer's email.

Parallel Use of Various Communication Methods:

Some sales professionals still rely solely on email for customer development. It's essential to leverage various social media and real-time chat apps.

Think about it from the perspective of the recipient. If you receive a promotional email, you're less likely to reply. However, if someone adds you on WeChat and greets you, the probability of a response increases. In addition to WeChat, there are other options such as WhatsApp, Line, Viber, VK, Messenger, etc. If you have a customer's phone number, direct communication through chat tools can be more efficient. Of course, calling directly can also be more effective.

Combine with Existing Development Methods:

Whether participating in trade shows or using B2B platforms, if customers approach you, you can check for transaction records through data queries. If there are previous transactions, analyze the purchasing situation, pricing, and formulate an appropriate quote strategy before continuing communication. Know your customers and yourself!

In international trade, there has always been an information asymmetry situation. Foreign customers know a lot about us, but we know very little about foreign buyers. Customs data can make market information more transparent!

1. Are Free Customs Data Useful?

In the current market, customs data come in two varieties: paid and free. As far as Tendata is aware, many customs data companies claim to have developed a free customs data system, but their core objective is to attract traffic and profit through secondary marketing.

In the current state of the industry, free customs data is primarily superficial public data. In this age of data, valuable information cannot be free. Tendata Data suggests it's better to spend money to purchase it, as Jack Ma once said, "Free is actually the most expensive." (>>> Click to get free customs data from 91 countries.)

2. Customs Data Ineffective? You Might Not Be Using It Right

Many customers often feel that customs data is ineffective or that they're only using a small portion of it when working with import and export data. Tendata Data would like to reiterate the eight major functions of customs data for the benefit of our foreign trade enterprises:

You can find all of these functions in customs data (>>> Click to access sample data online). If you can find them, you're a qualified data user. In addition to this, Shanghai Tendata's Foreign Trade Big Data Business Radar helps foreign trade enterprises manage potential customers online in real-time, understand customer needs, and assists foreign trade personnel in accurately searching for foreign trade customer emails, sending mass emails, producing email reports, and solving email sending dilemmas.

3. Customs Data ≠ Foreign Trade Data; Having Customs Data Alone Is Not Enough

Customs data inquiries include trade transaction data publicly available from customs around the world. This data consists of customs statistical bill-type information. However, what Tendata Company refers to as foreign trade big data goes far beyond mere customs data.

Tendata iTrader boasts customs data from 91 countries, commercial data from 218 countries, and internet data. It encompasses information on over 1.8 billion global businesses, with 100 billion trade data points scrolling every day. It can rapidly and intelligently filter out contact details for 1.21 million executives and decision-makers, including email addresses, phone numbers, social media profiles, and more. It also simultaneously displays company yellow pages, product images, and websites, while offering 17 types of visual reports to help foreign trade enterprises accurately analyze and position themselves in the market, allowing you to quickly find precisely what you need in terms of buyers and suppliers.(>>> Click to use the data for free online.)